Intensifying adverbs in the English language

The article provides an analysis of various aspects of intensification in the English language (colloquial and newspaper), intensifying adverbs in particular. The processes of grammaticalisation and delexicalisation observed in the evolution of intensifying adverbs are described. The author also looks into the renewal and boundedness of intensifying adverbs, provides an overview of modern classifications of intensifying adverbs, and offers statistics on the frequency of occurrence of intensifying adverbs to illustrate their usage in spoken discourse and newspaper language. The findings assume that less intensification is used in written discourse whereas more intensification is employed in spoken discourse, which suggests that the decline in intensification is higher as the formality of the register increases, and vice versa.

KEYWORDS:
• intensification
• intensifying adverb
• grammaticalisation
• delexicalisation
• spoken discourse
• newspaper language

More articles in this issue:

• The cultural imperative: Global trends in the 21st century
• Understanding African cultures and philosophies
• Can a sociolinguistic perspective of Second Language Acquisition solve ‘the longstanding human curiosity’ of learning languages?
• The linguistic aspect behind the changing attitudes towards ‘globalisation’ and ‘deglobalisation’ of economic processes (a case study of the German print media)
• Intensifying adverbs in the English language
• Grammatical interference in written papers translated by Russian and American students
• Review Don’t believe a word: The surprising truth about language (a review)
• Review Because Internet: Understanding the new rules of language (a review)