Intensifiers - very small words, but with a very strong impact on language use. In fact, it could be argued that they are so important to study due to their ever-changing nature. Murphy, in 2010, even stated that "the most rapid and the most interesting semantic developments in linguistic change are said to occur with intensifiers." But why are intensifiers used? According to Hu, in 2013, they arise out of "a speaker or writer’s desire to be “original” to demonstrate verbal skills, and to capture the attention of an audience". An even more intriguing part of intensifiers is that this does not seem to work at times. According to Wright, in 1995, "the most interesting finding about intensifiers is that they do not seem to affect listeners in the way intended by speakers". Wright argued that advertisements, for instance, worked less well when an intensifier was added, since they seemed to influence the viewer in a negative way and seemed to take away from the product. However, while researchers disagree on the exact reasons to research intensifiers, be they investigating a speaker’s wish for originality, language change, or the fact that intensifiers do, at times, negatively impact the recipient of the intensification, the fact still stands that they are worth investigating.
Sri Lanka is a comparatively small island state south of India. It only recently, in 2009, finally escaped the clutches of colonialism and civil war. Today, it comes into its own more and more, and is finally able to rewrite history on its own terms. Sri Lankan English is a fresh, new research ground that offers a variety of opportunities for the advancement of learning.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theory
2.1 Sri Lanka
2.2 Sri Lankan English
2.3 Intensifiers
2.4 Research questions
2.5 Hypotheses
3. Methodology, Data
4. Results
5. Discussion of Results
5.1 Answering the research questions
5.2 Revisiting the hypotheses
5.3 Future outlook
6. Conclusion
7. References
Research Objectives and Topics
The study aims to investigate the usage of intensifiers across various genres within Sri Lankan English (SLE) using a corpus-based approach. The primary research goal is to determine how genres differ regarding the use, frequency, and types of intensifiers employed, while also evaluating whether these linguistic features are influenced by scripted or non-scripted settings.
- The role and semantic development of intensifiers in linguistic change.
- Comparative analysis of intensifier usage in different spoken genres of SLE.
- The influence of formality and scripted vs. non-scripted speech on intensifier frequency.
- Differences in the diversity of intensifier types across various conversational and formal settings.
- Evaluation of the autonomy of Sri Lankan English in comparison to British and American English.
Excerpt from the Book
2.3 Intensifiers
Hu et al define intensifiers as such: “Grammatically speaking, intensifiers are adverbs that maximize or boost meaning.” (2013). Quirk (1985: 591) differentiates between two types: Amplifiers, which “scale upwards from an assumed norm”, and downtoners, which “have a lowering effect, usually scaling downwards from an assumed norm.” Examples of intensifiers are ‘really’, ‘very’, ‘totally’ and ‘so’, ‘bloody’ and ‘completely’. ‘Pretty’, on the other hand, can be used as both an amplifier and a downtoner. The Oxford English Dictionary, however, defines it as “qualifying an adjective or adverb: to a considerable extent; fairly, moderately; rather, quite. In later use also: very” (Romero2012: 8), which is why it will be handled as an amplifier for this study.
This grammatical phenomenon has been investigated in conjunction with many different sociolinguistic factors, such as for instance gender (e.g. Hu 2013, Richard and Tao 2007), age (e.g. Ito and Tagliamonte 2003) and education (e.g. Ito and Tagliamonte 2003). Other areas of intensifier research consist of a variety of genres, e.g. advertisements (Jacobs 2017), news reports (Burgers and De Graaf 2013) and blogs (Van Zutphen 2017). Many varieties of English have been investigated in relation to intensifiers, among these are Canadian English (Tagliamonte 2007), New Zealand English (Saarenpää 2016) and British and American English (Wittouck 2011). However, research on intensifiers in relation to Sri Lankan English is sparse, which this study aims to change.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter introduces the significance of studying intensifiers as tools for linguistic analysis and establishes the scope for examining the unique variety of Sri Lankan English.
2. Theory: This section provides essential background on Sri Lanka’s history, the characteristics of Sri Lankan English, and the theoretical framework of intensifiers, while outlining research questions and hypotheses.
3. Methodology, Data: This chapter details the corpus-based methodology, explaining the use of ICE-Sri Lanka and AntConc to analyze intensifier frequency across various spoken genres.
4. Results: This chapter presents the quantitative findings, illustrating the absolute and relative frequencies of specific intensifiers used within the analyzed text genres.
5. Discussion of Results: This section evaluates the findings against the established research questions and hypotheses, providing an interpretation of the genre-specific usage patterns.
6. Conclusion: The final chapter summarizes the study’s findings, highlighting that Sri Lankan English maintains a distinct linguistic identity and suggesting directions for future research.
7. References: This section lists all academic sources and software utilized for the completion of this study.
Keywords
Intensifiers, Sri Lankan English, Corpus Linguistics, ICE-Sri Lanka, Amplifiers, Sociolinguistics, Language Change, Spoken Genres, AntConc, Postcolonial Englishes, Semantics, Frequency Analysis, Linguistic Variation, Discourse Analysis.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this academic paper?
The paper focuses on the usage of intensifiers within the variety of Sri Lankan English, analyzing how these small linguistic markers function across different spoken genres.
What are the central themes discussed in this study?
The study examines the role of intensifiers in linguistic intensification, the influence of scripted versus non-scripted speech, and the cross-linguistic comparison of SLE with other English varieties.
What is the primary research question being addressed?
The study aims to determine the extent to which different genres of SLE differ regarding the use, frequency, and types of intensifiers employed.
Which scientific methodology does the author apply?
The author applies a corpus-based methodology, utilizing the ICE-Sri Lanka corpus and the software AntConc 3.3.2 to extract and normalize data on intensifier usage.
What topics are covered in the main section of the paper?
The main sections cover the theoretical background of intensifiers, the methodology for data collection, the statistical results of intensifier frequency, and a discussion of these results in relation to the initial hypotheses.
Which keywords best characterize the research?
Key terms include Intensifiers, Sri Lankan English, Corpus Linguistics, Amplifiers, Sociolinguistics, and Postcolonial Englishes.
How does Sri Lankan English differ from British English regarding intensifiers?
The study indicates that SLE shows a unique pattern of intensifier usage, having only limited overlap with British English in the top five most used intensifiers.
Why were specific intensifiers like 'really' or 'so' excluded from the final analysis?
During the analysis, it was observed that some intensifiers common in other studies did not occur in an intensifying context within the Sri Lankan data set, leading to their exclusion from the final study.
What was an unexpected finding regarding telephone conversations?
Contrary to the hypothesis that telephone conversations would show high intensifier usage to maintain speech flow, the study found that these genres did not utilize intensifiers as frequently as expected.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Michelle Blum (Autor:in), 2019, The usage of intensifiers in Sri Lankan English. A corpus-based study, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1128280
