[Lingtyp] Query: Elided Intensification

[David Gil]

Dear all,


I'm interested in exploring the properties and geographical distribution 
of a novel (well, to me at least) construction type which might be 
termed "Elided Intensification'.I'll explain with an example.In Papuan 
Malay, property-denoting and some other words may be intensified by the 
addition of /sampe/, a word whose other, more basic functions, include 
'arrive' and 'until', e.g.

(1) Enak sampe

nice SAMPE

'Very nice.'

My informal "interpretation" of this construction is that it involves, 
or at least originated in, some kind of understood expression such as 
"nice arriving (at complete fulfillment)", or "nice until 
(completion)".As Papuan Malay is largely head-initial, it kind of feels 
like something is missing after the word /sampe/.(In Malay/Indonesian, 
this construction seems to be restricted geographically to the north 
coast of New Guinea and possibly also Northern Maluku; elsewhere it is 
absent.)

So far, I am familiar with two other potential cases of Elided 
Intensification.The first is from Ambel, an Austronesian language spoken 
in the Raja Ampat archipelago of the northwest coast of New Guinea, in a 
region where Papuan Malay is also spoken.As described by Arnold 
(2018:145, pers comm), /aya/ 'until' is used in a construction closely 
resembling that in (1):

(2) Anlómo aya

bleed.3SG.INAN AYA

‘It bled a lot.’

Arnold, Laura. 2018./A Grammar of Ambel, An Austronesian Language of 
West New Guinea/. PhD Dissertation.Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh.

The second example, which I just came across, and which prompted this 
query, is Australian English.In the Wikipedia entry for Australian 
English, in a paragraph which deals with the infensification of 
adjectives, the following rather tantalizing passage occurs:

"In informal speech, incomplete comparisons are sometimes used, such as 
"sweet as" (as in "That car is sweet as.")."

So here it's comparative 'as' rather than 'arrive'/'until' that comes 
after the word being intensified, but still, all these cases seem to 
involve intensification with the elision of some kind of argument 
associated with the property word and denoting an extreme extent of the 
property in question.

My questions:

1.Could speakers of Australian English please confirm the existence of 
this construction, and comment on it.Does it occur in other varieties of 
English?(It was certainly completely new to me!)

2.Is anybody familiar with possible cases of Elided Intensification in 
other languages, in Australia, New Guinea or elsewhere?On the flimsy 
basis of three examples, it looks like an Australian / New Guinea areal 
feature: is this the case?For the Australia / New Guinea region I'd also 
appreciate negative data, of the form "no, my language definitely 
doesn't do this".

3.Any further comments and suggestions ...

Thanks,

David

-- 
David Gil
  
Senior Scientist (Associate)
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
  
Email: gil at shh.mpg.de
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81344082091

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