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    <p>Thanks to those who have responded to my query so far, either to
      me personally or on the list.</p>
    <p>I'd like to clarify what I had in mind by "elided" or
      "incomplete".  I am using these terms grammatically /
      semantically, to express the intuition that there's something
      missing after the intensifier, given that forms such as Papuan
      Malay <i>sampe</i> and (Australian) English <i>as</i> usually
      occur in construction with another, following expression (or
      "complement").</p>
    <p>I was not implying that the construction in question should
      "sound incomplete" (to use Ilana's words below).  But it's
      interesting that she characterizes the Australian English <i>as</i>
      construction as being associated with a "particular intonation",
      since the same is true also for the Papuan Malay construction with
      <i>sampe</i>.  Though the specifics of the intonation contour seem
      to differ (in Papuan Malay, the peak of the contour falls on the
      preceding word, while the intensifier <i>sampe</i> is associated
      with low pitch, sounding like an afterthought).</p>
    <p>David</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 12/04/2021 00:58, Ilana Mushin
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
      cite="mid:AFFDBDC0-0851-46E1-9151-D26AFAEE8AB3@uq.edu.au">
      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
      I can also confirm ‘sweet as’ in Australian English. I’ve seen it
      on advertising billboards. I think the construction ‘X as’ can be
      somewhat productive - eg I’ve certainly heard ‘dumb as’.  There is
      a particular intonation that goes with the construction - the ‘as’
      is lengthened  and has a rise-fall contour so it doesn’t sound
      incomplete (this is impressionistic - someone may have a better
      idea of the prosody than me). 
      <div><br>
      </div>
      <div>Ilana<br>
        <br>
        <div dir="ltr">
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Associate
              Professor Ilana Mushin<o:p></o:p></span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Reader
              in Linguistics<o:p></o:p></span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">President,
              Australian Linguistic Society<o:p></o:p></span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img
                webkitattachmentid="166167bc-e554-436f-9b85-caefd9cc9de6"
                id="Picture_x0020_1"
                src="cid:image001.png@01D66B4B.271B7B40"
alt="/var/folders/lv/m77kqy0n4x1_rcd3pk0j2n900000gq/T/com.microsoft.Outlook/WebArchiveCopyPasteTempFiles/il.pb.png"
                style="width: 0.6041in; height: 0.8125in;"
                data-unique-identifier="" moz-do-not-send="true"
                width="58" height="78">Co-Editor, <i>Interactional
                Linguistics</i> (<a
                href="https://benjamins.com/catalog/il"
                moz-do-not-send="true">https://benjamins.com/catalog/il</a>) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"
              lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span
                lang="EN-US">School of Languages and Cultures</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span
                lang="EN-US">University of Queensland</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span
                lang="EN-US">St Lucia, QLD 4072.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ph: <a
                href="tel:(07)%203365%206810" dir="ltr"
                x-apple-data-detectors="true"
                x-apple-data-detectors-type="telephone"
                x-apple-data-detectors-result="1" moz-do-not-send="true">(07)
                3365 6810</a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">CRICOS
              Provider No: 00025B<o:p></o:p></span></p>
          <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span
              style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></p>
          <div>
            <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><b
                style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I
                acknowledge the Jagera and Turrbal peoples on whose
                land I live and work. Their sovereignty was never ceded.</b></p>
          </div>
        </div>
        <div dir="ltr"><br>
          <blockquote type="cite">On 12 Apr 2021, at 5:27 am, David Gil
            <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de"><gil@shh.mpg.de></a> wrote:<br>
            <br>
          </blockquote>
        </div>
        <blockquote type="cite">
          <div dir="ltr">
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">Dear all,<br>
              </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"><br>
              </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">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'.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>I'll explain with an example.<span
                  style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>In Papuan Malay,
                property-denoting and some other words may be
                intensified by the addition of
                <i>sampe</i>, a word whose other, more basic functions,
                include 'arrive' and 'until', e.g.</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">(1)
                <span style="mso-tab-count:1">      </span>Enak sampe</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-tab-count:1">           
                </span>nice SAMPE</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"><span style="mso-tab-count:1">           
                </span>'Very nice.'</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">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)".<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>As Papuan Malay is largely head-initial, it kind
                of feels like something is missing after the word
                <i>sampe</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">  </span>(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.)</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">So far, I am familiar with two other
                potential cases of Elided Intensification.<span
                  style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>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.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>As described by Arnold (2018:145, pers comm), <i>aya</i>
                'until' is used in a construction closely resembling
                that in (1):</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
                Roman";
                mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">(2)
                <span style="mso-tab-count:1">      </span>Anlómo aya </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
                Roman";
                mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span
                  style="mso-tab-count:1">           
                </span>bleed.3SG.INAN AYA </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
                Roman";
                mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"><span
                  style="mso-tab-count:1">           
                </span>‘It bled a lot.’</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"
              style="margin-left:27.0pt;text-align:justify;text-justify:
inter-ideograph;text-indent:-27.0pt;mso-pagination:widow-orphan
              lines-together">
              <span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">Arnold,
                Laura. 2018.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">A Grammar
                  of Ambel, An Austronesian Language of West New Guinea</i>.
                PhD Dissertation.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh.</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">The second example, which I just came
                across, and which prompted this query, is Australian
                English.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>In the Wikipedia entry for Australian English, in
                a paragraph which deals with the infensification of
                adjectives, the following rather tantalizing passage
                occurs:</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
                Roman";
                mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">"In
                informal speech, incomplete comparisons are sometimes
                used, such as "sweet as" (as in "That car is sweet
                as.")."</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
                Roman";
                mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New
                Roman";
                mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin">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.</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">My questions:</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">1.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>Could speakers of Australian English please
                confirm the existence of this construction, and comment
                on it.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>Does it occur in other varieties of English?<span
                  style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>(It was certainly completely new to me!)</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">2.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>Is anybody familiar with possible cases of Elided
                Intensification in other languages, in Australia, New
                Guinea or elsewhere?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>On the flimsy basis of three examples, it looks
                like an Australian / New Guinea areal feature: is this
                the case?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>For the Australia / New Guinea region I'd also
                appreciate negative data, of the form "no, my language
                definitely doesn't do this".</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">3.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> 
                </span>Any further comments and suggestions ...</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">Thanks,</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US">David</span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                style="mso-bidi-font-family:Calibri;
                mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-ansi-language:EN-US"
                lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
            <p>
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            <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
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: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de" moz-do-not-send="true">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81344082091</pre>
            <span>_______________________________________________</span><br>
            <span>Lingtyp mailing list</span><br>
            <span><a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org">Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a></span><br>
            <span><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp">http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp</a></span><br>
          </div>
        </blockquote>
      </div>
    </blockquote>
    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
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: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-526117713
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81344082091</pre>
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