33.646, Qs: Approximative Numerals with Emotive Content?

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-33-646. Fri Feb 18 2022. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 33.646, Qs: Approximative Numerals with Emotive Content?

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Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2022 04:49:39
From: Amanda Kann [amanda.kann at su.se]
Subject: Approximative Numerals with Emotive Content?

 
I'm looking for corresponding expressions (in any language) to the
approximative numeral phrases in the examples below – conventionalised numeral
expressions which typically express larger approximate numeric quantities and
are used to encode various emotive functions.
I'm interested in the composition and value of these numerals, as well as
their emphatic and emotive functions – if there are other expressions in the
numeral domain in your language(s) that carry a similar illocutionary force, I
would love to hear about them as well!
 
Swedish [swe] (from Bloggmix 2013, accessed through
http://spraakbanken.gu.se/korp)
Det finns nämligen femtioelva sorters myror
'There are actually many types of ants' (lit. 'There are actually fifty-eleven
types of ants')
 
French [fra] (Lavric, 2010)
Il n’y a pas trente-six façons de voir la chose
'There aren't very many ways of seeing the thing' (lit. 'There aren't
thirty-six ways of seeing the thing')
 
Danish [dan] (from OpenSubtitles2018, accessed through http://opus.nlpl.eu)
Han fortalte mig 117 gange, at han ikke gjorde hende noget
'He told me a thousand times that he didn't do anything to her' (lit. 'He told
me 117 times that he didn't do anything to her')
 
English [eng] (from OpenSubtitles2018, accessed through http://opus.nlpl.eu)
For the umpteenth time, we are not getting a dog
 

Lavric, E. (2010). Hyperbolic Approximative Numerals in Cross-Cultural
Comparison. In G. Kaltenböck, W. Mihatsch, & S. Schneider (Eds.), New
Approaches to Hedging (pp. 123–164). BRILL.
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004253247_008
 

Linguistic Field(s): General Linguistics
                     Translation
                     Typology



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