[Lingtyp] Query: Elided Intensification

Sun Apr 11 23:17:15 UTC 2021

I remember an 'as good as' in one of the Harry Potter films (I think it was
the Order of the Phoenix?). This is where Mrs. Wheasley says of Harry 'He's
as good as' with reference to him not being her actual son.

Jess Tauber

On Sun, Apr 11, 2021 at 6:36 PM David Gil <gil at shh.mpg.de> wrote:

> Thanks to those who have responded to my query so far, either to me
> personally or on the list.
>
> 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 *sampe* and (Australian) English *as* usually occur in
> construction with another, following expression (or "complement").
>
> 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 *as* construction as being
> associated with a "particular intonation", since the same is true also for
> the Papuan Malay construction with *sampe*.  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 *sampe* is associated
> with low pitch, sounding like an afterthought).
>
> David
>
>
> On 12/04/2021 00:58, Ilana Mushin wrote:
>
> 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).
>
> Ilana
>
> Associate Professor Ilana Mushin
>
> Reader in Linguistics
>
> President, Australian Linguistic Society
>
>
>
> [image:
> /var/folders/lv/m77kqy0n4x1_rcd3pk0j2n900000gq/T/com.microsoft.Outlook/WebArchiveCopyPasteTempFiles/il.pb.png]
> Co-Editor, *Interactional Linguistics* (https://benjamins.com/catalog/il)
>
>
>
> School of Languages and Cultures
>
> University of Queensland
>
> St Lucia, QLD 4072.
>
> Ph: (07) 3365 6810 <(07)%203365%206810>
>
>
>
> CRICOS Provider No: 00025B
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>
>
> *I acknowledge the Jagera and Turrbal peoples on whose land I live and
> work. Their sovereignty was never ceded.*
>
> On 12 Apr 2021, at 5:27 am, David Gil <gil at shh.mpg.de> <gil at shh.mpg.de>
> wrote:
>
> 
>
> 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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> --
> 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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