[Lingtyp] Query: Elided Intensification

Frans Plank frans.plank at uni-konstanz.de
Mon Apr 12 09:09:40 UTC 2021 


Sent from my iPad

> On 12. Apr 2021, at 09:58, Guillaume Segerer <guillaume.segerer at cnrs.fr> wrote:
> 
>  Dear all
> 
> In Joola (Niger-Congo, Atlantic, Keeraak variety), nɔɔn means 'as' or 'like', as in the following examples :
> 
> dɔmɔ fʊtɛm nɔɔn wah warɛɛmɛ
> COP.IMPERS smell.IMPERF 'as' thing has-burnt
> 'it smells as if something has burnt' (French: 'ça sent comme si quelque chose avait brûlé')
> 
> hʊkɛn ɩnjɛ ɩ-cɔkɔm barɛ i-sim nɔɔn ɛbɔɔs
> yesterday I 1sg-wound.PERF but 1sg-bleed 'like' cow
> 'Yesterday I got wounded and I bleeded like a cow' (French 'hier je me suis blessé et j'ai saigné comme une vache')
> 
> It may also be used as an intensifier :
> 
> sɩnaŋas si-suum-e nɔɔn
> cooked_rice AGR-be.good-PERF nɔɔn
> 'the rice is very good'
> 
> na-cab-ɛ nɔɔn ɛɬakɛnay
> 3sg-do.quickly-PERF nɔɔn INF.cook
> He did the cooking very quickly
> 
> nʊ-ŋəmi-e nɔɔn jabajɔɔraj jala di baɲɩɩlab
> 2sg-love-PERF nɔɔn INF.scold of at children
> 'you really love to scold children'
> 
> In Joola, qualities are mostly expressed by verbs. As can be seen in the above examples, nɔɔn always appears after verbs, and I have no counterexample (but the number of examples is not that high...). These constructions may be considered as 'elided', since they may often (always ?) be completed by the word bəjəəm, for which none of my consultants could provide a translation... (this reminds me of the French expression 'comme tout' in 'il est gentil comme tout') :
> suum-e nɔɔn ~ suum-e nɔɔn bəjəəm
> IMPERS.be.good-PERF nɔɔn ~ IMPERS.be.good-PERF as ????
> 'it is very good'
> 
> Unfortunately, my knowledge of the language does not allow me to be more precise. I still hope this may help.
> 
> Guillaume

Und wie, Guillaume!  (Which is German.)

Frans
> 
> 
> Le 12/04/2021 à 00:35, David Gil a écrit :
>> 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
>>> 
>>>  
>>> 
>>> 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
>>> 
>>>  
>>> 
>>> CRICOS Provider No: 00025B
>>> 
>>>  
>>> 
>>> 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> 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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> 
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