[Lingtyp] Query: Elided Intensification

[Joey Lovestrand]

Hi David,



Something similar happens with the preposition *jusqu’à *at the end of a
sentence for at least some African French speakers. The examples I have are
of French translations done by Barayin speakers in Chad, but I have a faint
recollection of this also being common in Cameroonian French. When spoken
there would often be a rising intensity and possibly an elongated final
vowel.



Kalas

killa

na

abb-e-ti

tak

tak

tak

kol-e

that's.all(A)

2SG.M

BG

follow-PRF-OBJ.3SG.F

IDEO

IDEO

IDEO

go-PRF

Chadian translator: et puis tu l'as suivi jusqu'a

My interpretation: ‎‎You follow her until she's gone



ti

sule

ŋ

n̰eet-o

n̰eet-o

na

damman

damman

de

kee

SBJ.3SG.F

PROG

PREP

advance-INF

advance-INF

BG

until

until

REL.SG.F

DUR(Ar)

Chadian translator: en train d'établir un peu sa santé jusqu'a

My interpretation: ‎‎It [the cow’s health] is getting better and better



Note that in these examples there is no preposition in the source text.





Joey

On Sun, Apr 11, 2021 at 8:26 PM 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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