[Lingtyp] Query: Elided Intensification

[Sebastian Nordhoff]

Dear David,
in German, you hear "Als ob!" 'As if!' as a reply to surprising
statements, mainly by younger speakers, eg

A: "Ich habe 100 EUR auf der Straße gefunden" 'I found 100 EUR on the
street'
B: "Als ob!"

To me, the sentence is definitely incomplete and makes me cringe. "ob"
has to be followed by a subordinate clause "als ob das wahr sein
könnte!" 'as if this could (possibly) be true!' Older speakers would
more likely use "Das kann doch gar nicht wahr sein!" 'That cannot be true!"

I realize that this is different from what you are asking for in your
original question, but there is definitely elided content, and it is a
context related to exaggeration/abundance/excessivity.

Best wishes
Sebastian




On 4/11/21 9:26 PM, David Gil 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
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Lingtyp mailing list
> Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
>