Zu sprachlichen Strategien der Adjektivintensivierung im Deutschen
Linguistic Strategies of Adjective Meaning Intensification in German

Summary/Abstract: Present-day German displays a remarkably wide range of lexical means that intensify characteristics expressed by adjectives, like adjectival phrases with degree particles, compound and prefixed adjectives, comparative idioms, or frozen binomials, among others. This impressive structural variety is accompanied by an equally differentiated spectrum of expressive markings, pragmatic functions and usage registers for the devices rendering intensification. The present paper has a twofold purpose: firstly, to provide a basic linguistic analysis of such intensifying construction types. Secondly, a brief formal, stylistic and functional comparison of adjectival intensifiers will lead to more general conclusions concerning the fundamental architecture of the cognitive domain of intensity in German.

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