About some intensity modifiers in the Slovenian and Bosnian language Cover Image

O modifikatorima moći ili intenziteta u bosanskom i slovenskom jeziku
About some intensity modifiers in the Slovenian and Bosnian language

Author(s): Vesna Mikolič
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Semantics, Pragmatics
Published by: Slavistički komitet BiH
Keywords: intercultural pragmatics; semantics; Bosnian language; Slovenian language; illocutionary force; language intensity modification;

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the pragmatic and semantic aspects of intensity modification of some Slovenian and Bosnian lexemes. When the Bosnian-Slovenian dictionary, published in 2014 by the Slavic Committee from Sarajevo and Cultural-Educational Institute Averroes from Ljubljana, was being made by Senahid Halilović and Amra Halilović, we could observe how illocutionary force, connected to the language intensity, is expressed through Slovenian and Bosnian lexis.It is about the approach of intercultural pragmatics as a modern approach which deals with the contrastive pragmatic-semantic analysis of different languages and cultures, but which mostly focuses on the conversational style and illocutionary force that are unequivocally culturally determined. We analyzed some lingusitic means of intensity modification in Bosnian and Slovenian with regard to their form and meaning, and at the same time highlighted the factors that influence the type of language intensity modification. Culture is one of the important factors, which influences what kind of language tools the speaker uses to convince the addressee more: either by using words with a mitigated or reinforced, i.e. additional meaning, or by intensifying or otherwise mitigating the meaning of some words. The size of the word families with words of different language intensity in certain social areas defines the significance of these areas in a specific culture. Thus, the design of the dictionary should foresee qualifiers related to the language intensity modification. Certainly, the traditional printed dictionary and the modern web dictionary offer various options.

  • Issue Year: II/2019
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 63-71
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: Bosnian