THE GRAMMATICALIZATION AND PRAGMATICALIZATION OF INTENSIFYING ADVERBS IN ENGLISH: A CLOSER LOOK AT ‘REALLY’
THE GRAMMATICALIZATION AND PRAGMATICALIZATION OF INTENSIFYING ADVERBS IN ENGLISH: A CLOSER LOOK AT ‘REALLY’

Summary/Abstract: Intensifiers in English appear to be at the junction of grammar and lexis thanksto an unachieved process of grammaticalization. They are sometimes also subjected topragmaticalization processes. This paper discusses the case of the intensifying adverb ‘really’.After laying down the theoretical framework used to analyze the various uses of this intensifyingadverb, this paper presents the various uses of really through a corpus-based study. The focus isthen put on the criteria that make ‘really’ a grammaticalized adverb before investigating to whatextent it can be considered as an instance of pragmaticalization.

• Details
• Contents