ABSTRACT
In this article we analyze the morphosyntactic, syntactic, and semantic properties of intensifier adjectives in Brazilian Portuguese. To map their distribution, we have applied tests of word order, definiteness, and types of phrases and sentences in which they occur. As a result, we found the following main patterns: (i) they are used exclusively preposed to the modified element, (ii) they appear in definite and indefinite noun phrases, (iii) they can be used in exclamative sentences, and (iv) they can occur in noun phrases with multiple instantiation of indefinite determiners. Regarding the lexical categories they modify, we observed two major groups: those which modify only nouns (viz., baita ‘≈ great’, bruta ‘brute’, senhor(a) ‘sir, lady’, puta ‘whore’), and those which modify nouns and items of other lexical categories (viz., mega ‘mega’, hiper ‘hyper’, super ‘super’). The aforementioned properties shed light on the controversial morphological status of mega, hiper, and super. Although these modifiers are assumed to be prefixes, we claim they are independent adjectives. This assumption allows us to readily explain data such as supermercado ‘supermarket’, mega-feirão ‘big sale’, and hipercorreção ‘hypercorrection’, analyzing them as A-N compounds, oppositely to what the literature has been claiming.
Noun Phrase; Modification; Intensifier Adjectives
RESUMO
Neste artigo, analisamos as propriedades e a distribuição dos adjetivos intensificadores no português brasileiro, tendo em vista suas propriedades morfossintáticas, sintáticas e semânticas. Submetemos os dados a testes com o propósito de verificar seu comportamento em relação à ordem, definitude, e tipo de sentenças e sintagmas em que ocorrem. A partir disso, propomos algumas generalizações com relação à sua distribuição: (i) são exclusivamente prepostos, (ii) ocorrem em sintagmas definidos e indefinidos, (iii) ocorrem em sentenças exclamativas, e (iv) podem ser empregados em contextos de duplicação de determinante em sintagmas nominais indefinidos. No que concerne à categoria lexical que modificam, observamos a formação de dois subgrupos: aqueles que modificam apenas nomes (viz., baita, bruta, senhor(a), puta) e aqueles que modificam nomes e palavras de outra natureza categorial (viz., mega, hiper, super). Essas considerações nos fornecem um conjunto de informações sobre a controversa natureza morfológica de mega, hiper e super. Embora sejam tratados como prefixos, argumentamos que essa análise não é plausível. Em contrapartida, sugerimos que tais formas sejam consideradas adjetivos autônomos. Essa assunção, por sua vez, permite-nos explicar facilmente formações como supermercado, mega-feirão e hipercorreção, analisando-as como compostos de combinação categorial A-N, contrariamente ao que a literatura vem assumindo.
Sintagma nominal; Modificação; Adjetivos intensificadores
Introduction
Intensification is associated with any device capable of grading a particular quality, for maximum, minimum, and average degrees, and natural languages express this mechanism in different ways. It is possible to intensify by means of idioms (1a, 1b), exclamative expressions (1c), lexical items (1d, 1e), degree words (1f), degree morphemes (1g), among other lexical and syntactic strategies.
(1)a. Estou morto de fome.
be.1.SG.PRES dead of hunger
‘I’m starving.’
b. Ele é um idiota com “i” maiúsculo.
he is an idiot with “i” upper case
‘He is a capital I idiot.’
c. Que filme!
what movie
‘What a movie!’
d. Ele é um perfeito idiota.
he is a perfect idiot
‘He is such an idiot.’
e. Esse aluno é muito dedicado.
this student is very dedicated
‘This student is very dedicated.’
f. Ela é mais competente do que seu irmão.
she is more competent than your brother
‘She is more competent than your brother’
g. Ela é inteligent-íssima.
she is intelligent-INTENS
‘She is very intelligent.’
In this article we analyze the properties and distribution of lexical items identified as intensifier adjectives in Brazilian Portuguese (BP). In order to achieve this, we have established the following taxonomy of intensifier modifiers, which allowed us to circumscribe our domain of investigation:
I.Innovative adjectival intensifiers:1 postposed adjectives which are currently used before the modified element, projecting an evaluative scale (e.g., tremendo(a) ‘tremendous’, bruto(a) ‘great’, from the postposed adjective bruto(a) ‘brute, violent’).
II.Denominal intensifiers: intensifiers which have a homophonous nominal counterpart (e.g., puta – from the noun puta ‘whore’, senhor(a) – from the treatment pronoun senhor(a) ‘sir/lady’, baita ‘great’2 2 Baita cannot easily be inserted in any of our six major classes. It cannot be considered innovative, since there is no adjective baita occurring postposed to a modified noun, and, on the other hand, baita does not have classical origins. We suspect that baita is a denominal adjective whose nominal counterpart is no longer available. ).
III.Borrowed intensifiers: intensifiers of classical or Germanic origins (e.g., mega ‘mega’, super ‘super’, hiper ‘hyper’, big ‘great’).
IV.Prototypical intensifiers: adverbs which no longer modify verbs, but intensify adjectives and adverbs (e.g., muito ‘very’, extremamente ‘extremely’, extraordinariamente ‘extraordinarily’, completamente ‘completely’, etc.).
V.Adnominal degree modifiers: modifiers which only take degree nouns (e.g., verdadeiro(a) ‘true’, total ‘total’, grande ‘big’, completo(a) ‘complete’, perfeito(a) ‘perfect’; Cf. MORZYCKI, 2012MORZYCKI, M. The several faces of adnominal degree modification. In: CHOI, J. et al. Proceedings of the 29th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 2012. p.187-195. 1 CD-ROM.).
VI.Prefixed intensifiers: prefixed intensifiers, usually of classical origins (e.g., ultra-, extra-, and tri-).3 3 Gonçalves (2002) and Alves (2009) list a set of suffixed intensifiers in BP, such as -aço, -érrimo, -íssimo, etc. We have set them aside, since our main purpose is to analyze intensification made by adjectives, and discuss the morphological status of intensifier adjectives of classical origins, like mega, hiper, and super, which are argued to be prefixed intensifiers (Cf. ALVES, 1980, 2000, 2006, 2009, 2011, for all forms; and SCHWINDT, 2001, for hiper).
Intensifier or degree properties are usually linked to adverbs whose main semantic function is to intensify adjectives or other adverbs – i.e., the prototypical intensifiers in IV –, modifying them without triggering agreement, as exemplified in (2):
(2)a. muito inteligente/ pouco animado
very intelligent little excited
‘very intelligent’ ‘little excited’
b. mais calmo/ menos intenso
more calm less intense
‘calmer’ ‘less intense’
In our discussion, we will concentrate on the intensifiers in I, II, and III, despite being aware that their category status is still a point of contention, which deserves a careful investigation. For general purposes, we admit that II- and III-intensifiers are adjectives since they share distributional properties with I-intensifiers. What we consider to be intensifier adjectives in BP modify mainly nouns, as we can observe in (3).
(3)a. uma tremenda briga
a tremendous fight
‘a tremendous fight’
b. uma baita chuva
a great rain
‘a heavy rain’
c. um puta emprego
a whore job
‘a great job’
d. uma mega oferta
a mega offer
‘a big offer’
It is important to distinguish the intensifier adjectives in (3) from the so-called adnominal degree modifiers in (4).
(4)a. um verdadeiro desastre
a true disaster
‘a true disaster’
b. um total domínio
a total domain
‘a complete knowledge’
c. um grande idiota
a great idiot
‘a great idiot’
d. um completo imbecil
a complete jerk
‘a complete jerk’
For Morzycki (2012)MORZYCKI, M. The several faces of adnominal degree modification. In: CHOI, J. et al. Proceedings of the 29th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 2012. p.187-195. 1 CD-ROM., adnominal degree modifiers are not adjectives, even though they contain adjectival homophones, which occur postposed to the modified element in BP. Unlike their adjectival homophones, adnominal degree modifiers do not display a predicative use. For instance, in (4a), verdadeiro ‘true’ does not have an intensifier reading when it is used postposed to a noun or in a predicative context. In these cases, (4a) would be interpreted as “a disaster that is not false.” Although adnominal degree modifiers are relevant for the study of intensification, they will be discussed peripherally in this work.
We also consider eminently important to establish a taxonomy of degree words, which implies the forfeit of the traditional distinction between adjectives and adverbs. Consequently, we would have to include an additional major class in our current taxonomy in order to cover the intensifiers in (5):
(5)a. Ele é verdadeiramente um idiota.
he is truly an idiot
‘He is truly a fool.’
b. Ele está completamente enganado.
he is completely mistaken
‘He is completely mistaken.’
c. Isso é incrivelmente gigantesco.
this is incredibly gigantic
‘This is incredibly huge.’
d. Ele é meramente um serviçal.
he is merely a servant
‘He is merely a servant.’
Thus our main goal in this article is to provide an account for the distribution of intensifier modifiers in BP, especially the adjectives in I, II, and III, based on a set of morphosyntactic, syntactic, and semantic tests. We also advance the discussion of the morphological status of borrowed intensifiers, claiming they cannot be analyzed as prefixes. The article is laid out as follows: (i) we present the morphosyntactic and syntactic properties of intensifier adjectives, defining their linear position, the lexical categories they modify, their agreement patterns, the phrases and sentences in which they appear, and noun phrases with multiple indefinite determiners; (ii) we assess the prefixed nature of class III-intensifiers.
In sum, we argue that intensifier modifiers constitute an internally complex class of modifiers, which requires a typological classification capable of distinguishing true adjectives from adnominal degree modifiers, and possibly from degree nouns (BOLINGER, 1972BOLINGER, D. Degree words. The Hague: Mouton, 1972.). In addition, we claim that borrowed intensifiers are not prefixes, but compounds made up of an adjective plus a noun.
Morphosyntactic and syntactic properties of intensifier adjectives
In this section, we present the distribution of intensifier adjectives in BP regarding their morphosyntactic and syntactic properties: (a) linear order, (b) lexical categories they modify, (c) agreement relations in their minimal domain, and (d) types of phrases and sentences in which they occur. Our primary aim is to assess whether the above-mentioned intensifier modifiers can integrate a uniform class of modifiers in BP.
Linear Order
Regarding linear order, intensifier adjectives occur exclusively preposed to a modified element. It is worth pointing out that some adjectives, mainly the innovative adjectives, have a homophonous counterpart that occurs postposed to the modified element without triggering an intensification reading (e.g., umabrutaleoa lit. a brute lioness ‘a big lioness’ vs. uma leoabruta lit. a lioness brute ‘a violent lioness’).
(6) Pre-nominal position Post-nominal position
a.umbaitahomem a’. *um homem baita
a great man a man great
‘a big/great man’ Intended: ‘a big/great man’
b.umabrutachuva b’. *uma chuva bruta
a brute rain a rain brute
‘a heavy rain’ Intended: ‘a heavy rain’
c.umtremendovendaval c’. um vendaval tremendo
a tremendous windstorm a windstorm tremendous
‘a heavy windstorm’ ‘a heavy windstorm’
d.umputalivro d’. *um livro puta
a whore book a book whore
‘a great book’ Intended: ‘a great book’
e.umasenhorafesta e’. *uma festa senhora
a lady party a party lady
‘a great party’ Intended: ‘a great party’
f.umamegapromoção f’. ?uma promoção mega
a mega sale a sale mega
‘a big sale’ Intended: ‘a big sale’
g.umahiperdeclaração g’. *uma declaração hiper
a hyper statement a statement hyper
‘a great statement’ Intended: ‘a great statement’
h.umasuperfesta h’. *uma festa super
a super party a party super
‘a super party’ Intended: ‘a super party’
Example (6c), in particular, diverges from the others. It made us to reconsider the characterization of tremendo ‘tremendous’ as an intensifier adjective. However, its behavior in other tests favors the option to include it in the intensifier modifier class, as we shall see below.
Lexical category of the modified elements
Intensifier adjectives are not uniform with respect to the lexical categories they modify. Intensifier adjectives such as bruto(a) ‘brute’, senhor(a) ‘sir, lady’ and big ‘great’ modify only nouns (7). The rest of the intensifier adjectives can modify elements of other lexical categories, such as adjectives, as in (8). Nevertheless, when intensifier adjectives modify verbs, they denote a certainty with respect to the verbal action, rather than an intensification interpretation, as we can observe in (9).
(7)a. Eles tomaram um bruto susto.
they took a brute fright
‘They got a huge fright.’
a’. *Ele é um menino bruto bonito.
he is a boy brute beautiful
Intended: ‘He is a very beautiful boy.’
b. Ela comprou um senhor aspirador-de-pó.
she bought a sir vacuum-cleaner
‘She bought a great vacuum-cleaner.’
b’. *Ela é sempre senhora simpática.
she is always lady nice
Intended: ‘She is always very nice.’
c. Eles tiveram uma big surpresa.
they had a great surprise
‘They had a great surprise.’
c’. *Eles foram n-uma apresentação big interessante.
they went in-a presentation great interesting
Intended: ‘They went to a very interesting presentation.’
(8)a. Eu achei esses caras uns baita sacanas com a pobre menina.
I thought these guys a great bastard with the poor girl
‘I think these guys were a hell bastard with the poor girl.’
b. Ele é fofo e tremendo simpático.
he is cute and tremendous nice
‘He is cute and very nice.’
c. Ela está mega empolgada com a festa.
she is mega excited with the party
‘She is very excited with the party.’
d. Eles estão hiper animados para viajar na sexta.
they are hyper excited-PL to travel on-the Friday
‘They very excited to travel on Friday.’
e. Ela está super feliz com o prêmio que ganhou.
she is super happy with the prize that won
‘She is very happy with the prize she won.’
f. Dá pra perceber que ele é um cara puta nojento.
give to perceive that he is a guy whore disgusting
‘You can see that he’s a fucking disgusting guy.’
(9)a. Eu super falo isso.
I super speak it
‘I certainly speak it/this way.’
b. Sinceramente, eu hiper gostaria de saber a opinião de vocês.
sincerely I hyper would-like of know the opinion of you
‘I do want to know your opinion.’
c. Eu mega iria no show da Madonna.
I mega would-go in-the concert of Madonna
‘I would certainly go to Madonna’s concert.’
d. Eu super hiper quero esse celular.
I super hyper want this cellphone
‘I do want this cellphone.’
It is worth mentioning that intensifier adjectives which modify nouns can also intensify modified nouns, such as those in (10), a characteristic pointed out for puta ‘whore’, by Guimarães (2011)GUIMARÃES, M. Restrições morfo-sintáticas sobre os APs internos ao DP em PB. In: CONGRESSO INTERNACIONAL DA ASSOCIAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE LINGUÍSTICA, 7., 2011. Anais…Curitiba: Abralin, 2011. 1 CD-ROM. and Oliveira (2013)OLIVEIRA, R. P. de. A gramática do sentido na escola. In: MARTINS, M. A. (Org.). Gramática e ensino. Natal: EDUFRN, 2013.p.231-262.. Furthermore, intensifier adjectives capable of modifying other adjectives can also intensify attributive adjectives in post-nominal position, as exemplified in (11):
(10)a. Um baita homem musculoso.
a great man muscular
‘A big muscled man’
b. Uma bruta chuva forte.
a brute rain strong
‘A huge heavy rain’
c. Um tremendo cara feio.
a tremendous guy ugly
‘A big ugly guy’
d. Um puta cara lindo.
a whore guy handsome
‘A very handsome guy’
e. Uma senhora cara feia.
a lady face ugly
‘A big ugly face’
f. Um mega carro esportivo
a mega car sporting
‘A great sporting car’
g. Uma super ideia louca.
a super idea crazy
‘A big crazy idea’
h. Um hiper desconto repentino.
a hyper discount sudden
‘A big sudden discount’
i. Uma big festa animada.
a big party excited
‘A huge cool party’
(11)a. Um marido baita sacana.
a husband great bastard
‘A very idiot husband’
b. Um cara tremendo idiota.
a guy tremendous idiot.
‘A very idiot guy’
c. Uma moça mega inteligente.
a girl mega intelligent
‘A very intelligent girl’
d. Um menino hiper animado.
a boy hyper excited
‘A very excited boy’
e. Um filme super interessante.
a movie super interesting
‘A very interesting movie’
f. Uma cerveja puta gelada.
a beer whore cold
‘A very cold beer’
In (10), the preferred interpretation is the one in which [homem musculoso] ‘muscled man’ is intensified as a whole, rather than separately. Once the intensification reading is preferably assigned to the primary element to the right, only adjectives can be the modified elements in (11). Additionally, intensifier modifiers do not allow double modification, i.e. contexts in which an intensifier adjective modifies a noun already modified by an intensifier adjective, without any pause between the modifiers. Double modification, whether possible (considering pauses), would induce an ascending scale of intensity (e.g., super, hiper festa ‘a hell of a party’).
(12)a. *Eu sempre tenho uma puta mega cólica.
I always have a whore mega colic
Intended: ‘I always have a very painful colic.’
b. ?Ele tem um senhor tremendo emprego.
he has a sir tremendous job
Intended: ‘He has a very good job.’
c. *Eles compraram um mega baita avião.
they bought a mega great airplane
Intended: ‘They bought a very big airplane.’
d. *Ela deu uma super bruta festa.
she gave a super brute party
Intended: ‘She threw a very big party.’
Agreement relations local to the modified element
The behavior of intensifier adjectives in agreement relations varies considerably. These adjectives are preferably used with no agreement markers, such as number and gender, as we can see in number agreement examples in (13).
(13)a. Ele trabalha com un-s baita/ ?baita-s homen-s.
he works with a-PL great great-PL man-PL
‘He works with very big men.’
b. Ela sempre tem uma-s bruta/ ?bruta-s dor(es) de cabeça.
she always have a-PL brute brute-PL pain-PL of head
‘She always has very painful headaches.’
c. Sempre acontece un-s tremendo/ tremendo-s vendaval-(is) aqui.
always happen a-PL tremendous tremendous-PL windstorm-PL here
‘There are always very heavy windstorms here.’
d. Eles importaram un-s puta/ *puta-s aviõ-es.
they imported a-PL whore whore-PL airplane-PL
‘They’ve imported very big airplanes.’
e. Ela comprou un-s senhor/*senhor-es tapete-s.
she bought a-PL sir sir-PL carpet-PL
‘She bought some very big carpets.’
f. Ele adora uma-s mega/ ?mega-s promoçõ-es.
he loves a-PL mega mega-PL sale-PL
‘He loves some big sales.’
g. Nós compramos un-s hiper/ *hiper-(e)s apartamento-s.
we bought a-PL hyper hyper-PL apartment-PL
‘We bought very some good apartments.’
h. Elas sempre vão a uma-s super/ *super(e)s festas.
they always go to a-PL super super-PL party-PL
‘They always go to some terrific parties.’
In (13), while some adjectives do not display number marking (e.g., puta ‘whore’, hiper ‘hyper’, and super ‘super’), others seem to allow number agreement with the modified noun (e.g., baita ‘great’, bruta ‘brute’, tremendo ‘tremendous’, senhor(a) ‘sir, lady’, and mega ‘mega’). A quick search on Google, however, showed cases in which number agreement is allowed with all the adjectives (14). Our hypothesis is that, once these cases were found in a written modality, number agreement emerges as a hypercorrection strategy, since in spoken language it is optional.
(14)a. Boas ideias. Baitas negócio-s.4 4 Available in: <http://www.diarinho.com.br/materias.cfm?caderno=25&materia=73671>, collected in August 31, 2014.
good ideas great-PL business-PL
‘Good ideas. Great business.’
b. Apenas uma jogada de risco e depois tremendo-s susto-s que
just a move of risk and later tremendous-PL fright-PL that
minaram a tranquilidade brasileira. 5 5 Available in: <http://migre.me/qmISM>, collected in September 02, 2014.
undermined the stability Brazilian
‘Just a risk play and then big frights that undermined Brazilian stability.’
c. Eu conheci o Petrucci, o Mustaine e o Kerry King e troquei
I met the Petrucci the Mustaine and the Kerry King and exchange
uma-s puta-s ideia-ssobre aparelhagem com os três. 6 6 Available in: <http://www.hardmob.com.br/boteco-hardmob/55386-genios-da-guitarra-ql-vcprefere-2.html>, collected in September 02, 2014.
a-PL whore-PL idea-PL about equipment with the three
‘I’ve met Petrucci, Mustaine, and Kerry King, and I’ve talked about equipments with them.’
d. Eu não fiquei traumatizada, mas levei senhor-es susto-s!7 7 Available in: <https://br.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130917173328AA0enBZ>, collected in August 31, 2014.
I not stayed traumatized but took sir-PL fright-PL
‘I was not traumatized, but I got huge frights!’
e. (...) e quer-o dar un-s mega-s tabefe-s no meu irmão.8 8 Available in: <http://www.amordoce.com/forum/t21312,2-castiel-acalme-se-o-bullying-ja-vai-acabar.htm>, collected in August 31, 2014.
and want-1.SG give a-PL mega-PL slap-PL in-the my brother
‘(…) and I want to slap my brother.’
f. Tive alguns contratempos com o teste de matemática e un-s
had-1.SG some setbacks with the test of math and a-PL
mega-s trabalho-s, mas resolvi tudo.9 9 Available in: <http://socialspirit.com.br/fanfics/naruto>, collected in August 31, 2014.
mega-PL work-PL but solved-1.SG everything
‘I had some setbacks with the math test and some big troubles, but I’ve solved it all.’
Regarding gender, some intensifier adjectives display gender agreement, such as senhor(a) ‘sir/lady’, bruto(a) ‘brute’, and tremendo(a) ‘tremendous’.
(15)a. Fez du-a-s senhor-a-s apresentaçõ-es no Carnegie Hall.
did-3.SG two-FEM-PL sir-FEM-PL presentation-PL in-the Carnegie Hall
‘S/he made two great presentations at Carnegie Hall.’
b. Conseguiu doi-s senhor-es cargo-s no senado.
got-3.SG two.MASC-PL sir-PL position-PL in-the senate
‘S/he got two great positions in the senate.’
c. Deu um tremend-o vexame.
gave-3.SG a tremendous-MASC embarrassment
‘S/he embarrassed her/himself greatly.’
d. Conseguiu algum-a-s tremend-a-s vantagens.
got-3.SG some-FEM-PL tremendous-FEM-PL advantages
‘They got some great advantages.’
e. Eles fizeram um brut-o investiment-o.
they made a brute-MASC investiment-MASC
‘They’ve made a great investiment’
f. Ele levou um-a brut-a pancad-a.
he took a-FEM brute-FEM punch-FEM
‘He took a swipe.’
Bruto(a) displays a particular behavior. In (15e) and (15f), for instance, this adjective can modify a masculine noun when it is in both masculine and feminine form (e.g., um brut-a investiment-o lit. a brute-FEM investment-MASC). Nevertheless, when the modified noun has feminine gender, the adjective only displays feminine agreement (e.g., um-a brut-a chuv-a lit. a-FEM brute-FEM rain-FEM vs. *um-a brut-o chuv-a lit. a-FEM brute-MASC rain-FEM/ *um brut-o chuv-a lit. a-MASC brute-MASC rain-FEM ‘a heavy rain’).
Such gender asymmetry suggests a direct relationship between the ending vowel -a – corresponding to feminine gender in adjectives – and intensification. This is evidenced by the fact that intensifier adjectives which could potentially inflect in gender display only the ending vowel -a, namely: puta ‘whore’, baita ‘great’, and mega ‘mega’. Additionally, the optionality in gender marking with masculine nouns is not categorical. Depending on the modified noun, gender marking alternation leads to a double interpretation, in which the intensification interpretation is preserved only when the adjective has a feminine gender marker:
(16)a. Um brut-a marido
a.MASC brute-FEM husband
‘A very good husband’
b. Um brut-o marido
a.MASC brute-MASC husband
‘An aggressive husband’
c. Um brut-a soco
a.MASC brute-FEM punch
‘A very strong punch’
d. Um brut-o soco
a.MASC brute-MASC punch
‘A violent punch’
In contrast, hiper ‘hyper’, super ‘super’, and big ‘great’ do not display any number or gender marking:
(17)a. hiper ofert-a
hyper offer-FEM
‘big offer’
b. hiper ofert-a-s
hyper offer-FEM-PL
‘big offers’
c. super promoção
super sale.FEM
‘big sale’
d. super promoçõ-es
super sale.FEM-SG
‘big sales’
e. big fest-a
big party-FEM
‘great party’
f. big fest-a-s
big party-FEM-PL
‘great parties’
We will return to agreement relations with intensifier adjectives after describing noun phrases with multiple agreement makers in the next section.
Types of phrases and sentences
We have verified the distribution of intensifier adjectives in the following syntactic environments: (a) definite vs indefinite noun phrases, (b) predicative sentences, (c) exclamative sentences, and in (c) noun phrases with multiple instantiation of indefinite determiners (e.g., “um x de um y” lit. a x of a y, in which x stands for an intensifier adjective and y for a noun).
Regarding intensifier adjectives and definiteness, we noted that they can easily appear both in definite and indefinite contexts, even though its use in indefinite noun phrases seems to be the preferred option at first sight.
(18)a. Falta um dia para a baita festa d-o CTG.
lack.3.SG one day for the great party of-the CTG
‘There is one day left for the great party of CTG.’
b. A bruta força d-os sentidos.
the brute force of-the senses
‘The great force of senses.’
c. O puta salário pago a-os diretores é de dar inveja.
the whore salary payed to-the directors is of give jealousy
‘The big salary paid to the directors is to die for.’
d. A senhora apresentação que ele fez em Brasília mudou
the lady presentation that he made in Brasilia changed
minha ideia.
my idea
‘The great presentation he made in Brasilia changed my mind.’
e. O tremendo vexame a que fomos expostos.
the tremendous embarrassment to that be.1.PL exposed
‘The tremendous humiliation we were exposed to.’
f. O mega xodozão d-o Pará.
the mega hit of-the Pará
‘The great hit from Pará.’
g. O hiper atentado terrorista repercutiu n-o mundo todo.
the hyper attack terrorist reverberated in-the world entire
‘The great terrorist attack reverberated worldwide.’
h. A super oferta divulgada n-as redes sociais.
the super offer announced in-the net social
‘The super offer announced on social networks.’
In predicative contexts their use is more restricted, since many intensifier adjectives are blocked in predicative position. It is worth investigating whether borrowed intensifiers can indeed appear in predicative position, as signaled in (19), and whether their acceptability is governed by age factors (i.e., whether they are more acceptable among young speakers).
(19)a. *A confusão foi baita.
the mess was great
Intended: ‘It was a great mess.’
b. *O cargo é puta.
the job is whore
Intended: ‘It is a great job.’
c. *A força é bruta.
the force is brute
Intended: ‘It is a great force.’
d. *A apresentação foi senhora.
the presentation was lady
Intended: ‘It was a great presentation.’
e. O vexame foi tremendo.
the embarrassment was tremendous
Intended: ‘It was a tremendous humiliation.’
f. ?A festa foi mega.
the party was mega
Intended: ‘It was a great party.’
g. ?O mercado é super.
the market is super
Intended: ‘It is a very good market.’
h. ??A oferta é hiper.
the offer is hyper
Intended: ‘It is a great offer.’
Again, tremendo ‘tremendous’ diverges from other intensifier adjectives, but we still insist that it should be characterized as such. More arguments in favor of this position will be presented when we analyze noun phrases with multiple indefinite determiners.
Exclamative sentences are another strategy for denoting intensification. Interestingly, all intensifier adjectives can be used in exclamative constructions, as we can see in (20).
(20)a. Que baita falta de caráter!
what great absence of character
‘What a huge lack of character!’
b. Que bruta vontade de vencer!
what brute wish of win
‘What a great will to win!’
c. Que tremenda cara-de-pau!
what tremendous poker face
‘What a tremendous poker face!’
d. Que puta dor-de-cabeça!
what whore headache
‘What a terrible headache!’
e. Que senhora apresentação!
what lady presentation
‘What a great presentation!’
f. Que mega surpresa!
what mega surprise
‘What a great surprise!’
g. Que hiper apartamento!
what hyper apartment
‘What a great apartment!’
h. Que super abraço!
what super hug
‘What a big hug!’
i. Que big festa!
what great party
‘What a terrific party!’
Noun phrases with multiple instantiation of indefinite determiners
A specific construction that employs intensifier adjectives are noun phrases with multiple instantiation of indefinite determiners (viz., “umx deumy” lit. a x of a y), in which x stands for an intensifier adjective. Multiple determiners in noun phrases are a common phenomenon in the realm of intensification and, in general, it is found in modification contexts. This phenomenon is attested in a handful of languages (ALEXIADOU, 2014ALEXIADOU, A. Multiple determiners and the structure of DPs. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2014.)10 10 We thank Janayna Carvalho for indicating the reference. , differing on the grammatical nature of x, whether it is a degree word (e.g., adverbs or quantifiers) (21), or an adjective (22), as in BP:
(21)a. a no a grißa Bua (Bavarian German)
a such a big boy
(KALLULLI; ROTHMAYR, 2008KALLULLI, D.; ROTHMAYR, A. The syntax and semantics of indefinite determiner doubling constructions in varieties of German. The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics, Dordrecht, v.11, n.2, p.95–136, 2008.)
b. en ganz en guete Wi (Swiss German)
a totally a good wine
(LINDAUER, 1991LINDAUER, T. Der doppelte Artikelim Sweizerdeutschen. Northwestern Switzerland: Fachhoschule Nordwestschweiz, 1991. Manuscrito. apud ALEXIADOU, 2014ALEXIADOU, A. Multiple determiners and the structure of DPs. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2014.)
(22)a. en stor en kar (Northern Swedish)
a big a man
(DELSING, 1993DELSING, L-O. The internal structure of noun phrases in the Scandinavian languages. 1993. 244f. Thesis (Doctorate in Linguistics) – University of Lund, Lund, 1993. apud ALEXIADOU, 2014ALEXIADOU, A. Multiple determiners and the structure of DPs. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2014.)
b. en stygg en stor en fyr (Norwegian)
a ugly a big a guy
(ALEXIADOU, 2014ALEXIADOU, A. Multiple determiners and the structure of DPs. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2014.)
A second difference for BP is the presence of a preposition de ‘of’ between the adjective and the modified noun. All intensifier adjectives under analysis can be used in these complex noun phrases, as we can see in (23).
(23)a. Umbaita deumanimal.
a great of an animal
‘A very big animal’
b. Umabruta deumasacanagem.
a brute of a mean thing
‘A hell of a mean thing’
c. Umputa deumcarro.
a whore of a car
‘A hell of a car’
d. Umsenhor deumcargo.
a sir of a job
‘A great job’
e. Umtremendo deumvexame.
a tremendous of an embarrassment
‘A tremendous humiliation’
f. Ummega deumshow.
a mega of a concert
‘A great concert’
g. Umhiper deumapartamento.
a hyper of an apartment
‘A great apartment’
h. Umasuper deumaoferta.
a super of an offer
‘A super offer’
i. Umabig deumafesta.
a great of a party
‘A great party’
In an attempt to assess the acceptability of intensifier adjectives in noun phrases with multiple indefinite determiners, we applied an online test in the platform Online Pesquisa (https://www.onlinepesquisa.com/). Both intensifier adjectives and adnominal degree modifiers were tested, as well as agreement marking distribution within these complex noun phrases. These constructions allowed us to distinguish intensifier adjectives from adnominal degree modifiers, as we shall see below. The participants had to judge the grammaticality of the sentences listed in Table 1 as (a) acceptable, (b) unacceptable, or (c) uncertain. Our preliminary results are the following:
As we can see, adnominal degree modifiers such as total ‘total’, perfeito ‘perfect’, verdadeiro ‘true’, completo ‘complete’ are hardly ever acceptable in these complex noun phrases. Prototypical adjectives such as alegre ‘happy’, chato ‘’boring’, and pequeno ‘small’ present the same restrictions. Further, gender agreement seems to play a role in the acceptability of some intensifier adjectives, as in big ‘great’, bruto ‘brute’, senhor(a) ‘sir, lady’, and super ‘super’ examples. It is also worth mentioning that the latter presents greater acceptability among older participants (i.e., above 36 years old), as depicted in Graphic 1.11 11 We thank Livia Oushiro for statistical evaluation of part of this work.
In Graphic 2, the distribution considering acceptability vs age becomes more evident by subtracting the degree of acceptability of each adjective for older and younger participants (%Y – %O). Bars with negative values indicate greater acceptability among older participants (%Y < %O), while bars with positive values indicate greater acceptability among younger participants (%Y > %O). Bars close to zero indicate little difference in acceptability among ages (%Y ≈ %O). In addition to super, mega, hiper, and big (of classical and Germanic origins), other adjectives display greater acceptability among older participants, namely: bruto ‘brute’, senhor(a) ‘sir, lady’ (and tremendo ‘tremendous’, chato ‘boring’, in a much smaller degree).
– Difference in the rate of acceptability between younger (35 years old or less) and older (36 years old or more) participants
Regarding the presence or absence of number marking, the grammaticality test shows some interesting facts. We observed that in complex DPs with multiple determiners, the most accepted agreement patterns are [DPL Adj DPL N] and [DPL AdjPL DPL N]. It can be inferred that although the modified noun and the intensifier adjective can remain with no agreement markers, the indefinite determiners indispensably requires number marking.
As for the inferential interpretation of intensifier adjectives, they can be characterized as non-intersective adjectives, i.e. intensifier adjectives do not create sets capable of intersecting with the set of things denoted by their modified noun.
(24)a. baita homem: x is homem [✓]; x is baita [X]
great man
‘big man’
b. bruta chuva: x is chuva [✓]; x is bruta [X]
brute rain
‘heavy rain’
c. tremendo vendaval: x is vendaval [✓];(?) x is tremendo [X]
tremendous windstorm
‘tremendous windstorm’
d. puta livro: x is livro [✓]; x is puta [X]
whore book
‘great book’
e. senhora festa: x is festa [✓]; x is senhora [X]
lady party
‘great party’
f. mega promoção: x is promoção [✓]; (?) x is mega [X]
mega sale
‘big sale’
g. hiper declaração: x is declaração [✓]; (?) x is hiper [X]
hyper statement
‘great statement’
h. super festa: x is festa [✓]; (?) x is super [X]
super party
‘great party’
i. big surpresa: x is surpresa [✓]; x is big [X]
great surprise
‘great surprise’
It is also important to distinguish the above complex noun phrases from predicate inversion within noun phrases, in which common nouns function as modifiers internally to a DP. In the latter cases, predicate inversion can be found both in indefinite and definite noun phrases (25). According to den Dikken (1998DIKKEN, M. den. Predicate inversion in DP. In: ALEXIADOU, A.; WILDER, C. (Ed.). Possessors, predicates and movement in the determiner phrase. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1998. p.177-214., 2006DIKKEN, M. den. Relators and linkers: the syntax of predication, predicate inversion and copulas. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006.), the preposition functions as a nominal copula.
(25)a. Um merda de um par de meias.
a shit of a pair of socks
‘A crappy pair of socks.’
b. Um safado de um deputado.
a naughty of a deputy
‘A corrupt of a deputy.’
c. Um bosta de um soldado.
a shit of a soldier
‘A lame soldier.’
d. Um idiota de um publicitário.
an idiot of an adman
‘An idiot of an adman.’
e. A vaca da minha prima.
the cow of my cousin
‘My cousin, that bitch.’
f. O burro do meu cunhado.
the jerk of my brother-in-law
‘My brother-in-law, that idiot.’
g. O safado do meu tio.
the bastard of my uncle
‘My uncle, that bastard.’
The difference in interpretation is clear: in (25), there is an evaluation (e.g., este par de meias é uma merda ‘this pair of socks sucks’), oppositely to the modification made by intensifier adjectives in (23) (e.g., *este animal é um baita ‘this animal is big’). Drawing a distinction between these two sets of noun phrases is a goal for future research, in which we also want to check: (i) the similarities between these constructions as opposed to noun phrases with multiple indefinite determiners in BP, and (ii) the syntactic nature of the preposition emerging in all complex noun phrases discussed above. The sentences in (25) are, therefore, outside the scope of this article.
In sum, intensifier adjectives occur exclusively postposed to a modified element, in definite and indefinite noun phrases. They can also be found, with no exception, in exclamative sentences and in complex noun phrases with multiple indefinite determiners. As for agreement relations, intensifier adjectives display a variable behavior, as well as for the lexical categories they can modify.
One question that remains to be answered is the morphological status of borrowed intensifiers. We will address this issue in the next section.
Morphological nature of borrowed intensifiers
Now we will address the issue concerning the morphological status of borrowed intensifiers, hiper, mega, and super, assessing whether they could be analyzed either as prefixes, as suggested by Alves (1980ALVES, I. Observação sobre a prefixação intensiva no vocabulário da publicidade. Alfa: revista de linguística, São Paulo, v.24, p.9-14, 1980., 2000ALVES, I. Um estudo sobre a neologia lexical: os microssistemas prefixais do português contemporâneo. 2000. 365f. Tese (Livre-Docência em Lexicologia e Terminologia) – Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2000., 2006ALVES, I. A observação sistemática da neologia lexical: subsídios para o estudo do léxico. Alfa: Revista de Linguística, São Paulo, v.50, n.2, p.131-144, 2006., 2009ALVES, I. Afixos marcadores de intensidade: sufixação versus prefixação. In: ALVES, I. et al. Estudos lexicais em diferentes perspectivas. São Paulo: FFLCH-USP, 2009. p.62-72., 2011ALVES, I. O prefixo hiper- em um corpus jornalístico do português brasileiro. Matraga, Rio de Janeiro, v.18, n.28, p.129-142, 2011.), for the three forms, and Schwindt (2001)SCHWINDT, L. C. O prefixo no português brasileiro: análise prosódica e lexical. D.E.L.T.A: Documentação de Estudos em Linguísticas Teórica e Aplicada, São Paulo, v.17, n.2, p.175-207, 2001., for hiper, or as independent adjectives. To provide an answer for this question, we will contrast their morphological behavior with the behavior of other bound intensifiers characterized as prefixes, namely, ultra-, extra- and tri-.
Rocha (1999)ROCHA, L. C. Estruturas morfológicas do português. Belo Horizonte: Ed. da UFMG, 1999. and Silva and Mioto (2009)SILVA, M. C. F.; MIOTO, C. Considerações sobre a prefixação. ReVEL: Revista Virtual de Estudos da Linguagem, [S.l.], v.7, n.12, p.1-23, 2009. Disponível em: <http://www.revel.inf.br/files/artigos/revel_12_consideracoes_sobre_a_prefixacao.pdf>. Acesso em: 10 jun. 2015.
http://www.revel.inf.br/files/artigos/re...
list some criteria to identify a prefix, to wit:
(26)Criteria for identifying prefixes
a. are always to the left (as opposed to suffixes);
b. are not a N, V or A stem (as opposed to compounds);
c. are recurrent;
d. have phonetic, semantic, and functional identity;
e. are bound.
Criterion (26a) is satisfied by both groups: mega, hiper and super, and ultra-, extra- and tri-. For the former, evidence is the result of the linear order test presented earlier in example (6). The latter are ungrammatical when used postposed to a modified element: *moderno ultra lit. modern-ultra ‘ultra-modern’, *conservador ultra lit. conservative-ultra ‘ultra-conservative’, *grande extra lit. big-extra ‘extra big’, *macia extra lit. soft-extra ‘extra soft’, *legal tri lit. cool-very ‘very cool’, *curioso tri lit. curious-tri ‘very curious’.
Extra, however, displays more than one interpretation. Alves (1980)ALVES, I. Observação sobre a prefixação intensiva no vocabulário da publicidade. Alfa: revista de linguística, São Paulo, v.24, p.9-14, 1980. noticed that the intensification reading emerges only when extra modifies adjectives, but when it modifies nouns, extra means “out of”, “besides”, “beyond” (e.g., extratexto lit. extra-text ‘out of the text’, extraclasse lit. extra-class ‘after class’). Additionally, we have noticed that extra can appear to the right of a modified element without triggering an intensification reading, for instance: “pedindo com jeito as atendentes liberam um queijinhoextra” ‘by asking politely the attendants can give us some extra cheese’ and “ele vem com um saborextrade frutas, como framboesa e pêssego” ‘it has an additional flavor of fruits, such as raspberry and peach’. Thus it seems that there are at least three different “extras”, but only the first two display a prefix-like behavior.
Criterion (26b) requires a case by case analysis. None of these items can be considered a noun since they cannot be directly combined to determiners (*o/a/um hiper lit. the.MASC/the.FEM/a hyper, *o/a/um super, *o/a/um ultra, *o/a/extra, *o/a/um tri). “A mega” and “um mega”, however, do not correspond straightforwardly to mega, but they are clipped forms12 12 Clipping occurs when the shortening of a word gives rise to a shortened unit semantically identical to its longer version. The shortening can subtract an affix, a sequence of segments, or a constituent member of a compound (Cf. ROCHA, 1999; SCHER 2013). from a mega-sena ‘the mega-sena lottery’ and um mega-byte ‘a megabyte’, respectively. Likewise, none of them are used as verbs. All these items have a modification function, but this characteristic by itself is not enough to set their morphological status.
Criterion (26c), regarding productivity, is irrelevant if it is considered separately from criterion (26e), since recurrence of an item must be unvarying when related to its morphological form, whether bound or free.
Criterion (26d) is not entirely acceptable. Phonetic identity is not a good criterion, since many affixed forms can display allomorphy. On the other hand, semantic and functional identity is relevant and it is satisfied by all the above items. The former suggests that the prefix adds the same meaning to a stem (at first, compositional), and, from a functional point of view, the prefix must trigger the same functional properties when attached to a stem, maintaining or changing its lexical category.
Criterion (26e) highlights the bound nature of prefixes, which precludes the presence of any intervening element between the prefix and the stem, as we can see in (27). Nevertheless, mega, hiper and super allow the intervention of a preposition and of an indefinite article between them and the modified element, as we have observed in the complex noun phrases in (23). This evidences that mega, hiper and super cannot be analyzed as prefixes. Ultra-, extra- and tri-, on the other hand, behave like the canonical prefixes in (27), which signals their prefixed status.
(27)a. *re- de um fazer.
re- of a make
b. *in- de um feliz.
un- of a happy
c. *desde um humano.
de- of a human
(28)a. *ultrade um conservador.
ultra- of a conservative
b. *extrade um macio.
extra of a soft
c. *tri- de um legal.
very of a cool
Thus while ultra-, extra- and tri- can be analyzed as prefixed intensifiers, mega, hiper13 13 Hiper deserves special attention. In Table 1, hiper do not show greater acceptance in complex noun phrases with multiple indefinite determiners, neutralizing our argument that it could not be analyzed as a prefix. However, in a previous grammaticality test, hiper showed considerable acceptability among the participants within these constructions. In light of this fact, we think that hiper cannot be considered a morphological form strictly bound. We will return to this issue in a future work. and super are intensifier adjectives. As a result, any formation with mega, hiper and super which points out to a single referent, or behaves like a single morphosyntactic unit, should be analyzed as compounds in which mega, hiper and super are an adjectival constituent member, as in the examples in (29):
(29)a. A-N Compounds: supermercado ‘supermaket’, superstar ‘superstar’, hiperinflação ‘hyperinflation’, super-saldão ‘big sale’, mega-feirão ‘big sale’, super-herói ‘superhero’, hipermercado ‘hypermarket’, megainvestidor ‘mega investor’.
b. A-V Compounds: superestimar ‘superestimate’, superproteger ‘overprotect’, megafavorecer ‘over favor’, hiperinflacionar ‘hyperinflationate’.
Schwindt (2001)SCHWINDT, L. C. O prefixo no português brasileiro: análise prosódica e lexical. D.E.L.T.A: Documentação de Estudos em Linguísticas Teórica e Aplicada, São Paulo, v.17, n.2, p.175-207, 2001. admits that hiper and all other compositional prefixes (viz., contra-, extra-, intra-, infra-, macro-, micro-, etc.) are potentially separable, or in a given context they can be instantiated independently, realizing nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. However, contrary to the author, we claim that hiper should be exclusively viewed as an independent adjective, which can make up compounds.
A test to differentiate a noun phrase from a compound is the impossibility of “double modification” with intensifier adjectives, as discussed in (30). The grammaticality of (31) evidences that super, mega and hiper make up a single syntactic unit with the word to the right.
(30)a. *Uma puta super festa
a whore super party
Intended: ‘A terrific party’
b. *Um baita hiper apartamento
a great hyper apartment
Intended: ‘A very good apartment’
*Uma tremenda mega burrice
a tremendous mega stupidity
Intended: ‘A tremendous stupidity’
(31)a. Um puta supermercado
a whore supermarket
‘A great supermarket’
b. Uma tremenda hipercorreção
a tremendous hypercorrection
‘A tremendous hypercorrection’
c. Um baita mega-feirão
a great sale
‘A big sale’
An additional observation is needed. Intensifier items of classical origins correspond to dissyllabic units bearing a primary stress. We could hypothesize that it is the presence of a primary stress which licenses the use of these items in complex noun phrases with multiple indefinite determiners. However, other stressed dissyllabic prefixes listed by Schwindt (2001)SCHWINDT, L. C. O prefixo no português brasileiro: análise prosódica e lexical. D.E.L.T.A: Documentação de Estudos em Linguísticas Teórica e Aplicada, São Paulo, v.17, n.2, p.175-207, 2001. cannot be employed in complex noun phrases (32), suggesting this is a morphological rather than phonological restriction.
(32)a. *Ele é um recém de um nascido.
he is a new of a born
Intended: ‘He is a very new newborn’
b. *Ele é um neo de um nazista.
he is a new of a nazi
Intended: ‘He is a very new nazi’
c. *Ele é um vice de um reitor.
he is a vice of a president
Intended: ‘He is a vice-president very subordinated’
Based on the above-mentioned facts, we conclude that mega, super and hiper are not prefixes, but intensifier adjectives that can be used as a constituent member of a compound.
Conclusion
In this article, we sought to advance the understanding of intensification structures, concentrating on intensification triggered by adjectives. We have identified a major class of intensifier adjectives in BP composed of baita ‘great’, bruta ‘brute’, tremendo ‘tremendous’, puta ‘whore’, senhor(a) ‘sir, lady’, mega ‘mega’, hiper ‘hyper’, super ‘super’ and big ‘great’. Despite characterizing them as intensifier adjectives, we recognize that their category status is still a point of contention, 14 14 Evidence that the lexical category of denominal adjectives is dubious can be seen with suffixation in -mente. The suffix -mente is one the most productive suffixes in BP, and it attaches to any adjective to derive an adverb. However, this suffix does not attach to nominal bases, as exemplified in (i), as well as to denominal and borrowed intensifiers. (i)a. caderno → *cadernamente. notebook ≈notebookly. b. feliz → felizmente. happy happily. (ii)a. tremendo → tremendamente. tremendous tremendously. b. bruto → brutamente. violent violently. c. puta → *putamente. whore ≈whorely. d. senhor(a) → *senhoramente. sir, lady ≈sirly, ladily. e. baita → *baitamente. great greatily. f. super → *supermente. super ≈superly. g. mega → *megamente. mega ≈megaly. h. hiper → *hiper(a)mente. hyper ≈hyperly. i. big → *bigmente. big ≈bigly since these intensifiers display a variable behavior with respect to the category nature of the elements they modify. They share, however, a handful of properties, such as their preposed linear position, and the preference for materializing with no gender and number markers.
Their presence in complex noun phrases with multiple determiners evidences that the intensifier modifier class is different from the other classes of modifiers and adjectives, especially from the adnominal degree modifiers (MORZYCKI, 2012MORZYCKI, M. The several faces of adnominal degree modification. In: CHOI, J. et al. Proceedings of the 29th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press, 2012. p.187-195. 1 CD-ROM.) which are blocked in these constructions. Complex noun phrases also evidence that super, mega, and hiper cannot be analyzed as prefixes, since they allow a considerable amount of intervening elements between them and the modified noun.
Although the empirical facts discussed in this article contribute to the study of intensification and modification, we are aware that much remains to be explained. Our goal is to continue this research (i) applying other tests concerning the structure of complex noun phrases, (ii) compare the structure of complex noun phrases with multiple determiners (e.g., uma puta de uma festa lit. a whore of a party ‘a great party’) with cases of predicate inversion in the nominal domain (e.g., o burro do meu cunhado lit. the donkey of my brother-in-law ‘my brother-in-law, that idiot’), and verify to what extent these constructions are similar and distinct to each other. Finally, we would like (iii) to provide a typology of intensifying words, taking a closer look at the category status of denominal intensifiers, such as puta ‘whore’ and senhor(a) ‘sir, lady’, in order to reassess their category nature, since they behave like non-head nouns in N-N compounds (e.g., ano-luz lit. year-light ‘light-year’, banana-maça lit. banana-apple ‘apple banana’, peixe-espada lit. fish-sword ‘sword fish’).
Acknowledgements
We thank Livia Oushiro for helpful suggestions on previous versions of this work. We also thank the audiences of the IX International Congress of ABRALIN (Belém-PA, 2015), and the II Jornadas Patagónicas de Linguística Formal (General Roca – Argentina, 2015) for their comments and feedbacks. Needless to say, all the shortcomings of this work are entirely our responsibility.
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1
Innovative forms reveal latent processes in a particular language. These forms indicate that an adjective, or any lexical category, can be used in a different linear position from its canonical counterpart, triggering different semantic effects. We are aware, however, that the assumption of canonical positions is not a trivial matter.
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2
Baita cannot easily be inserted in any of our six major classes. It cannot be considered innovative, since there is no adjective baita occurring postposed to a modified noun, and, on the other hand, baita does not have classical origins. We suspect that baita is a denominal adjective whose nominal counterpart is no longer available.
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3
Gonçalves (2002)GONÇALVES, C. A. V. Morfopragmática da intensificação sufixal em português. Revista de Letras, Fortaleza, v.1/2, n.24, p.43-50, jan/dez. 2002. and Alves (2009)ALVES, I. Afixos marcadores de intensidade: sufixação versus prefixação. In: ALVES, I. et al. Estudos lexicais em diferentes perspectivas. São Paulo: FFLCH-USP, 2009. p.62-72. list a set of suffixed intensifiers in BP, such as -aço, -érrimo, -íssimo, etc. We have set them aside, since our main purpose is to analyze intensification made by adjectives, and discuss the morphological status of intensifier adjectives of classical origins, like mega, hiper, and super, which are argued to be prefixed intensifiers (Cf. ALVES, 1980ALVES, I. Observação sobre a prefixação intensiva no vocabulário da publicidade. Alfa: revista de linguística, São Paulo, v.24, p.9-14, 1980., 2000ALVES, I. Um estudo sobre a neologia lexical: os microssistemas prefixais do português contemporâneo. 2000. 365f. Tese (Livre-Docência em Lexicologia e Terminologia) – Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2000., 2006ALVES, I. A observação sistemática da neologia lexical: subsídios para o estudo do léxico. Alfa: Revista de Linguística, São Paulo, v.50, n.2, p.131-144, 2006., 2009ALVES, I. Afixos marcadores de intensidade: sufixação versus prefixação. In: ALVES, I. et al. Estudos lexicais em diferentes perspectivas. São Paulo: FFLCH-USP, 2009. p.62-72., 2011ALVES, I. O prefixo hiper- em um corpus jornalístico do português brasileiro. Matraga, Rio de Janeiro, v.18, n.28, p.129-142, 2011., for all forms; and SCHWINDT, 2001SCHWINDT, L. C. O prefixo no português brasileiro: análise prosódica e lexical. D.E.L.T.A: Documentação de Estudos em Linguísticas Teórica e Aplicada, São Paulo, v.17, n.2, p.175-207, 2001., for hiper).
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4
Available in: <http://www.diarinho.com.br/materias.cfm?caderno=25&materia=73671>, collected in August 31, 2014.
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5
Available in: <http://migre.me/qmISM>, collected in September 02, 2014.
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6
Available in: <http://www.hardmob.com.br/boteco-hardmob/55386-genios-da-guitarra-ql-vcprefere-2.html>, collected in September 02, 2014.
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7
Available in: <https://br.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130917173328AA0enBZ>, collected in August 31, 2014.
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8
Available in: <http://www.amordoce.com/forum/t21312,2-castiel-acalme-se-o-bullying-ja-vai-acabar.htm>, collected in August 31, 2014.
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9
Available in: <http://socialspirit.com.br/fanfics/naruto>, collected in August 31, 2014.
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10
We thank Janayna Carvalho for indicating the reference.
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11
We thank Livia Oushiro for statistical evaluation of part of this work.
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12
Clipping occurs when the shortening of a word gives rise to a shortened unit semantically identical to its longer version. The shortening can subtract an affix, a sequence of segments, or a constituent member of a compound (Cf. ROCHA, 1999ROCHA, L. C. Estruturas morfológicas do português. Belo Horizonte: Ed. da UFMG, 1999.; SCHER 2013)SCHER, A. P. Concatenative affixation in Brazilian Portuguese truncated forms. GOTO, N. et al. (Ed.). Proceedings of the Glow in Asia IX 2012: the main session. Tsu: Mie University, 2013. p. 261-270..
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13
Hiper deserves special attention. In Table 1, hiper do not show greater acceptance in complex noun phrases with multiple indefinite determiners, neutralizing our argument that it could not be analyzed as a prefix. However, in a previous grammaticality test, hiper showed considerable acceptability among the participants within these constructions. In light of this fact, we think that hiper cannot be considered a morphological form strictly bound. We will return to this issue in a future work.
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14
Evidence that the lexical category of denominal adjectives is dubious can be seen with suffixation in -mente. The suffix -mente is one the most productive suffixes in BP, and it attaches to any adjective to derive an adverb. However, this suffix does not attach to nominal bases, as exemplified in (i), as well as to denominal and borrowed intensifiers. (i)a. caderno → *cadernamente. notebook ≈notebookly. b. feliz → felizmente. happy happily. (ii)a. tremendo → tremendamente. tremendous tremendously. b. bruto → brutamente. violent violently. c. puta → *putamente. whore ≈whorely. d. senhor(a) → *senhoramente. sir, lady ≈sirly, ladily. e. baita → *baitamente. great greatily. f. super → *supermente. super ≈superly. g. mega → *megamente. mega ≈megaly. h. hiper → *hiper(a)mente. hyper ≈hyperly. i. big → *bigmente. big ≈bigly
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
May-Aug 2016
History
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Received
July 2015 -
Accepted
Oct 2015
Source: Author’s elaboration.
Source: Author’s elaboration.