Abstract
Intensification is the use of any linguistic device that scales a quality, by establishing different degrees of that given quality (Bolinger 1972). The investigation of the mechanisms involved in its acquisition and use is relevant to Learner Corpus Research: the possibility of grading a quality adds expressive richness to linguistic productions and is a step forward in the way learners acquire a more sophisticated awareness of L2s (Hendrikx et al. 2019; Lorenz 1999; Pérez-Paredes, & Díez-Bedmar 2012). However, intensification in L2s is still under-researched.
In this poster we present some preliminary findings of a project that seeks to fill this gap, by investigating the acquisition and use of intensification in young learners of Italian in the bilingual context of South Tyrol (Fiorentini & Sansò 2017), based on the Kolipsi (Glaznieks et al. in preparation), a longitudinal corpus of Italian and German L2 learner texts from upper secondary schools.
References
Bolinger, Dwight. Degree Words, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 1972.
Fiorentini, I. & Sansò, A. (2017). Intensifiers between grammar and pragmatics. A lesson from a language contact situation. In M. Napoli & M. Ravetto (eds.). Exploring Intensification: Synchronic, diachronic and cross-linguistic perspectives, Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 173–192.
Glaznieks, A., Frey, J.-C., Nicolas, L., Abel, A. & Vettori, C. (in preperation): The Kolipsi Corpus Family. A collection of Italian and German L2 learner texts from secondary school pupils.
Hendrikx, I., Van Goethem, K. & Wulff, S. (2019). Intensifying constructions in French- speaking L2 learners of English and Dutch: cross-linguistic influence and exposure effects. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research, Vol. 5:1, pp. 63–103.
Lorenz, G. 1999. Adjective intensification - learners versus native speakers: A corpus study of argumentative writing. Amsterdam: Rodopi.
Pérez-Paredes, P. & Díez-Bedmar M.B. (2012). The Use of Intensifying Adverbs in Learner Writing. In Yukio Tono, Yuji Kawaguchi and Makoto Minegishi (eds), Developmental and Crosslinguistic Perspectives in Learner Corpus Research, Amsterdam: Benjamins, pp. 105–124.