Degree modification across categories in Afrikaans

R.W.F. Nouwen, Robyn Berghoff, E.G. Bylinina, Y. McNabb

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of the Afrikaans degree modifier baie ‘very/much/many’. Baie appears to be a single lexical item with a wide distribution in terms of the categories of gradable predicate with which it can combine. However, the paper shows that two syntactically distinct instances of baie should be distinguished. These instances of baie portion out the modification of different grammatical categories between them: one, a head, exclusively modifies gradable adjectives, and the other, an adjunct, modifies the remaining categories of gradable predicate.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)102-135
JournalLanguage Variation and Change
Volume20
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2020

Keywords

  • degree modification
  • gradability
  • Afrikaans

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