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 language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 102-135 |
Journal | Language Variation and Change |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2020 |
Keywords
- degree modification
- gradability
- Afrikaans