http://limnieng.bol.ucla.edu/Revised Manuscript for CLD (Intensifier).pdf
Intensifiers as stance markers
A corpus study on genre variations in Mandarin Chinese
Ni-Eng Lim and Huaqing Hong
University of California, Los Angeles / Nanyang Technological University
While the study of Mandarin Chinese intensifiers has been prolific, the methodologies used have been limited to comparative and grammaticalization studies, revealing little about the discourse-pragmatic usages of individual intensifiers. Utilizing a balanced corpus composed of 15 different prototypical genres, the associative strength of 12 commonly used intensifiers in each genre was statistically determined based on their frequency distribution. The results reveal a clear preference pattern of intensifiers across a range of “written” and “spoken”-based genres. Upon the premise that the genre preferences of intensifiers stem from matching dimensions of communicative intent/discourse context between genre and intensifier, genre-analysis was conducted to unveil the core “stances” each intensifier might possibly project. In conclusion, it is argued that genre-analysis based on empirical corpus data provides a valid alternative means to uncover seemingly “covert” aspects of language use.
Keywords: Corpus Linguistics, genre-analysis, stance markers, intensifiers, Mandarin
DOI: 10.1075/cld.3.2.01lim
In: Chinese Language and Discourse 3:2. 2012. iii, 158 pp. (pp. 129–166)
Intensifiers as stance markers
A corpus study on genre variations in Mandarin Chinese
Ni-Eng Lim and Huaqing Hong
University of California, Los Angeles / Nanyang Technological University
While the study of Mandarin Chinese intensifiers has been prolific, the methodologies used have been limited to comparative and grammaticalization studies, revealing little about the discourse-pragmatic usages of individual intensifiers. Utilizing a balanced corpus composed of 15 different prototypical genres, the associative strength of 12 commonly used intensifiers in each genre was statistically determined based on their frequency distribution. The results reveal a clear preference pattern of intensifiers across a range of “written” and “spoken”-based genres. Upon the premise that the genre preferences of intensifiers stem from matching dimensions of communicative intent/discourse context between genre and intensifier, genre-analysis was conducted to unveil the core “stances” each intensifier might possibly project. In conclusion, it is argued that genre-analysis based on empirical corpus data provides a valid alternative means to uncover seemingly “covert” aspects of language use.
Keywords: Corpus Linguistics, genre-analysis, stance markers, intensifiers, Mandarin
DOI: 10.1075/cld.3.2.01lim
In: Chinese Language and Discourse 3:2. 2012. iii, 158 pp. (pp. 129–166)