Forms and meanings of intensification: a multifactorial comparison of quite and rather

To capture usage-based relations between near-synonyms, I cluster collocation data using exploratory multifactorial methods. My investigation is restricted to quite and rather in the contexts where they intensify adjectives in the British National Corpus. I use correspondence analysis and multiple c...

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Main Author: Guillaume Desagulier
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires du Midi 2015-11-01
Series:Anglophonia
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/anglophonia/558
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author Guillaume Desagulier
author_facet Guillaume Desagulier
author_sort Guillaume Desagulier
collection DOAJ
description To capture usage-based relations between near-synonyms, I cluster collocation data using exploratory multifactorial methods. My investigation is restricted to quite and rather in the contexts where they intensify adjectives in the British National Corpus. I use correspondence analysis and multiple correspondence analysis to visualize and interpret distances between (a) the two intensifiers, (b) the adjectives they modify and the respective semantic classes they belong to, and (c) syntactic information regarding how intensifiers and adjectives pattern together. Results show that quite and rather constructions form a consistent network. The first key finding is that they typically follow a division of labor in the intensification of adjectival meanings. When a positive and a negative connotation are available for a given adjective, rather tends to intensify the negatively connoted adjective. The second key finding is the following: in the strict frame of the pre-determiner vs. pre-adjectival alternation, quite displays a preference for the pre-determiner position, and rather for the pre-adjectival position.
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spelling doaj-art-5a3002de1780432ebb802a9f4b903c932025-01-30T12:32:55ZengPresses Universitaires du MidiAnglophonia1278-33312427-04662015-11-012010.4000/anglophonia.558Forms and meanings of intensification: a multifactorial comparison of quite and ratherGuillaume DesagulierTo capture usage-based relations between near-synonyms, I cluster collocation data using exploratory multifactorial methods. My investigation is restricted to quite and rather in the contexts where they intensify adjectives in the British National Corpus. I use correspondence analysis and multiple correspondence analysis to visualize and interpret distances between (a) the two intensifiers, (b) the adjectives they modify and the respective semantic classes they belong to, and (c) syntactic information regarding how intensifiers and adjectives pattern together. Results show that quite and rather constructions form a consistent network. The first key finding is that they typically follow a division of labor in the intensification of adjectival meanings. When a positive and a negative connotation are available for a given adjective, rather tends to intensify the negatively connoted adjective. The second key finding is the following: in the strict frame of the pre-determiner vs. pre-adjectival alternation, quite displays a preference for the pre-determiner position, and rather for the pre-adjectival position.https://journals.openedition.org/anglophonia/558collocationscollostructional analysiscorrespondence analysismultiple correspondence analysisintensifiers
spellingShingle Guillaume Desagulier
Forms and meanings of intensification: a multifactorial comparison of quite and rather
Anglophonia
collocations
collostructional analysis
correspondence analysis
multiple correspondence analysis
intensifiers
title Forms and meanings of intensification: a multifactorial comparison of quite and rather
title_full Forms and meanings of intensification: a multifactorial comparison of quite and rather
title_fullStr Forms and meanings of intensification: a multifactorial comparison of quite and rather
title_full_unstemmed Forms and meanings of intensification: a multifactorial comparison of quite and rather
title_short Forms and meanings of intensification: a multifactorial comparison of quite and rather
title_sort forms and meanings of intensification a multifactorial comparison of quite and rather
topic collocations
collostructional analysis
correspondence analysis
multiple correspondence analysis
intensifiers
url https://journals.openedition.org/anglophonia/558
work_keys_str_mv AT guillaumedesagulier formsandmeaningsofintensificationamultifactorialcomparisonofquiteandrather