Abstract
This paper explores the relationship between quantification and intensification, such as it emerges from the case of prepositions functioning as modifiers of quantifiers (au-delà de, jusqu'à, près de, etc.). Since intensification implies a relationship between two degrees of a property, one being superior or inferior to the other, we would expect that only monotonous modifiers of quantifiers, which order their values along an increasing or a decreasing scale, would participate in intensification. This hypothesis can, however, be falsified. Paradoxically, certain non-monotonous modifiers of quantifiers can also trigger an intensification effect (cf. The case of près de). Moreover, the quantificational domain offers us other puzzles related to intensification, which will be solved in the present paper: bound quantification (cf. The case of jusqu'à) that produces an amplification effect; implicit approximative quantification whose intensification effect results from the omission of the modifier of quantifier.
Translated title of the contribution | They that sow quantification shall reap intensification |
---|---|
Original language | French |
Pages (from-to) | 9-22 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Langue Francaise |
Volume | 177 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2013 |
Keywords
- Approximation
- Degree
- Intensification
- Modifiers of quantifiers
- Monotonicity
- Prepositions
- Quantification
- Scalarity