Intensifiers in Late Modern English - A Sociopragmatic Approach to Courtroom Discourse

"Drawing on a rich bank of data from the Old Bailey Corpus, this groundbreaking book provides the first full study of intensifiers in Late Modern English. It shows how usage varies for a wide variety of reasons, making it essential reading for scholars and advanced students in English historical linguistics"--

List of contents

1. Introduction: pleading the case; 2. Theoretical and methodological considerations; 3. Intensifiers: forms, features, and functions; 4. Corpus methodology and overview of data; 5. Maximizers; 6. Boosters; 7. Downtoners; 8. Multivariate analysis: intensifiers in a bird's-eye view; 9. Intensifiers across time; 10. The pragmatics of intensifiers; 11. The sociolinguistics of intensifiers; 12. Conclusion: summing up the evidence; Appendices.

About the author

Claudia Claridge is Chair of English Linguistics, University of Augsburg, Germany. She specializes in historical discourse linguistics and (historical) pragmatics. She is the author of Multi-word Verbs in Early Modern English (2000) and Hyperbole in English (2011).Ewa Jonsson is Senior Lecturer of English Linguistics at Mid Sweden University specializing in corpus linguistics, historical sociopragmatics, and multidimensional register studies. She has authored Conversational Writing (2015) and co-edited Voices Past and Present (2020).Merja Kytö is Senior Professor of English Language, Uppsala University, Sweden. She co-authored Testifying to Language and Life in Early Modern England (2011) and co-edited The Cambridge Handbook of English Historical Linguistics (2016).

Summary

Drawing on a rich bank of data from the Old Bailey Corpus, this groundbreaking book provides the first full study of intensifiers in Late Modern English. It shows how usage varies for a wide variety of reasons, making it essential reading for scholars and advanced students in English historical linguistics.

Product details

• Authors: Claudia Claridge, Claudia (Universitat Augsburg) Jonsson Claridge, Claridge Claudia, Ewa Jonsson, Jonsson Ewa, Merja Kytö
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.03.2024
• EAN: 9781108428668
• ISBN: 978-1-108-42866-8
• No. of pages: 356
• Series: Studies in English Language
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; English, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Sociolinguistics, LAW / Legal History, LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Semantics, Sociolinguistics, c 1500 onwards to present day, Legal History, Historical & comparative linguistics, Semantics, discourse analysis, stylistics, Modern Period, C 1500 Onwards, Historical and comparative linguistics, Semantics, discourse analysis, etc