intensifier
Let an agent recognise intensifiers and explain their grammar and function, relay descriptions from grammars of particular languages, discuss register and change with attribution, and support editing, learning and translation.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
4 bundles · 8 layers · 8 findings · 16 questions
Concept What an intensifier is.
Definition
Definition.
Definition
Definition.
- What is an intensifier, and how does it differ from other modifiers? definition
- Is the word an intensifier, a downtoner or an emphatic reflexive? boundary
Forms
Forms across languages.
Forms
Forms.
- What forms do intensifiers take in different languages, from adverbs to reduplication? definition
- Which entry fits the specific language? action
Use Use and register.
Register
Register.
Register
Register.
- How do intensifiers vary by register, age and gender, with findings attributed? provenance
- Is the presentation free of stereotypes? boundary
Editing
Editing and style.
Editing
Editing.
- What do style guides advise about intensifiers in formal and plain writing? provenance
- Which entry fits plain language? action
Change Change over time.
Turnover
Lexical turnover.
Turnover
Turnover.
- How do intensifiers rise and fall over time, and why? provenance
- Which references are standard? provenance
Grammaticalisation
Origins.
Grammaticalisation
Grammaticalisation.
- How do words become intensifiers through grammaticalisation? provenance
- Which entry fits language change? action
Apply Translation and teaching.
Translation
Translation.
Translation
Translation.
- How are intensifiers handled in translation between languages and registers? action
- Which entry fits translation? action
Teach
Teaching.
Teach
Teaching.
- How are intensifiers taught to learners, and which errors are common? provenance
- Which misconceptions arise? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Cross-cutting context
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- XCT
- Domain
- XCT.REL
What it is Filled
A word or affix that strengthens or emphasises the meaning of another word without changing its basic sense, such as very, really, extremely, so and absolutely in English; intensifiers are studied in grammar and pragmatics, change rapidly across generations and registers, and are handled carefully in translation and in plain-language writing.
Why it exists Filled
Let an agent recognise intensifiers and explain their grammar and function, relay descriptions from grammars of particular languages, discuss register and change with attribution, and support editing, learning and translation.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Degree or emphasis modification
- Grammatically often adverbs or affixes
- Fast lexical turnover and register sensitivity
- Present in most languages in varied forms
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Mistranslate an intensifier so that the register or strength of the original changes.
- Mark speakers' dialect or generational use of intensifiers as wrong.
- Confuse intensifiers with emphatic reflexives or other forms.
- Strengthen or soften quoted speech by changing its intensifiers.
Only with a human decision
- Editing the wording of statements whose strength matters, such as legal or medical text.
May
- Identify intensifiers in a text and explain their effect.
- Suggest plainer wording where intensifiers weaken a text.
Moral aspects Filled
- Judgments about how people intensify speech often mask judgments about age, gender or class.
Who is affected
- Speakers of varieties judged nonstandard
- Writers and translators
Owners Filled
Steward
Nobody owns the concept; it belongs to the speakers of each language.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q184943 - registry parent class
- Q4818723 - registry parent class
related
- grammatical particle - in many analyses
- attributive - modifies another word
- downtoner - weakens rather than strengthens
- pragmatics - and grammar
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.intensifier
- Wikidata: Q2339337 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2339337)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
Not applicable
Plane XCT: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Modifies degree or emphasis without changing the core meaning
- Often adverbs of degree, also prefixes and reduplication
- Downtoners weaken; emphatic pronouns and particles are related but distinct
- Not visible; words such as very, really, so, extremely, or affixes and reduplication in other languages.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- identify intensifiers in text
- explain their grammar and scope
- describe register and change
- support editing and translation
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Overuse weakening writing
- Mistranslation of register
- Confusing intensifiers with emphatic reflexives
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- No regulation; style guides advise on use in formal writing
Context of use required Filled
- Emphasising degree or force in language.
- adverbial intensifiers such as very and extremely
- expletive and taboo intensifiers
- affixal intensifiers and reduplication
- emphatic reflexives such as myself
- intensifying particles in specific languages
- downtoners as the opposite class
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q2339337: intensifier - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Intensifier - general description of the item
Open questions
- Should intensifiers in specific languages be separate entries?
- How should corpus studies be linked?
- How should register guidance be represented?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q2339337/spec.json