Tracing The Development Of An Old Old Story: Intensificatory Repetition In English

Gonzalez-Diaz, V ORCID: 0000-0001-8856-342X (2018) Tracing The Development Of An Old Old Story: Intensificatory Repetition In English The transactions of the Philological Society, 116 (1). pp. 30-58. ISSN 0079-1636, 1467-968X

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Abstract

The present paper explores the synchronic distribution and historical development of anintensificatory construction that has so far received little attention in previous literatureon English; i.e. what Huddleston and Pullum (2002) label as INTENSIFICATORYREPETITION (e.g.old old story,long long way). Synchronically, the paper records theexistence of two functional subtypes of repetitive intensification (affection and degree)and expands previous accounts by showing the functional versatility of the degreeintensificatory subtype. At the diachronic level, the paper dates the establishment of(degree) intensificatory repetition to the Late Modern English (LModE) period. It alsosuggests that (a) intensificatory affection was the first repetitive (sub)type to develop inthe language, and (b) that its collocational expansion from Early Modern English(EModE) onwards may have paved the way for the establishment of its degreeintensification counterpart.More generally, the paper shows that formulaic phraseology can contribute to thedevelopment of fully productive constructions and advocates the need for further studyof ‘minor’ intensificatory constructions (such as the one explored here) and the way inwhich they may help to refine current standard descriptions of the English Noun Phrase.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	47 Language, Communication and Culture, 4703 Language Studies, 4704 Linguistics
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	31 Jan 2018 14:40
Last Modified:	01 Mar 2026 11:24
DOI:	10.1111/1467-968X.12114
Related Websites:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3011881
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