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Article In: Comparing Constructions in Romance and Germanic Languages
Edited by Carmen Mellado Blanco and Pedro Ivorra Ordines
[Languages in Contrast 26:2] 2026
► pp. 279–314

Er ist ganz verrückt nach Batman

The copula intensification construction in German, French, and Italian

ORCiD logo with link | Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
ORCiD logo with link | UCLouvain Saint-Louis Bruxelles, Belgium
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
The paper investigates the [Subjexperiencer Vcopula Adjmetaphorical PPstimulus]intensification construction in German, French, and Italian within the framework of Construction Grammar. Based on extensive corpus data from the TenTen family (deTenTen23, itTenTen20, frTenTen23), the study analyzes the syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, and cultural dimensions of copula patterns such as Germ. verrückt nach etwas sein (‘to be crazy about something’), Fr. être fou/folle de, and It. essere pazzo/a di/per. These copula constructions pair a metaphorical adjective with a prepositional phrase and convey heightened emotional or cognitive involvement, functioning as conventionalized linguistic means of expressing intensification. The German data suggest a tendency toward lexical specialization: verrückt nach for colloquial enthusiasm, besessen von for compulsive or pathological involvement. French and Italian appear to rely more heavily on semantically flexible lexical items: a single adjective (Fr. fou/folle, It. pazzo/a) covers a broad emotional spectrum, with secondary terms (Fr. obsédé/e, It. ossessionato/a) marking pathological extremes. Within this broader pattern, Italian relies more systematically on morphosyntactic differentiation, especially through the contrast between the prepositions di and per. By contrast, French shows a higher degree of entrenchment and conventionalization within a semantically flexible constructional schema.
The corpus data also reveal different collocation and pragmatic preferences in the three languages: German patterns favor hobbies and interpersonal contexts, Italian frequently distinguishes internal (emotive) from external (object-oriented) stimuli, and French data reveal a preference for affective nouns such as joie, rage, and amour. Overall, the data are more consistent with a constructional view of intensification as distributed across lexical, grammatical, and pragmatic layers. They also suggest cross-linguistic differences in how languages encode and scale emotional intensification, revealing language-specific configurations in the linguistic expression of intensification.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The German [Subjexperiencer Vcopula Adjmetaphorical PPstimulus]intensification construction
  • 3.Cross-linguistic description of the intensifying construction
  • 4.Data analysis
    • 4.1Methodological approach
    • 4.2Germ. [verrückt PPauf/nach]intensification and [besessen PPvon]intensification
    • 4.3The constructions of intensification in French and Italian
      • 4.3.1Fr. [être fou/folle PPde]intensification and It. [essere pazzo/a PPdi/per]intensification
      • 4.3.2Fr. [obsédé(e)PPpar]intensification and It. [ossessionato/a PPda/per]intensification
  • 5.Discussion and concluding remarks
    • Lexical specialization vs. lexical flexibility
    • Morphosyntactic strategy
    • Use of intensifiers
    • Use of collocations
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Author queries
  • References
References (44)
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