Elena Tribushinina | University of Antwerp (Belgium) and Utrecht University (Netherlands)
It is often assumed that relative adjectives (e.g. ‘long’, ‘old’) evoke unbounded scales and are, therefore, incompatible with maximizers (e.g. ‘completely’) and approximators (e.g. ‘almost’). In contrast, absolute adjectives which are felicitous with maximizers (e.g. ‘completely full’) and approximators (e.g. ‘almost full’) are argued to trigger bounded scales. This paper investigates whether the semantic typology of gradable adjectives developed for Germanic languages can be extended to non-Germanic languages by comparing the distribution of relative adjectives with totality modifiers in English and Russian corpora. In line with previous research, the corpus analysis shows that English relative adjectives are associated with fully unbounded scales and are very infrequent in combination with maximizers and approximators. In contrast, Russian relative adjectives evoke half-bounded scales. Therefore, relative adjectives denoting less of a property (e.g. korotkij “short”, dešëvyj “cheap”) are quite frequently modified by maximizing adverbs in Russian. However, unlike maximum-standard absolute adjectives, Russian relative adjectives are incompatible with approximators. It is concluded that there is no universal one-to-one relationship between adjective types and scale types.
Hendrikx, Isa, Kristel Van Goethem & Natacha Buntinx
2024. Intensification strength in speech: language-specific preferences and differences between native and learner language. Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics 13
2017. Do degree adverbs guide adjective learning crosslinguistically? A comparison of Dutch and Russian. Linguistics 55:4
Tribushinina, Elena & Elena Dubinkina
2012. Adjective production by Russian-speaking children with specific language impairment. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 26:6 ► pp. 554 ff.
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