Italian-issimo
Intensification at the semantics/pragmatics interface
Andrea Beltrama
University of Chicago
ILLS 4, April 14th 2012
Roadmap
1- Degree vs non degree intensification
2- Issimo in Italian
2.1 Evidence against degree analysis:
•
•
•
Slack regulation effect
Outstanding referent effect
Confirmation effect in discourse
2.2 Proposed analysis: noteworthiness evaluation
3- Conclusion:
•
Several cases emerging cross-linguistically
Degree effects
Intuition: intensification in natural language
can be achieved with different means
(1) Mark is very tall (>“tall”) [adverbs]
(2) What a beautiful dog! (> just ”beautiful”)
[exclamatives]
(3) He’s a big idiot (> “idiotic”) [adjectival
modifiers]
Very: a well known example
• Takes adjectives and adverbs encoding relative scales (Kennedy
and McNally 2005)
• Sensitive to scale structure. Incompatible with closed scales and
non gradable expressions (??very invisible, ??very nuclear)
Other cases are not so clear
Wh-exclamatives
(5) What a beautiful dog! [degree intensification]
(6) What a game! [outstanding entity]
- Not as sensitive to scale structure
- Different effects according to the modified
expressions
(5) more beautiful than a beautiful dog
(6) ??more “game” than a regular game
Degrees or not degrees?
•
Route 1: exclamatives are still interacting with
lexical degrees, though a more complicated
semantics is needed (Castroviejo 2006, Rett
2008)
•
Route 2: exclamatives do not necessarily
combine with degrees.
Nouwen and Chernilovskaya 2011: noteworthiness of
individuals. Degree effect derived indirectly. (If
noteworthy, then high degree). Other non degree
analyses: Zanuttini and Portner 2011.
Roadmap
1- Degree vs non degree modification
2- Issimo in Italian
2.1 Evidence against degree analysis:
•
•
•
Precisification effect w / “imprecise” expressions
Outstanding referent effect with non gradable expressions
Confirmation effect in discourse
2.2 Proposed analysis: noteworthiness evaluation
3- Conclusion:
•
•
Degree effects ≠ degree modification
Several cases emerging cross-linguistically
Italian -issimo: a case study
- Found in various Romance languages
- Well known marker of Italian abroad
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/issimo/
- “The most famous words in Italian are the "issimo" ones
- bellissimo, carissimo, buonissimo, and so on. You can
add the suffix "issimo" to just about any Italian adjective.
It tells us a noun possesses a quality to an extreme
degree” (http://www.tutorino.ca/grammatica/2007/3/5/issimo-the-italian-absolute-superlative.html )
Degree effects of -issimo
-Typically combines with gradable, relative
standard adjectives
(7) Quella casa è bellissima / molto bella
That house is beautiful-issima (“extremely beautiful”) /
very beautiful
-Odd with classificatory adjectives
(8) ?? 7 è un numero primissimo
7 is a number prime-issimo (“??extremely prime”)
The traditional analysis
- Traditionally analyzed as a degree modifer (Rainer 1983,
Wierzbicka 1991, Dressler-Merlini Barbaresi 1994,
Cacchiani 2011)
- Core Semantic component
Intensifies a gradable base (Dressler and Merlini
Barbaresi 1994).
X-issimo  “extremely x”
- Secondary expressive component (“icing on the cake”)
Expressive component due to the high degree to which
the property holds (“X-issimo, and I feel something
because of it”, Wierzbicka 1991)
More than degrees…
- Effects different than degree intensification.
- Degree modifiers (molto = “very”) not licensed in
these environment
- Not completely productive cases, more common
in informal registers (see Bolinger 1972, p.62)
Roadmap
1- Degree vs non degree modification
2- Issimo in Italian
2.1 Evidence against degree analysis:
•
•
•
Slack regulation effect
Outstanding referent effect
“Confirmation” effect
•
2.2 Proposed analysis: noteworthiness evaluation
3- Conclusion:
•
•
Degree effects ≠ degree modification
Several cases emerging cross-linguistically
Slack regulation
- Licensed by: terms with pragmatic imprecision (Lasersohn 1999).
Mary arrived at three o’clock.
Context: Speaker knows that Mary arrived at 3:03
- Effect of issimo: eliminate the halo
(From “la Repubblica” copus – 380M tokens - http://dev.sslmit.unibo.it)
(9) Negli uffici federali è vietatissimo {??molto vietato}, così come sui
marciapiedi di alcune cittadine
(In government offices it’s forbidden-issimo {??very forbidden } , just like on the
sidewalks of some small towns)
(10) Una gigantesca torta di miliardi, come tuttissimi {??molto tutti} gli eventi
mediatici
(A gigantic cake of billions [of dollars], just like all-issimi {??very all} media events)
Outstanding instantiations
-
Licensed by: non gradable expressions (see Birner and Kaplan 2004, “such”)
-
Effect of issimo: select an outstanding instantiation for a plausible reason
(10) Ci siamo , è la partitissima, la sfida cruciale
(Here we go, it’s the game-issimo, the crucial match)
(11) Fiducia cieca, pronta, assoluta in Paolo VII , lo chiamano così, il
presidentissimo che ha realizzato lo storico riscatto
(Blind, immediate, total confidence in Paolo VII - that’s his nickname - the president-issimo
who the historic resurgence)
(From Repubblica copus - http://dev.sslmit.unibo.it)
(12) A pranzo sono stata presentata a un emerito professorissimo che pubblica articoli come
una macchina da guerra
(At lunchtime I get introduced to a hemeritus professor-issimo who publishes articles like a
machine gun)
(http://formalinbrain.ilcannocchiale.it/print/2732887.html )
Replies/Retorts
- Licensed by: replies / rebuttals (Dressler and Merlini Barbaresi 1994)
Effect: confirm / reject propositions
(13) A:7 è un numero primo?
B: Primissimo! / ??Primo
/??molto primo
A: Is 7 a prime number?
B: Prime-issimo /??prime/
?? Very prime
-
-
Totally unconstrained (licensed also by adjectives that would not
combine with the suffix in isolation)
Truth values under discussion are confirmed / negated
Roadmap
1- Degree vs non degree modification
2- Issimo in Italian
2.1 Evidence against degree analysis:
• Non gradable cases
• Expressiveness
• Discourse salience
2.2 Proposed analysis: noteworthiness evaluation
3- Conclusion:
•
•
Degree effects ≠ degree modification
Several cases emerging cross-linguistically
Noteworthiness operations
- Operations on individuals rather than
degrees/properties
- “An individual is noteworthy if its intrinsic
characteristics stand out with respect to
similar individuals” (Nouwen 2011)
Noteworthiness with relative
gradable adjectives
[| bellissimo |] = λx.BEAUT(x) & noteworthy.BEAUT(x)
[| casa bellissima |]= BEAUT.(casa) & noteworthy.BEAUT.(casa)
- All degree arguments already saturated (the standard for
the adjective is exceeded)
- Degree effect arises indirectly. Interaction between
noteworthiness and gradability (INFERENCE: If
noteworthy  must have high degree)
Noteworthiness with non gradable
expressions
[|vietatissimo|] = λx.FORB(x) & noteworthy.p(x)
[|smoking vietatissimo|] = FORB(smoking)&noteworthy.FORB(smoking)
- Multiple dimensions for noteworthiness available
- harshness of punishment - Dangerousness of
violations - …
- Slack regulation effect, when applicable, derived
indirectly (INFERENCE: If noteworthy  must
be true without imprecision)
Noteworthiness with propositions
(13) A:7 è un numero primo?
B: Primissimo! / ??Primo
/??molto primo
A: Is 7 a prime number?
B: Prime-issimo /??prime/
?? Very prime
-
Issimo takes propositional scope (see Nouwen and Chernilovskaya
2011 for wh-exclamatives)
[|7 primissimo|] = noteworthy(PRIME(7))
-
Any noun can fit in there, as long as the discourse conditions are
met
The bigger picture
- Degree effects ≠ direct degree intensification
- Various “indirect” analyses of degree effects
have been proposed recently (Constantinescu
2011, Bochnak 2011, McNabb 2012)
- Varied effects, lack of sensitivity to scale
structure and possibility of taking propositional
scope are diagnostics for distinguishing non
degree intensification from degree intensification
References
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Bochnak, M. Ryan. 2011. Managing vagueness, imprecision and loose talk in Washo: the case of
ˇsemu. Talk presented at SULA, March 2011.
Bolinger, Dwight. 1972. Degree words. The Hague: Mouton de Gruyter
Castroviejo, E. (2006) A degree-based account of Wh-exclamatives. In Puig-Waldmüller, E. (ed.)
Proceedings of the 11th Sinn und Bedeutung, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
Constantinescu, Camelia. 2011. Gradability in the nominal domain: Leiden University dissertation.
Dressler, Wolfgang & Lavinia Merlini Barbaresi. 1994. Morphopragmatics: Diminutives and
intensifiers in Italian, German, and other languages. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Kennedy, Christopher & Louise McNally. 2005. Scale structure, degree modification and the
semantics of gradable predicates. Language 81(2). 345–381.
Lasersohn, Peter. 1999. Pragmatic halos. Language 75(3). 522–551.
Nouwen, Rick and Anna Chernilovskaia, 2011. On wh-exclamatives and “noteworthiness”. Talk
presented at Semantics and Philosophy of Language workshop, University of Chicago.
Rainer, Franz. 1983. L’intensificazione di aggettivi mediante -issimo. In Dardano Maurizio,
Wolfgang Dressler &Gudrum Held (eds.), Akten des 2. O¨ sterreichisch-italienischen
Linguistentreffens, 94–102. Tu¨bingen: Narr
Rett, Jessica. A degree account of exclamatives, Semantics and Linguistic Theory XVIII, eds.
Friedman & Ito, 601–618.
Wierzbicka, Anna. 1991. Italian reduplication: Its meaning and its cultural significance. In Crosscultural pragamtics: The semantics of human interaction, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Thanks!
Expressive meaning
Licensed by: expressive adjectives (cfr English fucking,
damn)
(13) Abbiamo una paura FOTTUTISSIMA {??molto
fottuta} di perdere l’Amore.
We have a fear damned-issima {??very damn} of losing
Love.
http://lamortedellamorte.com/
• Expressive meaning as non gradable (Constantinescu
2011) and non propositional (Potts 2006)
• Fottutissimo ≠ more than fottuto
Noteworthiness and -issimo
- Pure expressive meaning (cfr English fucking)
- Criterion for noteworthiness:
expressiveness
Sources of noteworthiness
Category
Example
Criterion for Effect
NWorthiness
Gradable adjectives /
nouns
Bell-issima
(nice-issima)
Lexical
degrees
Degree int.
Terms used with
imprecision
Tutt-issimi
(all-issimi)
Precision of
use
Precisification
NG predicates
Partit-issima
(gam-issima)
External/con
textual facts
Qualitative
exaltation
Expressive adjectives
Fottut-issima
(Damn-issim)
Emotional
involvement
Expressive
emphasis
Retorts
A: Primo?
B:Primissimo!
Propositional Confirmation/
value wrt
negation
QUD
Degree vs non degree
intensification: diagnostics
Property
DI
N-DI
Sensitivity to scale structure
√
X
Fixed effect
√
X
Can operate at a non lexical
level
X
√