From degree adverb to response token: absolutely in late modern and contemporary British and American English

The English adverb absolutely belongs to the class of words usually referred to as 'degree adverbs', 'degree modifiers', or 'intensifiers,' which is one of the most active in terms of undergoing change, and is also a very productive one, since new 'members' ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 2013-06, Vol.13 (2), p.207
Main Author: Pertejo, Paloma Nunez
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
18th century AD
19th century AD
Adverb
English language
Grammar, Comparative and general
History
Linguistic research
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The English adverb absolutely belongs to the class of words usually referred to as 'degree adverbs', 'degree modifiers', or 'intensifiers,' which is one of the most active in terms of undergoing change, and is also a very productive one, since new 'members' can be added to it, thus making it an 'open' class. This paper is mainly concerned with the description of the use of absolutely in Late Modern and contemporary written British and American English. Through an analysis of data retrieved from various electronic sources, I will examine the range of collocational patterns that absolutely allows, its different syntactic functions and the various meanings associated with them. Moreover, it will be argued that absolutely has followed a line of development similar to other adverbs (e.g. Indeed, in fact, actually), thus having evolved from an adverb of manner or degree to become an independent item used as an emphatic, affirmative response. Keywords: degree adverb, intensifier, maximizer, response item/token
ISSN:0028-3754