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6.6 Lexical Intensifiers and Other Lexical Items
As we mentioned in chapter 4, page 120, Labov has but one single category labelled “Lexical Items” which we have subdivided into “Lexical Intensifiers”, a fairly restricted
subclass of intensifiers, and “Lexical Items” where the choice is unlimited and degrees of effectiveness are possible. We will discuss the more restricted set first.
Table 6.11. Lexical intensifiers Data Total Subject Total
very really
too so
21 3
2 2
Total 28
Shvinder Fariba
Sakander Humira
Sheiba Aqeel
Shazia Fehdah
9 8
1 3
6
1
The most frequently used lexical intensifier, according to Quirk and Greenbaum 1973, is “very” and this general statement is confirmed by our data see table 6.11. Most of these
examples are not particularly noteworthy. However, Sheiba in her Story C exaggerates, or emphasizes, the intensification by repetition and expressive phonology. Here her main
character, Billy-the-Twit, is trying to find out about Greenland: 11
So BILly ASKED the EXsimo [Eskimo] 12
and the EXsimo SAID, 13
“It is VERy, VERy, VERy FROSTy there.”
The heavily evaluated answer is also an example of embedded orientation, an external evaluative device, giving setting-type information about the real world that is the main
point around which the story is constructed. So, in one sense, this is not an example of exaggeration at all, but an accurate assessment of the climate of the geographical
Greenland.
- 270 - Humira, in her Story D, comes up with an interesting, non-standard combination of a
lexical intensifier plus a lexical item: 40
SO-O the FAther CHRISTmas went HOME 412
AND he SAW i
t was SNOWing.
434 And he WENT OUT and GOT SNOW
45 and it was VERy MAGic.
In standard English you cannot say that something is “very magic”; it is either magic or it is not. Humira uses the expression to mean “and it was very powerful magic [snow]” and in
the very next clause she says: 46
and he MAGicked Everything up using “magic” again as a verb. Although non-standard, these expressions are highly
effective as indicators of the importance of the information being conveyed. Our best example of the use of “really” comes from the opening of Fariba’s Story D:
1 One DAY FAther Christmas was REALly ANGry
2 He was ANGry
3
beCAUSE he DIDn’t LIKE his PICTures on the CARDS
4 SO he WANTed on the CARDS SNOWmen PICTures
5 And he WANTed a HOLiday.
The meaning of “really” is similar to that of “very”; it also emphasizes the truth value of the statement where the hearer might consider the possibility that the anger was only
feigned. Hence, it is more expressive than “very”. “Too” has the meaning of “more than enough” or “excess” when referring to quantity and
quality, and is, therefore, more specific than “very”, e.g. the following from Shvinder’s Story A:
56 SO the SNOWman SAID,
57
“I am getting TOO HOT HERE.
58
I’m STARTing to MELT.
59
I MUST go QUICKly BACK to my HOUSE.”
- 271 - The intensifier “so” often has an exclamatory force, for example the following from
Sheiba’s Story A: 1
ONE day Mr. WONG WOKE UP SO EARly. 2
And he had a SHO-OP. 34
He SAID, “
I CAN PUT THIS IN MY SHOP. “
5 AND the SHOP people BUYed it.
The exclamatory force is indicated by the expressive phonology; the intensification is strengthened by receiving nuclear prominence, marked by a short rising contour and heavy
stress, and the hearer is led to expect a “that” which will introduce something really noteworthy, such as, “he decided to open his shop at half past six”, instead of the bald
comment that he owned a shop. A more experienced storyteller would have placed 1 and 2 in the opposite order, i.e.:
1 Mr. Wong had a shop.
2 One day he woke up so early
3 that he said,
4 “I can put this in my shop right now.”
It was a bag of very special rice so he got up straight away and carted it off to his shop.
5 And the shop people bought it.
The second example is from Fariba’s Story B: 28
And they WON eLEVen SCORES [goals]. 29
And THEN he was SO HAPpy
that
301
Father Christmas WENT to apPLAUD HIM that
32
he was BEing VERy GOOD.
Fariba uses “so” to intensify “happy” and to capture the sense of elation experienced by the ‘girl’s’ son when his team scored eleven goals under his captaincy and Father Christmas
congratulated him on his success. This marks the satisfactory conclusion to the story which is followed immediately by the Coda:
33 SO they ALL lived HAPpily Ever AFter
- 272 - 34
and THAT was the END of the TEAM. 35
And HE won a BIG MEDal. 36
THE END. Also in the lexical category are a small group of emphasizers whose function is to either
introduce some rather surprising information or to add a note of surprise to the event being described: they are “just” eight examples, “ever” four examples, “even” two
examples, “only” two examples, “own” one example, and “indeed” one example. Some are not particularly striking but are, nevertheless, evaluative. In Shvinder’s Story B we
have both “just” and “ever” in close proximity: 19
AND Father Christmas SAID, 20
“WILL you HELP me
21
to FIND the WORSest TEAM of EVer?”
22 The lady just LA-AUGHED, “
HA, ha, ha.”
Collins Cobuild Dictionary 1987 notes that “just” is used “to give emphasis to what you are saying. The word following ‘just’ is usually stressed” 7.6; here it is both stressed and
lengthened to emphasize the surprising nature of the lady’s reaction to the question. In spite of the errors in number 21, the use of “ever” following a superlative evaluatively
emphasizes the ultimate extent of the surprising lack of proficiency Father Christmas was after. Who in their right senses would sponsor such a hopeless cause?
In Fariba’s Story E, “ever” is highlighting the surprising anomaly, expressed in number 345, of a cowboy who could not even ride a horse:
30
“WHY ARE YOU LAUGHing at ME-E?”
31
“BeCAUSE,”
he said, 32
“THAT’S the FUNniest thing
33
I EVer SAW in the WHOLE TOWN.
34
YOU ARE COWboy
35
but you can’t BALance on a HORSE.”
In Shvinder’s Story D “even” also suggests that the information which follows is somewhat surprising, and contrary to expectation:
- 273 - 1
ONE day Father CHRISTmas SAID, 2
“I NEVer have a HOLiday,
3
NOT EVen at SUMmertime.
4
I HAVE to HAVE a HOLiday.”
Fariba’s Story F gives us two good examples of the use of “only”; the first is misordered but this does not detract from the effectiveness of the passage. An Eskimo is very
surprised to see one lone traveller in the back of beyond without a supporting entourage: 11
AND HE [the Eskimo] SAID, 12
“WHERE ARE the Others?
13
I ONLY can SEE ONE.”
14 AND Mr. WONG SAID,
15
“There AREN’T ANy Others.
16
There’s only ME”
Sakander’s use of “own”, in his Story E, is slightly different: 40
SO BILly the COWboy let him 41
HAVE a RIDE on his OWN HORSE.
It comes at the end of a story about the rivalry of two friends: Billy, the cowboy, and Ben, the footballer. Ben had been laughing at Billy because of his lack of horsemanship.
However, they managed to turn his poor performance into a highly successful comedy act and, as a reward for Ben’s support, Billy let him ride his precious horse. The use of “own”
in 41 emphasizes the fact that the horse really belonged to him. Shvinder, in her Story A, employs “indeed” at the end of her pre-coda clause to give extra
force to the lexical intensifier “very”: 81
So the CUStomers WERE VERy HAPpy inDEED. 82
And MR. WONG LIVED HAPpier EVer A-AFter. The effectiveness of these devices is reinforced by the use of expressive phonology see pp.
233–235.
- 274 - The remaining lexical devices, which form the bulk of those coded, can be divided into two
groups see chapter 4, p. 120: 1 items that are directly evaluative, such as the adjectives listed in table 6.12, and 2 expressions showing a creative flair and memorable use of
language. Table 6.12. Evaluative adjectives
Data Total Data
Total Data
Total sweet
lovely grumpy
annoyed worried
sad sorry
pleased fair
1 1
1 1
1 1
1 1
1 happyhappily
magicmagicked messymess
funnyfunniest good
big shiny
fed up bad
nice cross
14 10
7 7
6 5
4 4
3 3
3 angry
strange stupid
boring delicious
ordinary right
slimy cruel
special dreadful
2 2
2 1
1 1
1 1
1 1
1 89
Those marked with an asterisk indicate the items which specifically describe how story characters feel about story actions and happenings; the rest describe how the narrator, from
outside the story frame, feels about a character, prop, or situation she is describing. Bamberg and Damrad-Frye 1991, in their study of evaluative comments in children’s
narratives, coded lexical items as falling into one of five categories: 1 frames of mind, 2 character speech, 3 distancing devices, 4 negative statements, and 5 causal connections.
Their category 1, “frames of mind”, overlaps rather than coincides with what we are calling “direct evaluation”:
These [frames of mind] consisted of references to emotional states primary and secondary such as being sad, happy, scared, and anxious, perturbed, amazed and the like.
1991:694
- 275 - Descriptions of mental states or of evaluated outcomes of actions take the discourse outside
its referential, ideational context, and indirectly shift focus from the action on to the narrator, particularly on the perspective from which heshe views the action descriptions
as being related. p. 690 Bamberg and Damrad-Frye also include transitive actions which initiate emotions in others
e.g. scare, frighten and other references to purely mental states or activities, such as thinking, or being interested in something, which we have not taken account of, unless the
item in question is particularly effective or colourful, or is an example of mature usage. Verbs we have coded as evaluative include “interrupt”, “balance”, “magicked”, “rolled
around”, “congratulated” and “applaud”, the speech verbs mentioned under direct speech see pp. 254 and 257–259, and verbs expressing emotions such as “liked”, “loved”,
“enjoyed” and “don’t care”; adverbs coded as evaluative include “suddenly”, “after all” and “after a while”. We do not have the space to discuss all these examples in context; some
such as “magicked” p. 270 have already been discussed elsewhere. However, we will look at some examples of what we consider to be the creative use of language; the choices made
here are obviously highly subjective. The favourite comes from Humira’s Story C as she introduces her main character, Billy-
the-Twit: 1
BILly-the-TWIT WAS STUpid 2
and he COULDN’T find the MIND in his HEAD. Number 2 is highly original and there is nothing remotely like it in the model story;
unfortunately, what follows does not match this opening. It is remarkable both for the clarity of thought and the aptness of the words chosen to express it. Aqeel’s example of an
intriguing speech, from his Story E, is also a colourful and creative use of language but the precise meaning in context is more opaque:
1 ONCE upon a TIME THERE was BILly - - -
2 BILly his HORSE was OUT
3 and HE - um - HE RAN to the HORSE
4 AND HE RIDE on the HORSE
5 AND THEN he FELL OFF.
- 276 - 6
And HE GOT ON aGAIN 7
and HE RIDE. 8
And HE FALL DOWN aGAIN 9
and COME BACK UP aGAIN. 10
And HE [the horse?] RUNNED to - BILly 11
and he [Billy?] SAID, 12
“YOU STEALED MY PUFF.”
13 That’s the END of STOry.
If Billy is, indeed, reprimanding his horse for making him out of breath, then this is a very picturesque way of expressing his predicament, the grammatical error adding to its appeal.
The last three examples are equally apt but more conventional. Shvinder, in her Story A, has just described Father Christmas’s delivery of rice to Mr. Wong via the chimney:
74 And Mr. WONG
when he WAKED UP in the MORning
75 he COULDn’t beLIEVE his EYES.
Mr. Wong had written off to Father Christmas without any firm conviction that his wish would be granted, so when it is, he is incredulously overjoyed.
Sakander has picked up a cliché beloved of government politicians which he uses to effect in the coda to his Story B:
33 And THEN, at the END of the DAY, FAther CHRISTmas WENT
34 AND um HE SAID, “
GOODBYE.”
The final example is from the coda of Fariba’s Story C: 24
And THAT was the END of BILly-the-TWIT. 25
THE END. She does not intend to dispatch her hero quite so literally, but merely to wrap up her story
in a satisfactory way so that John, her interlocutor, is left in no doubt that the narration is over.
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6.7 Foregrounding
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