Amplifiers in Advanced Learner English (PDF)

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2016 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen (Department of English Language and Linguistics), language: English, abstract: Starting with a basic comparison of amplifiers as well as intensifiers in ICLE and LINDSEI, this paper attempts to depict differences of adjective intensification in a written and a spoken context in a more detailed way.

First, the term intensifier is defined and its functions are described. Secondly, the role of intensification in English foreign language teaching is explained, as well as the improvement of linguistic studies with the help of corpora. Following thereupon is the methodological part, which describes the concrete analysis of LINDSEI, with the help of the research toolAntConc. Then the types and tokens of amplifiers as well as intensifiers of ICLE and LINDSEI-GE are compared in order to depict general differences of a written and a spoken context. After that the modified adjectives are examined concerning their overall frequency.

Furthermore, the most frequent adjective-intensifier collocations are exposed. Charts are used to illustrate the results of the study to show mainly absolute numbers. Then the results are discussed and compared to Lorenz' findings with a reference to other studies of this field, such as Sylviane Grangers study of amplifier collocations. Also, problematic aspects erasing while conducting the study and the observation of intensifiers and adjectives are discussed as well.