Contrastive strategies for intensification in English, Dutch, and French : a case study from the translation of intensified English compound adjectives

The semantically uniform function of intensification (i.e. increasing the degree of a quality) has a wide diversity of formal realizations. The present corpus-driven exploration of intensification consists of (1) a study of Dutch and French translations of English [Noun+Adj] compound adjectives, including a figurative-intensifying subtype (e.g. crystal-clear), and (2) a contrastive study of intensification strategies in all three languages. The cross-linguistic comparisons are not restricted to a particular form; hence, even highly modified options are identified empirically. By coding separate morphosyntactic and conceptual-semantic translation procedures, I describe how translators handle potential challenges inherent in the dense content of compounds or in the expression of intensification with or without figurative language. Dutch translations favor the parallel [Noun+Adj] construction and figurative means of intensification, whereas French tends toward adverbial intensifiers or completely transposed constructions and is more evenly divided between figurative and non-figurative means. Both languages also drop the intensification about 30% of the time. Translation variation has been little studied. The present study finds a high number of different translation solutions, even more so in French, and particularly for the figurative-intensifying subtype. The translation procedures alone cannot explain this proliferation; other factors include the cumulative use of synonyms, the need for semantic explicitation, and polysemy of the source adjective. The contrastive study identifies a range of morphological and syntactic intensifying constructions in general language. Cross-linguistic comparison indicates that adverbial intensification is the preferred means in all three languages. English and Dutch also make extensive use of compounds, and Dutch often uses prefix intensifiers. French frequently uses derivational forms that are not based on the original adjective (e.g. vertigineux for très élevé, inébranlable for très solide). Implications for the notion of a typological synthetic-to-analytic cline (Dutch – English – French) are discussed. The two research methods are complementary: the translations provide a useful starting point for contrastive explorations, while the latter provide a framework from which to reinterpret the translation results. In particular, comparing the frequencies of use in translated and non-translated language sheds light on the complex interplay of influences on translators.