On Quality Intensification Expression Means in German And Lithuanian

• Main Author: Ernesta Račienė
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Vilnius Gediminas Technical University 2013-12-01
• Series: Coactivity: Philology, Educology
• Subjects: quality intensification; compound adjectives; prefixal derivatives; diminutives
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3846/cpe.2013.13

The paper presents the analysis of German Adjectives’ derivational means, which intensify the meaning of quality, and which are compared with functional equivalents in Lithuanian. The intensification of quality is treated as the functional semantic category, implemented in various language levels. This semantics may be expressed morphologically, by lexical and syntactic means, as well as by stress and intonation. The German language has many first components of compound adjectives, representing the intensification of quality, such as: stock-, blitz-, hoch-, brand-, grund-, etc. The rendering function of this semantics is typical of German adjectives prefixes erz-, ur- as well as prefixes of foreign origin super-, ultra-, extra-, mega-, hyper-, top-. In the Lithuanian language, the intensifying meaning of quality is realized by syntactic com-pounds, while on the morphological level it can be conveyed by diminutive suffixes. The paper presents the comparison of German and Lithuanian quality intensification expression means in order to highlight typological similarities and differences.