Abstract

Afrikaans has two degree modifiers translatable as “much,” “many,” or “a lot,” namely veel and baie. However, the default excessive and equative constructions in Afrikaans are te veel (too much) and ewe veel (as much), not te baie and ewe baie. This article argues that veel is dominant in these constructions because the atypical/marked status of te baie and ewe baie can lend these formulations a marked meaning. Specifically, this marked meaning is argued to be one of evaluativity, where baie in these constructions makes reference to a high degree, whereas veel does not. Native speaker judgements support this interpretation, but also show that baie can have a bleached meaning in these constructions, serving as a neutral substitute for veel. This possibility is attributed to a process of markedness shift, where because of its ubiquity in other degree-modification contexts, baie is inserted in the equative and excessive as well.

摘要

南非荷兰语有两个程度修饰语，可翻译为“很多”，“很多”或“很多”，即veel和baie。但是，南非荷兰语中默认的过度和等价构造是te veel（太多）和ewe veel（一样多），而不是te baie和ewe baie。本文认为，绒毛在这些结构中占主导地位，因为te baie和ewe baie的非典型/标记状态可以使这些配方具有明显的含义。具体地，该标记含义是争论是evaluativity，其中之一拜在这些结构中参考了高度，而veel才不是。以英语为母语的人的判断支持这种解释，但同时也表明，在这些结构中，白菜可以具有漂白的含义，可以作为中性纤维的替代品。这种可能性归因于标记转移的过程，在标记转移中，由于其普遍存在于其他度数修饰语境中，所以白蚁也被插入等式和过度中。