Conveying emphasis for intensity : Lexical and syntactic strategies

Emphasis is a widely investigated notion in linguistics. In this article, we focus on emphasis for intensity, a general linguistic strategy whereby linguistic objects are given prominence by virtue of being selected from the upper range of a scale. We consider two linguistic domains where emphasis for intensity can be observed: the lexical domain, where it is conveyed via a variety of intensifiers, and the domain of syntax, where it can be conveyed via different types of non‐canonical word order. While distinct in many respects, such families of constructions can be seen as conveying a unified effect, raising a number of issues concerning how the relation between emphasis and scalarity is best captured across languages and constructions.publishe