A variationist study of Spanish intensifiers

Abstract

This study explores the use of intensifiers in three Spanish-speaking communities: Medellín and Tunja, Colombia, and Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Puerto Rican). We analyzed the effects of internal and external constraints on 7,835 tokens. Results reveal that periphrastic intensification is favored over morphological alternatives. The use of súper as an intensifier is an innovation promoted by young middle- and upper-class women. Findings corroborate that the use of intensifiers is both internally and externally conditioned. More broadly, the dominance of periphrastic intensifiers parallels the expansion of analytic constructions in Spanish, including the rise of the periphrastic future. This study expands our collective knowledge about the role of intensifiers in language variation and change.