A Diachronic Corpus Study On Intensifiers In American TV Shows

This study investigates how time can influence the use and frequency of intensifiers in American TV shows in the last thirty-five years.The data was drawn from three popular American sitcoms.This allowed to create a corpus of almost two million words.This thesis takes into account five different intensifiers: very,so,too,really and real,as well as the adjectives that accompany them.The research questions will search into the frequency in the use of intensifiers,and they will also show if these words are changing with time,if some of them are losing or gaining some strength and determine which adjectival collocations are mostly used with the mentioned intensifiers.This qualitative research explains the relevant background information about intensifiers from different theoretical insights,also uses and processes the data in order to obtain the desire information.The results show that the use of intensifiers varies with time and some of them lose their strength along time.For instance,in the first corpus the intensifier very occupies the first place but loses its place in the next corpora.The intensifier so went from the second place to the first in the last two corpora,triplicating its numbers and maintaining its first place by far.This study allows a glimpse into the typical variety and fluctuation for intensifiers,and points to some major changes in the sitcom corpora.