Morfologiese evalueringskonstruksies in Afrikaans

Abstract

Evaluation is a general characteristic of people’s lives – also their language. In this study the focus is on the specific ways in which evaluation is expressed in Afrikaans, specifically on a morphological level. This study has at its core Afrikaans morphological evaluative constructions (MECs), an overarching term that is used to refer to evaluative constructions, for example, intensified adjectives and taboo infixes. The research questions addressed in this study are what a descriptive framework for MECs should include; which MECs are used in Afrikaans; and ultimately how these constructions should be described with reference to usage data. The description of Afrikaans MECs, whether theoretically or by means of synchronic corpus data, has not yet been undertaken in its totality before. To determine the requirements for a descriptive framework, a literature study has been undertaken. Concepts that include expressivity, intensification and iconicity appear in the literature and are critically discussed. Existing studies about evaluative language include approaches from different perspectives, but they generally affirm that a core characteristic of evaluative language is the overt or implied judgement of language users. Language users express their judgement by making specific choices: For example, they use taboos and intensified adjectives, rather than constructions that are purely denotative or referential. It could be determined on the basis of the literature that MECs should be described with reference to their form, meaning, usage and development. For the purpose of this study, only the first three aspects are relevant, due to them being synchronic aspects. MECs, as they appear in the corpus collections of the Virtual Institute for Afrikaans (VivA), are described on the basis of these three aspects. To compare different MECs in different corpus collections, the word-frequency classes of MECs are used. In this study affixoids, compounds, affixes and a catch-all group with other MECs are the main groupings in which MECs are described. MECs that have previously enjoyed either no attention or only superficial attention, for example, affixoids, taboo affixoids, double diminutives and recursive MECs, form part of the descriptions. Commonalities between the different MECs are determined based on the data and usage: Components that combine on the left or at the core, like prefixes, prefixoids and infixes, contribute to intensified meanings, while the meanings of suffixes and suffixoids that combine on the right, vary more and can be used to refer evaluatively to people, objects or characteristics. The productivity and versatility of especially Afrikaans taboo

morphemes to indicate intensification and to form constructions that refer to people are prominent topics that are discussed in the study. This study has a dual contribution in as far as it offers a descriptive framework for MECs, and it presents synchronic descriptions of different Afrikaans MECs. This study therefore lays the foundation for the complete description of MECs in other languages, and also offers a comprehensive description of Afrikaans MECs. This synchronic usage-based description of Afrikaans MECs ultimately promotes the role of Afrikaans in the bigger discussion of evaluative language use.