Complete and sort of : from identifying to intensifying?

It is generally assumed that intensifying uses of adjectives and nouns, as in a complete mess and what sort of jerk , are a later development of other uses of these elements. This paper investigates the question whether the source of the intensifying uses is formed by descriptive or (primary or secondary) identifying uses, as both hypotheses have been put forward in the literature. It does this by considering two cases, c omplete and sort of , reconstructing the precise paths of development of their intensifying uses. On the basis of study of diachronic data, it is established that complete developed its intensifying meanings from descriptive uses and sort of from – intensified –quantifier uses. Hence, the hypotheses of unitary paths have to be given up in favour of multiple paths. The question is also considered how complete and sort of developed the intensification scales inherent in their intensifying meanings. For complete two shifts are posited: from bounded descriptive to closed‐scale emphasizing ( the complete establishment → a complete wreck ), and from unbounded descriptive to open‐scale emphasizing uses ( God’s complete (‘perfect’) law → a complete knave ). For sort it is argued that its intensifying uses developed from early quantifying complex determiners such as all sort of , a good/great sort of . The unbounded scale of absolute quantification incorporated by these could easily be transformed into the open intensification scale of the intensifying uses.