Intensification in the Spanish Spoken in Granada (Spain): A Corpus-Based Study.

This article presents a sociopragmatic study of intensification as a pragmatic strategy in the spoken Spanish of Granada, Spain, based on oral data from the PRESEEA-GRAN corpus. Intensification serves both rhetorical functions—enhancing the force or content of speech acts—and social functions, such as managing politeness and interpersonal relationships. Quantitative analysis revealed that intensification is a common and stable feature across speakers, with women using significantly more intensifiers than men, while variables like age, education, and social distance showed no significant effect. Qualitatively, syntactic intensifiers (e.g., modifiers like *muy* "very") were predominant, and intensification often clustered in emotionally charged or narrative discourse, contributing to both argumentation and positive politeness. The study highlights intensification as a fundamental communicative resource in Granada Spanish and suggests further research into its specific forms and social functions.