Anielsko cierpliwy i piekielnie inteligentny –o intensyfikacji w profanum za pomocą sacrum

Abstract

The article is an attempt to outline the process of desacralization in language. The very process seems interesting because it concerns two opposite spheres: the sacred and the profane. The author presents the notion of secularization considered from various angles, however, concentrates on secularization, namely the loss of sanctity primarily belonging to the designates of the sphere of the sacred. Such a process takes place in the language when the phrases belonging to the semantic field of sanctity get popularized. The very migration aims at above all creating new meanings. Linguistic search within the phenomenon of desacralization in language is limited to secularisms used to underline the intensity of a given feature. The evaluation of the level of intensity of particular expressions is accompanied by a definition of their emotional marking and vividness. In the last part of the article, the author makes an attempt to answer the question on a bigger popularity of defined intensifiers over others.