1 To appear in Sprache und Datenverabeitung (International Journal for Language Data Processing). Draft version, June 2009. German demonstrative so – intensifying and hedging effects * Carla Umbach & Cornelia Ebert Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück German so is a demonstrative expression which picks up degrees or properties and combines as a modifier with gradable as well as non-gradable expressions. Like other demonstratives it can be used deictically and anaphorically, and in addition occur 'out of the blue', without a demonstration gesture or antecedent. If an 'out of the blue' use of so is combined with a gradable expression it yields an intensifying effect, similar to the degree modifier very. But if it is combined with a non-gradable expression it appears like hedging, the speaker being uncertain whether the term she chose is appropriate. This paper focuses on the out-of-the-blue uses of so and addresses the question of how they relate to the deictic and anaphoric uses. Provided it is the same lexical item: Why can a demonstrative expression function as an intensifying device and a hedging device, respectively? 1 Introduction German so is an extremely versatile expression occurring in a broad variety of uses. German grammars list so in various categories, for example as a modal adverb, degree adverb, adverbial connective, and subordinating conjunction (cf. the Duden, and Zifonun et al. 1997, see also Ehlich 1986, König et al. 1990). The primary use of so, however, is said to be its use as a demonstrative expression relating to a property or degree. Demonstrative so always occurs as a modifier combing with, e.g., nouns, verbs and adjectives and the corresponding maximal projections (NP, VP, AP). If the modified expression is gradable, like the adjective groß ('tall') in (1a), so relates to a degree. If it is non-gradable, like Auto ('car') in (1b), so relates to a property. Like any other demonstrative expression so can be used deictically as well as anaphorically. Thus the degree or property picked up by so can either be provided by a demonstrating gesture or by an antecedent in the preceding discourse. In the examples in (1) so is used deictically and the hearer has to infer the relevant degree or property – Marie's height or the make of Marie's car – from the referent of the demonstration gesture. In (2) so is used anaphorically relating to a degree or property (1,80 tall / equipped with a hatch) introduced in the preceding discourse. 1 * We would like to thank Peter Lasersohn, the audience of the ESSLLI 2008 workshop and of the DGfS 2009 workshop on comparison, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments. 1 Due to limitations of space we will consider only adjectives and nouns, and skip complex types of antecedents like the propositional antecedents of manner modifier so discussed in Katz & Umbach (2006). Moreover, we will not go into the use of so in equative comparison which is argued in Umbach (2007) to be a cataphoric use of the demonstrative expression so relating to a degree or property provided by the subsequent wie-phrase, cf. (a). Similarly, so in result constructions can be viewed as a cataphor relating to a degree given by the subsequent dass- clause, cf. (b). For result clauses see Meier (2001). (a) Anna ist so groß wie Marie / hat so ein Auto wie Marie. 'Anna is as tall as Marie / has the same car as Marie.' (b) Anna ist so groß, dass sie an das Regal kommt. 'Anna is so tall that she can reach the shelf. There are many other uses of the expression so which will also be ignored in this paper, e.g., its use as a connective and as a discourse particle. For an overview see König et al. (1990).