Je fais crise d’angoisse sur crise d’angoisse, de pire en pire: comment intensifier la peur dans le discours sur la « fin du monde »

This paper analyses the comments of internet users related to the news about the end of the world on the 21st of December, 2012. We consider which linguistic constructions allow fear to intensify. We indicate a semantic model of intensification which corresponds to the causative construction: Si Intens causes Si intens [very p (quality / condition)] causes [very q (act / new condition)], constituting the basis for the linguistic expression of fear. Because the end of the world is an unimaginable event, it causes fear – a primary and universal emotion. Surfers exploit various (formal, lexical, graphic, etc.) procedures which provide an opportunity for the feelings of fear to intensify. The intensification of the cause (approaching end of the world) provokes an intensification of the consequence (feeling of fear). The analysis is part of the work of the research group DiSEM (Discourse Semantics Inference) composed of researchers from the Pedagogical University of Cracow.