Having analysed selected Baroque texts (mostly fiction),
grammar books and dictionaries, I found that in the Baroque Czech there are the
following
expressions usually called intensifying / gradational by traditional Czech
syntactic theories.
I) Conjunctions:
1. Simple (i.e. consisting of only one part; "jednodílné") ano, ba; anobr,
nýbr (rarely having the intensifying meaning, mostly adversative);
2. Partioned (i.e. a pair of conjunctions which work together to coordinate two
items; "různovětné"): netoliko / nejen(om) / nercili / neřkuli(c) ale / nýbr /
anobr / alebr / ne / ano / ani (like the Latin pattern non solum / non tantum
/ non modo sed etiam / verum etiam, the Czech structure is lexically variable).
II) Modifiers (usually following the conjunctions):
1. Adverbial expressions nad to / nadto, k tomu;
2. Expressions containing the feature of quantity / intensity: více / víceji,
spíe, mnohém;
3. Emphasizing particles: i, ani, také, jetě.
In the Baroque Czech the conjunction nato? and the modifier navíc are not used
at all. The expression dokonce keeps its original quantitative / totalising
meaning in most cases. The analysis of Baroque Czech conjunctions shows that
with regard to their meaning these intensifying expressions do not share any
intensifying features, i.e. they do not form a homogeneous group in this respect.
In my analysis I have also found that in the Medieval period the influence of
German syntax on Czech syntax increased: 1) The German affirmative ja that
changed into an intensifying conjunction also influenced the Czech affirmative
ano, ba, which became an intensifying conjunction as well. 2) Similarly, the
German nicht allein sondern inspired the expansion of the Czech conjunction
nýbr into netoliko / nejen(om) nýbr.