Scalar adjectives, modality and context: evidence from an experimental study in the derivation of upper-bound and lower-bound readings

Autores/as

  • Ittay Osiris Gil Carrillo Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Palabras clave:

experimental pragmatics, scalarity, semantic-pragmatic interface

Resumen

Scalar implicature has been a top subject of inquiry in the anglo saxon pragmatics field for quite a long time. Many experimental studies have been conducted about the interpretation and processing of weak quantifiers in English and other languages. Recently these types of studies have been conducted exploring a vast range of the so-called Horn scales, namely adjective scales. These studies have shown that scalar implicatures are not always derived from the use of weak adjectives. Here I present experimental evidence coming from the study of the interpretation of scalar adjectives in Spanish that show that an enriched pragmatic context in addition to modalized propositions enhance lower-bound readings of weak scalar adjectives. Data also show that upper-bound readings are hardly derived by speakers, leading to the conclusion that scalar implicatures are pragmatic inferences derived from a handful of lexical items and not from a vast family of scalar terms.

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Referencias

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Publicado

2023-03-05 — Actualizado el 2024-10-26

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