Abstract

VILLASENOR GARCIA, Gala; CURCO, Carmen  and  PERALTA ESTRADA, María Teresa. Intervalar readings of number terms under different linguistic contexts: an experimental approach. Forma funcion, Santaf, de Bogot, D.C. [online]. 2021, vol.34, n.1, e3846.  Epub Oct 31, 2020. ISSN 0120-338X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/fyf.v34n1.83846.

Number terms do not always receive exact interpretations when used as part of linguistic exchanges. Sometimes speakers derive intervalar readings as «at least» or «at most». That is why this phenomenon has captured the attention of a vast number of scholars who have contributed to a debate that has touched both theoretical and empirical grounds. This experimental research aimed to study the level of acceptance of the intervalar readings that a number term can receive when it is preceded by a definite article, when it has a semantic function of either predicate or quantifier, and when it is under the scope of epistemic or deontic modal operators. The results suggest that in the absence of a pragmatic context biasing towards intervalar interpretations of number terms, those have a low degree of acceptance. However, in weak epistemic and deontic modal contexts, there seems to be an acceptance of upper-bounded interpretations.

Keywords : definiteness; experimental linguistics; modality; number terms; quantifiers.

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