Sobre superlativos y cantidades mínimas

• Ulises Delgado Díaz ^[1]
  1. [1] Universidad Complutense de Madrid

     Universidad Complutense de Madrid

     Madrid, España

     
• Localización: Revista Española de Lingüística, ISSN-e 2254-8769, ISSN 0210-1874, Vol. 54, N. 2, 2024, págs. 167-196
• Idioma: español
• DOI: 10.31810/rsel.54.2.5
• Títulos paralelos:
  • On superlatives and minimum quantities
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo (pdf)
• Resumen
  • español

    En este artículo se ofrece una descripción exhaustiva de las propiedades gramaticales y semánticas de las superlativas de cantidad mínima, esto es, expresiones superlativas, generalmente formadas con el superlativo léxico mínimo, que denotan una cantidad o un grado mínimos. Además de su significado cuantitativo, estas construcciones poseen un valor modal que distingue dos clases: aquellas formadas con un complemento restrictor de modalidad teleológica (las condiciones mínimas necesarias) y aquellas en las que el complemento restrictor es un modal dinámico de posibilidad (los mínimos errores posibles). A partir de las diferencias sintácticas y semánticas entre ambos tipos de superlativas, proponemos un análisis distinto para cada una: mientras que el mínimo teleológico es un modificador restrictivo, el mínimo dinámico es un auténtico cuantificador.

  • English

    This article offers an exhaustive description of the grammatical and semantic properties of minimum-quantity superlatives, namely superlative expressions, generally formed with the lexical superlative mínimo ‘minimum’, which denote a minimum quantity or degree. In addition to their quantitative meaning, these constructions have a modal flavor that distinguishes two classes: those formed with a restrictive complement of teleological modality (las condiciones mínimas necesarias ‘the minimum necessary conditions’) and those in which the restrictive complement is a dynamic modal of possibility (los mínimos errores posibles ‘the least possible mistakes). Based on the syntactic and semantic differences between the two types of superlatives, we propose a different analysis for each one: while the teleological mínimo is a restrictive modifier, the dynamic mínimo is a true quantifier.

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