On some aspectual adverbs – in Brazilian Portuguese and in Chilean Spanish – that seem ambiguous

We turn to Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and Chilean Spanish (CS) in our study of some aspectual adverbs which, according to Cinque (1999, 2004), have a dual source both concerning their position in the universal hierarchy of adverbs and their scope. The main goal of this paper is to review som...

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Main Authors: Aquiles Tescari Neto, Ana Letícia Riffo Wechsler
Format: Article
Language:German
Published: Université Jean Moulin - Lyon 3 2025-06-01
Series:ELAD-SILDA
Online Access:https://publications-prairial.fr/elad-silda/index.php?id=1731
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author Aquiles Tescari Neto
Ana Letícia Riffo Wechsler
author_facet Aquiles Tescari Neto
Ana Letícia Riffo Wechsler
author_sort Aquiles Tescari Neto
collection DOAJ
description We turn to Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and Chilean Spanish (CS) in our study of some aspectual adverbs which, according to Cinque (1999, 2004), have a dual source both concerning their position in the universal hierarchy of adverbs and their scope. The main goal of this paper is to review some cases of apparent ambiguity as featured by the following classes of “duplicating” adverbs in BP and CS: AspRepetitive(I) and AspRepetitive(II), AspFrequentative(I) and AspFrequentative(II), AspCelerative(I) and AspCelerative(II), AspInceptive(I) and AspInceptive(II), and AspSgCompletive(I) and AspSgCompletive(II). We intend to argue that, on Syntactic Cartography grounds, this ambiguity is much more apparent than real. We turn to a set of seven syntactic tests which can help one: (i) determine the position of “ambiguous” adverbs – those indicated by the indexes I and II in Cinque’s (1999) hierarchy – and (ii) distinguish their different semantic contents. These seven diagnostic tools are: 1) the morphological nature of the adverb; 2) the position of the adverb/adverbial relative to the main finite V(erb); 3) recovery of an adverb in a VP ellipsis construction; 4) the position and scope of the adverb(ial) in a structure with an Infinitival Subject Clause + a Small Clause; 5) the appearance of an adverb within an interrogative clause; 6) the scope of a “focusing” adverb; and 7) precedence-and-transitivity tests featuring an Asp(I) and an Asp(II) adverb. The tests applied help one (i) discriminate between the two scopal positions for adverbs in clausal structure and (ii) argue against the alleged ambiguity featured by the five classes of duplicating aspectual adverbs just mentioned.
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spelling doaj-art-c4e93f784f814deb85f920f6bea9a93c2025-07-22T14:31:03ZdeuUniversité Jean Moulin - Lyon 3ELAD-SILDA2609-66092025-06-011110.35562/elad-silda.1731On some aspectual adverbs – in Brazilian Portuguese and in Chilean Spanish – that seem ambiguousAquiles Tescari NetoAna Letícia Riffo Wechsler We turn to Brazilian Portuguese (BP) and Chilean Spanish (CS) in our study of some aspectual adverbs which, according to Cinque (1999, 2004), have a dual source both concerning their position in the universal hierarchy of adverbs and their scope. The main goal of this paper is to review some cases of apparent ambiguity as featured by the following classes of “duplicating” adverbs in BP and CS: AspRepetitive(I) and AspRepetitive(II), AspFrequentative(I) and AspFrequentative(II), AspCelerative(I) and AspCelerative(II), AspInceptive(I) and AspInceptive(II), and AspSgCompletive(I) and AspSgCompletive(II). We intend to argue that, on Syntactic Cartography grounds, this ambiguity is much more apparent than real. We turn to a set of seven syntactic tests which can help one: (i) determine the position of “ambiguous” adverbs – those indicated by the indexes I and II in Cinque’s (1999) hierarchy – and (ii) distinguish their different semantic contents. These seven diagnostic tools are: 1) the morphological nature of the adverb; 2) the position of the adverb/adverbial relative to the main finite V(erb); 3) recovery of an adverb in a VP ellipsis construction; 4) the position and scope of the adverb(ial) in a structure with an Infinitival Subject Clause + a Small Clause; 5) the appearance of an adverb within an interrogative clause; 6) the scope of a “focusing” adverb; and 7) precedence-and-transitivity tests featuring an Asp(I) and an Asp(II) adverb. The tests applied help one (i) discriminate between the two scopal positions for adverbs in clausal structure and (ii) argue against the alleged ambiguity featured by the five classes of duplicating aspectual adverbs just mentioned.https://publications-prairial.fr/elad-silda/index.php?id=1731
spellingShingle Aquiles Tescari Neto
Ana Letícia Riffo Wechsler
On some aspectual adverbs – in Brazilian Portuguese and in Chilean Spanish – that seem ambiguous
ELAD-SILDA
title On some aspectual adverbs – in Brazilian Portuguese and in Chilean Spanish – that seem ambiguous
title_full On some aspectual adverbs – in Brazilian Portuguese and in Chilean Spanish – that seem ambiguous
title_fullStr On some aspectual adverbs – in Brazilian Portuguese and in Chilean Spanish – that seem ambiguous
title_full_unstemmed On some aspectual adverbs – in Brazilian Portuguese and in Chilean Spanish – that seem ambiguous
title_short On some aspectual adverbs – in Brazilian Portuguese and in Chilean Spanish – that seem ambiguous
title_sort on some aspectual adverbs in brazilian portuguese and in chilean spanish that seem ambiguous
url https://publications-prairial.fr/elad-silda/index.php?id=1731
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