La semántica de los aproximadores frente a los aproximativos. El caso de más o menos

Abstract

This paper analyzes the semantic properties of the Spanish adverb más o menos 'about,more or less'. This adverb has been conceived as an approximative adverb, similarly to other, moreprototypical forms, like almost or barely. Nevertheless, the propositional implications of almostand barely do not arise in más o menos, due to its particulary vague status. While almost andbarely present a proximity-polarity pattern, más o menos implies an inconsistency ofpresuppositions, yielding differing readings. For this reason, I classify adverbs like más o menos asapproximators, in opposition to adverbs like almost and barely, which have been classified asapproximatives. Semantically, both types of adverbs can be considered to be vagueifier items;however, while almost and barely have scope over negation, más o menos introduces a series ofmore complex relations connected to the problem of higher-order vagueness.