Generalized gradability and extremeness in Puerto Rican Spanish

Abstract

The expression of extremeness in Puerto Rican Spanish is encoded in a series of modifiers, which are attached to adjectival, nominal or verbal elements. The proper treatment of this phenomenon requires a generalization of gradability and modification transcategorially. A semantic account is presented in which extremeness is mapped along several contextually-dependent dimensions, which are sensitive to the properties of the event associated to the expression in the scope of the modifier.