Négation et polarité : les métaphores de la quantité

Résumé En

Francisco Hernândez Paricio: Négation and Polarity: Metaphors of Quantity The connection between négation and polarity has been studied from many points of view, the resulting work comprising a whole array of metaphors on the actual object of study: quantity. In this paper I provide some arguments supporting the relation between the concepts of quantity, négation, and polarity, which should actually be construed as a single concept if a scale based on quantification is established. This scale will necessarily be polar and négation will be a constitutive part of it. Quantity is the élément that justifies the connections between scalar implicature and négative polarity. Starting with the logical traditional square, and having in mind Jespersen's ideas on this question, a triangular scheme (an escherian scale) is presented describing the basic values of the System of quantification in Spanish (its basic quantifiers and the peripheral ones) and the relation between the most fréquent lexical items for the logical modalities. The main conséquence proposed is that polar values should be considered, at least in thèse cases, as the semantic contents of the corresponding lexical entries.