2026-04-18T00:29:15Zhttps://recercat.cat/oai/request

oai:recercat.cat:2072/4797842025-07-29T23:36:43Zcom_2072_98col_2072_378192

00925njm 22002777a 4500 dc Tovena, Lucia M. author Fleury, Damien author 2024 This paper is about the semantics of quality modal superlatives in predicative function, e.g. Italian È stata il più calma possibile ('She was the calmest possible'), with a focus on what is the anchoring of the modal superlative, and how what is being compared is restricted. The limitations of single-anchoring in individuals when analysing modal superlatives, following the strategy generally adopted for ordinary absolute and relative superlatives, are highlighted. The alternative of using a comparison class made of world+individual pairs grouped into equivalence classes defined through the amount of the gradable property (Tovena & Fleury 2023), proves a better solution. New data on the stage-level vs. individual-level reading of the gradable adjective provide evidence supporting this form of anchoring. The stage-level reading, although predominant, is not the manifestation of the invariance of the individual being compared. Some stage-level interpretations favour selecting a plurality of individuals for comparison, with the difference that this plurality is determined across possible worlds, not in the actual world, in contrast to ordinary superlatives. Modal superlatives Stage level vs individual level Comparison class Semantics Pragmatics The anchor of a modal superlative and the individual vs stage level reading of the adjective