Article published in:
Modes of Modality: Modality, typology, and universal grammar
Edited by Elisabeth Leiss and Werner Abraham
[Studies in Language Companion Series 149] 2014
► pp. 353–376

The modal category of sufficiency

| Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
This paper deals with constructions which express a notion of ‘sufficiency’. The presence of a degree quantifier such as enough, too, excessively or suffice constitutes their defining feature. On the proposed analysis, these constructions establish a relation of ‘necessity’ between the element that is in the scope of the quantifier and the state of affairs, specified in a complement clause or recoverable from the context, with respect to which the evaluation of sufficiency has to be interpreted. The study I present builds on this covert component of modal necessity and drawing on previous approaches explores the ways in which the relation of the sufficiency operators to possible worlds may be reconciled with their evaluating function in the real world.
Published online: 24 January 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.149.12mel
References

References

Abraham, Werner
2012 Covert modality in typology. In Covert Modality, Werner Abraham & Elisabeth Leiss (eds), 386–439. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Bierwisch, Manfred
1989 The semantics of gradation. In Dimensional Adjectives. Grammatical Structure and Conceptual Interpretation, Manfred Bierwisch & Ewald Lang (eds), 71–261. Berlin: Springer. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Charaudeau, Patrick
1992 Grammaire du sens et de l’expression. Paris: Hachette.Google Scholar
Delsing, Lars-Olof, Egerland, Verner & Jonas, Dianne
2012 Enough! A comparative study of clausal adverbials in English and Swedish. In Discourse and Grammar. A Festschrift in Honor of Valéria Molnár, Johan Brandtler, David Hakansson, Susan Huber & Eva Klingvall (eds), 179–192. Lund: Lund University.Google Scholar
Di Tullio, Angela
2007 Manual de gramática del español, 2d. edn. Buenos Aires: La isla de la luna.Google Scholar
Hacquard, Valentine
2005 Aspects of too and enough constructions. In Proceedings of SALT 15, Effi Georgala & Jonathan Howell (eds), 80–97. Ithaca N.Y.: Cornell University.Google Scholar
Heim, Irene
2000 Degree operators and scope. In Proceedings of SALT 10, Brendan Jackson & Tanya Matthews (eds), 214–239. Ithaca NY: Cornell University.Google Scholar
Karttunen, Lauri
1971 Implicative verbs. Language 47(2): 340–358. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kratzer, Angelika
1977 What “must” and “can” must and can mean. Linguistics and Philosophy 1(1): 337–355. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Marques, Rui
2012 Covert modals and (non-)implicative readings of too/enough constructions. In Covert Patterns of Modality, Werner Abraham & Elisabeth Leiss (eds), 238–266. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar
Meier, C.
écile 2003 The meaning of too, enough, and so…that . Natural Language Semantics 11: 69–107. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Melis, Chantal
2011 Los verbos de suficiencia. Lingüística Mexicana 6(2).Google Scholar
Portner, Paul
2009 Modality. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Quirk, Randolph, Greenbaum, Sidney, Leech, Geoffrey & Svartvik, Jan
1985 A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Sánchez López, Cristina
1999 Los cuantificadores: Clases de cuantificadores y estructuras cuantificativas. In Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española, I, Vol. 1, Ch. 16, Ignacio Bosque & Violeta Demonte (eds), 1025–1128. Madrid: Espasa Calpe.Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs, ter Meulen, Alice, Snitzer Reilly, Judy & Ferguson, Charles A.
(eds) 1986 On Conditionals. Cambridge: CUP. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
von Fintel, Kai & Iatridou, Sabine
2007 Anatomy of a modal construction. Linguistic Inquiry 38(3): 445–483. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Melis, Chantal
2020.  In Changes in Meaning and Function [IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature, 25], ► pp. 174 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 03 april 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.