The interface between semantics and discourse functions: Exploring the adjective Possibile in a corpus of Italian financial news

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the interface between the semantics and the discourse functions of the Italian modal adjective possibile (‘possible’) in a corpus of economic-financial news. The aim is to show how a context-dependent semantic analysis of the adjective sheds light on the distinctive role played by possibile at a discourse level, in particular with respect to the inference of argumentative rhetorical relations. Adopting the framework of Relative Modality we have analysed possibile through the annotation of 222 occurrences as a relational operator linking the prejacent proposition to another set of propositions (conversational backgrounds) which is saturated in the situational or discourse context of utterance focusing on the different roles played by its predicative and attributive constructions. It has turned out that the two constructions impose different constraints on the saturation of the conversational backgrounds.