Los marcadores de límite escalar: Argumentación y "vaguedad" enunciativa

Abstract

In this paper I examine some discourse markers that function at an argumentative level and have not been described in the literature: scalar limit markers. These are discourse operators used by the speaker to quantify or to assert fuzzily, showing the limits of the speaker's assertion. These are discourse operators that mark the upper, lower, maximum or minimum limits and force the listener to make an inference in order to interpret the speaker's intention correctly. In this way, they locate the assertion on an argumentative scale, marking its orientation (Ducrot 1984) and evaluating it according to a criterion of sufficiency (Portolés 1998). On the one hand, they constitute a "vagueness" or "fuzziness" mechanism (Zadeh; Channell). On the other hand, they act as scalar limit markers, establishing the lower or the upper boundary of an argumentative scale. Their meaning combines three elements: valuation, sufficiency and change of argumentative orientation.