The pragmatics of number: The evaluative properties of vivir + V[Gerund

Abstract

Several languages have grammaticalized means of expressing event plurality in the verbal domain. While some languages use affixation and reduplication to encode iterative and frequentative meanings, Spanish has periphrastic constructions formed by an auxiliary verb and a non-finite verb form that encode this type of meaning. This paper focuses on a frequentative periphrasis found in the Spanish of Bogotá, vivir+V[Gerund] ‘to keep V-ing’, and analyzes its evaluative properties. I propose that the properties of vivir+V[Gerund] reflect a pragmatic principle associated more generally with expressions denoting high number. Both in the verbal and in the nominal domain, forms that denote a large and uncountable number are often associated with evaluative meanings. These plural forms do not depict a specific number of referents (events or entities). Rather, the expression of high number is used to signal a situation that deviates from a normal or sufficient quantity. This is motivated by the pragmatic enrichment of morphologically marked expressions, following Horn's principle of “Division of Pragmatic Labor” (Horn, 1984). The findings have implications for the study of plurality cross-linguistically as well as for neo-Gricean theories of interpretation.