Los verbos implicativos y sus múltiples dimensiones de significado

Abstract

In this contribution, I analyze two implicative verbs from spanish: lograr (manage) and animarse a (have the courage to). Both verbs differ in the inference patterns they give rise to. Lograr entails the truth of its complement in positive sentences and the falsity of its complement in negative sentences. For its part, animarse only entails the falsity of its complement in negative sentences. In addition to the characteristic entailment they give rise to, implicative verbs convey (at least) two types of content: a main content to be conveyed —generally associated with the content described in the complement— and a secondary content —generally associated with the presupposed or implied component. By applying a series of diagnostic tests, I show that the distribution of the contents of the implicative verbs lograr and animarse a varies notably and constitutes an argument in favor of the hypothesis that the associations of particular expressions to certain inferences are gradual and mediated by the context and by the speakers (Tonhauser et al 2018).