Abstract
This paper explores the view according to which the determiner cierto conveys a deliberate imprecision as part of its semantic meaning and, correspondingly, can be characterized as a “marker of approximation” or “slack regulator” widening the pragmatic halo of the expressions in which it occurs. The aim of the present study is to show that the alleged imprecision is not part of the semantics of cierto but a pragmatic inference, and that the determiner cierto not only does not expand the utterance’s pragmatic halo but does quite the opposite: it tightens it.Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica (1947-), volume 66, 2, July-December 2018, is a semi-annual publication edited by El Colegio de México, Carretera Picacho Ajusco 20, Ampliación Fuentes del Pedregal, Tlalpan, C.P. 14110, Mexico City, Mexico, Tel. (55) 5449-3000, http://nrfh.colmex.mx/index.php/NRFH, nrfh@colmex.mx. Editor: Pedro Martín Butragueño. Assistant editors: Alejandro Rivas and Jesus Jorge Valenzuela. All Rights Reserved: 04-2015-070112341900-203, ISSN (print): 0185-0121, ISSN (electronic): 2448-6558, as registered with the National Copyright Institute. Typographical composition: El Atril Tipográfico. Person in charge of updating this issue: Perla Reyna Muñoz; date of last update: June 26, 2018.
The content of the articles published is the responsibility of the author, and does not represent the point of view of Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica. The partial or total reproduction of the contents or images of the publication is authorized, including electronic storage, provided it is strictly for academic purposes and not for profit, and that the source is cited without altering the content, and authorial credits are given.