Abstract
Focusing on Spanish, this article discusses the internal syntax of adjectival projections headed by a gradable adjective. The analysis of the properties of the Spanish term poco ‘little’ in combination with gradable adjectives and degree terms (poco inteligente, ‘not very smart’; bastante poco inteligente ‘not so much smart’; increíblemente poco inteligente, ‘incredibly not smart’; lo increíblemente poco inteligente, ‘how incredibly not smart’) will serve as the starting point for the proposal that gradable adjectives project a quantifier phrase above AP and below DegP. The quantifier phrase adds a semantic component of scalar interpretation. From the analysis of the extended projection of gradable adjectives proposed throughout this article the following classification of degree terms in the adjectival domain is derived: (a) Quantitative terms, which head the quantifier phrase and convey an upward or downward orientation on a scale: poco ‘little’ and a phonetically null quantitative term equivalent to mucho ‘much’ in Old Spanish. (b) Degree operators, which identify a specific degree on the scale from an upper functional degree phrase. Examples are bastante ‘too’, demasiado ‘too much’, tan ‘so’, más ‘more’, etc. And (c) Elatives, which modify the degree argument of the adjective by adding an appreciative extreme degree reading. Examples are increíblemente, ‘incredibly’, buenísimo ‘tall- superlative ’, enorme ‘enormous’.
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