Some remarks on minimizers in brazilian portuguese: (Non) affective contexts and scales

The paper discusses some properties of minimizer expressions in Brazilian Portuguese. Starting from Ilari (1984), perhaps the first and one of the few studies on negative polarity in Brazilian Portuguese, we address a restriction of such expressions in negative contexts and we quickly introduce the model of Chierchia (2013). We also discuss certain contexts of downward entailment, an inherent licensing of minimizers. Then, we investigate the phenomenon of affectivity, arguing that, despite this aspect seems to escape the approach of Chierchia (2013), it is possible to explain these nuances caused by the scale properties of minimizers. Finally, it is indicated a possible class of minimizers with a non-lexically defined scale, that is, items that work as minimizers, but that do not have a defined scale in their lexical entry, such as nem a pau e o nem fodendo.

Keywords:
Downward Entailment; Minimizers; Negative Polarity