‘Possible readings of ‘simplesmente (simply)’ in brazilian portuguese
- V. 25, N. 2 (2026)
- Submitted: Oct 3, 2025
- Published: Sep 18, 2026
- DOI 10.25189/rabralin.v25i2.2379
Abstract
This paper aims to investigate, from the perspective of formal semantics, the use of the item ‘simplesmente’ in Brazilian Portuguese, seeking a unified analysis of its interpretations. Our study reveals that the term can function as a canonical exclusive— interchangeable with items such as ‘só’ and ‘apenas’ —but it also assumes weak exclusive readings, according to the typology proposed by Warstadt (2020) for the English item ‘just’ with which ‘simplesmente’ shares similarities. Among these weak readings, the most notable are the non-explanatory interpretation (something inexplicable), the non-contrastive interpretation (use as an intensifier), and the non-elaborative interpretation (an indisputable idea).In our analysis, we associate such uses with the notion of Potential Questions: by employing ‘simplesmente’ the speaker signals that they do not have answers to questions that may arise in the discourse, using the term as a discursive strategy to manage the flow of conversation. Furthermore, the syntactic position of ‘simplesmente’ directly influences its possible interpretations, with a correlation between scope and reading that reinforces the importance of syntactic context in the semantic analysis of exclusives. In addition to proposing an approach to ‘simplesmente’ the present work also contributes to the field of formal conversation analysis.
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