Anufriev A. A., Kichigin K. V.
Constructions with two epistemic predicates in Spanish: conjunction vs disjunction. Pp. 5–13.
UDC 811.13
DOI: 10.37724/RSU.2026.76.1.001
EDN: AJTQVW
Abstract. The article investigates, on Spanish material, a largely understudied yet frequent phenomenon in certain discourse types: coordinative combinations of epistemic-evaluation predicates functioning as a modal component in complement-clause constructions. The epistemic verbs expressing belief (creer) and inference (suponer), which are close in meaning, may occur jointly, linked by conjunctive or disjunctive coordinators, and take a single propositional complement. Such paired modal configurations are used by speakers to achieve various pragmatic effects, and their interpretation is conditioned both by the syntactic ordering of the predicates and by a range of additional contextual factors. Drawing on blog posts, journalistic texts, and comment sections, we propose a preliminary typology of the most salient interpretive patterns associated with each of the attested configurations: creoy supongo, supongo y creo, creo o supongo, and supongo o creo.
Keywords: Spanish, epistemic evaluation, inner state predicates, propositional attitude, conjunction, disjunction, mitigation, intensification.
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