Language unit 'nawet' in the gradation function

Abstract

The aim of the article is to prove that in contexts where the lexeme nawet enters into a syntactic relation with adjectives, adverbs or some verbs capable of semantic gradation, an interpretation is possible indicating that it does not perform the function of a particle known from traditional descriptions, but a metapredicative operator of gradation. In this sense, with the help of the word in question, the sender would indicate the difference between the feature being referred to and the same feature in its pragmatic norm. The analysis of the research material showed that not only semantic and syntactic properties, but also pragmatic context and prosodic factors are important to correctly interpret the meaning of the lexeme in question. The methodological part of the work was based on the division of the lexical resource of language by Jadwiga Wajszczuk.