ABSTRACT: In order to describe the semantic plurifunctionality

In order to describe the semantic plurifunctionality of “ainda que”, the following aspects must be taken into consideration: (i) its distribution, in contrast with other concessive connectors, (ii) the contexts in which it occurs with an ambiguous interpretation, and (iii) the conditions enabling the setting of its semantic value. In this article, the array and distribution of the concessive connectors of European Portuguese is described, which enables singling out “ainda que” as a particular case, given its structural complexity. An analysis is proposed for the contexts in which the ambiguity of this connector arises and the conditions facilitating its interpretation are identified. Finally, it is defended that the contrastive study of concessive connectors in European Portuguese favors a hypothesis of representation of these units in the lexicon in terms of features.