– “Mi dia due zucchine” / – “Vanno bene 800 grammi?” Quando i numeri non contano

Abstract

The study is devoted to numerical approximations in Russian and Italian, in particular to the so-called “round” numbers, as main vehicles of semantic vagueness. Both languages provide for the possibility of a dual cardinal and approximate reading of numbers. In Russian, a particularly privileged environment for the observation of round numbers is the approximate inversion of which are investigated the main mechanisms, the compatibility with certain numbers, the relationship of solidarity with the referents within the phrase. The analysis is supported by the list of frequencies of the main round numbers and nouns within the approximate phrases, based on the occurrences of the National Corpus of the Russian Language. The last part of the study is devoted to the translations of the approximate inversions into Italian and the main translation strategies detected by the Russian-Italian parallel corpus.