Abstract
The study focuses on the semantics and linguistic pragmatics of the expression both (obidvaja, obidva, obaja, oba, obe, obidve, obidvoje, oboje), which in Slovak can be classified as numerals, and marginally even as deictic parts of speech. The interpretation focuses on the aspects of following and varying the principles of maximality, homogeneity and salience. We point out that the cognitive definition of paired, generic and quantitatively bound multiplicity is strongly anchored in Slovak. In addition to the synthetic method, the singularity – multiplicity opposition is realized through lexical intervention with special lexical means. According to the nature of the composition of entities and lexical-semantic types of nouns, plurality is formed by word combinations of numerical, paired, set-based, generic and quantitatively defined multiplicity. From the point of view of logical semantics, the expressions behave not only as determiners of uncertainty, but also as generalized, general, existential and floating quantifiers. From the point of view of linguistic pragmatics, the analyzed expressions are egocentric. Due attention is therefore paid to the concept of ʻbothʼ in the context of the speaker’s verbal actions, relational projections and plurality of word combinations.