On the empty O-corner of the Aristotelian Square: A view from Singapore English

Abstract

The problem of the absence of lexicalisation of the O-corner of the Aristotelian Square of Oppositions has challenged the field of pragmatics for many decades, and various explanations have been offered in an attempt to resolve it. The majority of the recent explanations have referred to the operation of Gricean or neo-Gricean scalar implicatures, though few have taken into consideration the significance of reanalysis of adjacent constituents. The present study looks at the interaction between negation and quantifiers in Singapore English, in which the tendency is for (universal) quantifier scope to hold precedence over negative scope, even when the quantifier follows the negation in the clause. A brief spontaneous survey of Singaporean speakers containing a passivization task and comparing a range of universal quantifiers reveals that the syntactic adjacency of the negation and the quantifier is the most likely factor affecting the presence or absence of O-corner lexicalisation in the Aristotelian Square. This is particularly relevant in the case of quantifiers of time, such as always.