Pragmatic Strengthening Research Articles

The Emergence of Tab in Najdi Arabic

This study empirically investigates functional and social variation in the use of TAYYIB (‘okay, well, right’) in light of grammaticalisation. Thirty naturally occurring conversations of 60 Najdi Arabic speakers were recorded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The analysis demonstrates that TAYYIB has two realisations: full Tayyib [tˁajjib] and reduced Tab [tˁab]. Drawing on the conversation analytic approach within a variationist framework, TAYYIB was used to perform multiple discourse-pragmatic functions: interpersonal, textual and interpersonal–textual. The statistical analysis reveals that variant choice is significantly conditioned by the pragmatic functions. While Tayyib is employed to perform all three functions, Tab is only used for textual and interpersonal–textual meanings. As for social factors, Tab is significantly more likely to be used by younger speakers than adults and also more likely to be used by females than males. This can be interpreted as an indication of ongoing change driven by young people, primarily females, towards the greater use of the innovative Tab. Given the evidence of linguistic change in Tab including semantic bleaching, pragmatic strengthening and phonological reduction, the study suggests that Tab has undergone advanced grammaticalisation.

Two “many”-Words in Italian? On Molto-Tanto and Cross-linguistic Differences in Quantification

This article investigates the variability in the meaning of vague quantifiers across different languages, focusing on Italian’s m(any)-words molto and tanto. The aim was to replicate a previous analysis conducted on Slovenian m-words – precej and veliko – examining whether the Italian ones exhibit a similar pragmatic strengthening effect. Using a sentence-picture verification task, we tested 88 Italian monolingual participants on their evaluation of sentences of the form “Quantifier X are Y”. Our results showed that, unlike Slovenian speakers, Italian speakers do not exhibit a difference in the evaluation of molto and tanto, suggesting that the two words have the same numerical bound and are interchangeable as amount modifiers. Our analysis suggests that there are underlying semantic distinctions between molto and tanto that require further investigation. These findings contribute to our understanding of the variability in the use of quantifiers across languages and highlight the importance of examining subtle differences in meaning when studying vague quantifiers.

An alternatives account of 'most’ and 'more than half’

While ‘most’ and ‘more than half’ are generally assumed to be truth-conditionally equivalent, the former is usually interpreted as conveying greater proportions than the latter. Previous work has attempted to explain this difference in terms of pragmatic strengthening or variation in meanings. In this paper, we propose a novel explanation that keeps the truth-conditions equivalence. We argue that the difference in typical sets between the two expressions emerges as a result of two previously independently motivated mechanisms. First, the two expressions have different sets of pragmatic alternatives. Second, listeners tend to minimize the expected distance between their representation of the world and the speaker’s observation. We support this explanation with a computational model of usage in the Rational Speech Act framework. Moreover, we report the results of a quantifier production experiment. We find that our account can explain the difference in typical proportions associated with the two expressions.

Analyticity and modulation

Abstract Acceptable analyticities, i.e. contradictions or tautologies, constitute problematic evidence for the idea that language includes a deductive system. In recent discussion, two accounts have been presented in the literature to explain the available evidence. According to one of the accounts, grammatical analyticities are accessible to the system but a pragmatic strengthening repair mechanism can apply and prevent the structures from being actually interpreted as contradictions or tautologies. The proposed data, however, leaves it open whether other versions of the meaning modulation operation are required. Novel evidence we present argues that a loosening version of the repair mechanism must be available. Our observation concerns acceptable lexical contradictions that cannot be rescued if only a strengthening version of the pragmatic strategy is available.

Generic bare plurals in Russian and beyond

This paper focuses on indirect reference to kinds achieved by means of bare plural nominal expressions in Russian, which is a language without articles. These NPs refer to sums of individuals, whose denotation is built on Number. Their default interpretation is indefinite, while generic and definite readings are a result of a pragmatic strengthening, i.e. these readings appear only in certain environments (argument position of k-level predicates, subject position of characterising statements) and depend on the world knowledge of interlocutors. Generically and definitely interpreted expressions are similar to each other, being characterised by maximality, identifiability and presupposition of existence. However, the former ones cannot be spatiotemporally localised or anaphorically anchored. Going beyond Russian, it is suggested that in some languages genericity (along with definiteness) may be encoded semantically by means of a definite article, while in others it is pragmatically inferred on bare NPs; this difference can account for the inter- and intra- linguistic variation in the expression of genericity.

Meaning change in Chinese: A numeral phrase construction from adjectives to superlatives to definite descriptions

AbstractThis paper analyzes a hitherto unnoticed semantic change process in Chinese, in which lexical (adjectival) materials develop into superlative operators, and subsequently turn into definiteness markers. Our analysis focuses on the semantic factors that underlie this meaning change trajectory. Specifically, we argue that frequent association of gradable adjectives with superlative implication leads to pragmatic strengthening in which the superlative implication conventionally enters the literal meaning. Furthermore, we show that a further change in the extension of the nominal part of superlative phrases leads to a maximality reanalysis that is compatible with the semantics of definite NPs. This paper contributes to the burgeoning field of applying truth-conditional semantics to theories of grammaticalization.

Répondre présent/absent

Résumé This paper offers a diachronic analysis of a pair of subject complement constructions (répondre présent/absent: litt. ‘to answer “present”/“absent”) originating from quotative expressions. It shows how they lexicalized into fixed expressions denoting a routinized “delocutive” (Benveniste) procedure and how they finally got reanalyzed into a subject complement construction with an internalized projective and proactive meaning (“to act as expected”). The latter appears to be the result of the pragmatic strengthening of conversational implicatures related to the speech act. Further, it is argued that the remarkably similar evolution of répondre absent is due to analogization. Finally, the discussion of potential further host class expansion leads to a provisional answer to the question of whether or not these developments could be the symptoms of the constructionalization of a new copular verb.

The Polysemy of Khilal: A Cognitive Approach

This paper presents a cognitive analysis of the Arabic preposition khilāl “through” on the basis of Tyler & Evans’ (2001, 2003) model of Principled Polysemy. The study includes developing a semantic or polysemous network of khilāl through applying the criteria of this model, identifying its primary sense and distinct senses. The study also includes a contrastive analysis of the semantic networks of khilāl and the equivalent English preposition through in terms of their proto-scenes and the distinct senses associated with each. Analyses showed that both khilāl and through share the same proto-scene of a Trajector Traversing a bounded Landmark. Moreover, khilāl seems to have very limited uses comparing to through and this, as I assume, might be due to its restricted use in Modern Standard Arabic, decreasing as a result its pragmatic strengthening possibilities.

The role of scale structure in the interpretation of contrariety in no-DPs

Contrary meaning is commonly analyzed as a pragmatic strengthening of contradictory sentence negation. This paper derives the contrary meaning found in no-DPs in predicate position (e.g. "John is no fool") through the analysis of no as negation that operates on the scale contributed by the predicate nominal expression.

Pragmatic Strengthening is not Strong Enough: Meanings of Sequential Closed-Class Forms

Pragmatic Strengthening is not Strong Enough: Meanings of Sequential Closed-Class Forms

Pragmatic Strengthening in Plural Predications and Donkey Sentences

No abstract.

Profiling Hakka Bun 1 Causative Constructions

This paper proposes that a family of four related constructions is needed to provide a more complete account for the syntactic and semantic generalizations and idiosyncrasies of the ＂bun＂ causative constructions in Hakka by examining the features of CAUSER, CAUSEE, and EFFECT. The traditional claim of semantic entailment as a crucial feature of causation is argued to be too restrictive; pragmatic strengthening is argued to capture the dominant distribution of cause-act functions. In addition, in contrast to what is expected by the prototypical iconic sequencing of the participants in a causal chain, the sequence of a causing event and a resulting event from authentic data is shown to reveal a ground-figure asymmetry. The highlighting of the resulting event for information management is done by linguistic strategies such as topicalization or left-dislocation of CAUSEE and suppression of CAUSER. Such linguistic arrangements are speculated to prepare causative ＂bun＂ for undergoing further grammaticalization into the passive function.

WJ-40: Implicature, truth, and meaning

Abstract40-plus years ago Paul Grice initiated modern pragmatics by defining a relation of conversational implicature within a general theory of cooperation and rationality. While critics have disputed the formulation and derivation of Gricean principles, the overall framework, with appropriate emendations, remains the most natural and explanatory approach to predicting constraints on lexical incorporation, the behavior of scalar predicates, pragmatic strengthening, and other linguistic phenomena. Despite recent arguments for an enriched conception of propositional content, a range of real and fictional exchanges bearing on the distinction between lying and misleading supports the neo-Gricean view of an austere conception of what is said.

An Amazing Come-Back: A Counterfactual Imperfective in Russian

The paper shows how the semantically underspecified imperfective aspect in Russian becomes associated with counterfactual complete events in specific contexts, notably in chess annotations (Restan 1989), while the perfective invariably denotes factual complete events. The counterfactual flavour of the construction invites a comparison with more standard counterfactual conditionals, including some discussion of the imperfective and counterfactuality in French. I show that the “counterfactual imperfective” in Russian differs from ordinary counterfactual conditionals, which are characterized by a semantically empty past tense. This subtle distinction leads to a further division of pragmatic labour between the form “imperfective past” (hypotheses in the past) and the “subjunctive (“by”) perfective past” (hypotheses in the present/future). The analysis is couched in Bidirectional Optimality Theory (Blutner 2000), which provides an ideal framework for analyzing non-compositional form-meaning optimization and pragmatic strengthening.

The speaker’s voice

In present-day English, well and now function as pragmatic markers with a wide range of text-structuring and interpersonal meanings. Both markers are used as topic-changers and serve as a means to signal speaker-attitudes or to gain a shared level of understanding between speaker and addressee on the interpersonal level. Whereas well is generally back-looking, now directs the hearer to the upcoming topic (e.g. Aijmer 2002). Because well and now have developed from a similar — adverbial — origin, this paper will examine to what extent the propositional source of the two markers serves a role in their later semantic-pragmatic development. Our aim is to examine, by means of a historical corpus study, to what extent the development of well and now has been directed by underlying theories of grammaticalisation — implying semantic bleaching and pragmatic strengthening — and (inter)subjectification (Traugott 1999). Specific attention will be paid to contexts in which speaker and addressee have diverging views and where the use of a pragmatic marker can help in expressing personal stance and in creating interpersonal ties with the addressee. The material for this paper is taken from three historical corpora which contain speech-based data, viz. the diachronic part of the Helsinki Corpus of English Texts (HC), the Corpus of Early English Correspondence (Sampler) (CEECS), and the Corpus of English Dialogues (CED).

NPI any and connected exceptive phrases

This paper addresses two puzzles in the semantics of connected exceptive phrases (EP): (i) the compatibility of EPs modifying noun phrases headed by the negative polarity item (NPI) determiner any and (ii) the ability of a negative universal quantifier modified by an EP to license strong NPIs. Previous analyses of EPs are shown to fail to solve these puzzles. A new unified solution to the two puzzles is proposed. The crucial insight of the analysis is to allow von Fintel’s (Natural Language Semantics 1: 123–148, 1993; Restrictions on quantifier domains, PhD dissertation, 1994) leastness condition on EPs to be imposed at scopes non-local to the surface position of the EP. A general result is derived concerning the truth conditions of sentences in which an existential modified by an EP occurs in the scope of a downward entailing operator. The distribution of EPs is argued to depend on how the leastness condition interacts with other pragmatic strengthening conditions, such as the one imposed on any by Kadmon and Landman (Linguistics and Philosophy 16: 353–422, 1993).

THAT’S A CONSTRUCTION FOR YOU/LAS CONSTRUCCIONES ES LO QUE TIENE(N): GRAMMATICALIZATION VIA SUBJECTIFICATION IN ATTRIBUTIVE CLAUSES IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH

This paper deals with matrix copular inferentials of the type “That’s love for you” and “El amor es lo que tiene”. Specifically, it shows that these configurations exhibit an early stage of grammaticalization, characterized by an increase in pragmatic significance and subjective expressiveness. It also demonstrates that the semantico-pragmatic (including discoursefunctional) properties of these constructions in English and Spanish lend further credence to the Traugottian context-based view of grammaticalization as involving two distinct yet related subtypes. The first one, pragmatic strengthening, is argued here to give rise to a shift from identifying attribution to characterizing attribution, thus expressing a positive or negative evaluation by the subject/speaker regarding the entity/person encoded in the lexical filler. The second one, at a textual level, results in these constructions functioning as summative discourse markers. Moreover, this paper offers a constructionist overview of the place of these inferential constructions within the family of focusing constructions.

From discourse pattern to epistemic marker: Estonian (ei) tea ‘don't know’

In contemporary informal Estonian, the negative verb form ei tea ‘don't know’ has become a routinized part of generic questions, in which the agent is left unexpressed. This pattern is in accordance with the general impersonal and reference-avoiding style of conversing in Estonia. The study outlines a continuum of synchronic usages from the original expressions sa ei tea ‘you don't know’ and ma ei tea ‘I don't know’ to the epistemic usages of (ei) tea, which are specifically tied to the speech act of questioning. The data is interactional and the analysis relies on the interpretation of (ei) tea-questions by the participants themselves, following the methodology of conversation analysis. It is demonstrated that the development of (ei) tea displays phonological and semantic erosion, pragmatic strengthening, subjectification, and decategorialization. Thus, grammaticalization theory is here combined with interactional linguistics in order to display the emergence of a grammatical structure from a discourse pattern.

De Smet, H. and Cuyckens, H. (2005) Pragmatic Strengthening and the Meaning of Complement Constructions. The Case of Like and Love with the to-Infinitive

de Smet, H. and Cuyckens, H. (2005) Pragmatic Strengthening and the Meaning of Complement Constructions. The Case of Like and Love with the to-Infinitive

Pragmatic Strengthening and the Meaning of Complement Constructions

The meaning of complement constructions is generally thought of as determined by the interaction of the semantics of the complement clause with the meaning of the complement-taking verb. In the case of ‘ like/love + to-infinitive’, however, the meaning of the complement construction has been affected by a process of pragmatic strengthening and subjectification. As a result, ‘ like/love + to-infinitive’has developed aspectual and epistemic uses that can no longer be explained from the semantic interaction of the pattern’s component parts but that arise as speaker-based conversational implicatures in particular discourse contexts. Using corpus data, the authors show that this account is in accordance with a number of peculiarities in the present-day use of the constructions and with attested historical fact. More generally, the development of the constructions ‘ like/love + to-infinitive’ can be seen as an instance of incipient grammaticalization with reflexes in the semantic, phonological, and morphosyntactic characteristics of the constructions.