Scalar Meaning Research Articles

Scalar markers between aspect and modality: The case of Lithuanian be-

Summary The present article proposes an analysis of a subset of functions of the Lithuanian verbal prefix be-, one of a small group of prefixes performing functions usually characteristic of particles rather than prefixes, such as those of focus, phasal and scalar markers. They have correspondingly been called ‘particle-like prefixes’ in Lithuanian grammar. While in its aspectual use be- is mainly progressive in modern Lithuanian, its original function was phasal (continuative), and it is this meaning that extended to scalar meanings. The article focuses on the variety of functions this scalar be- has acquired in grammar, and the ways in which it has become a marker of various constructional meanings that can be characterized as modal. More generally, it shows the importance of the Lithuanian data in elucidating the role of scalarity as a mediator between aspect and modality.

On a concessive reading of the rise-fall-rise contour: contextual and semantic factors

This paper presents three auditory rating experiments on the rise-fall-rise contour (RFR). Experiment 1 provides experimental evidence that the RFR makes disagreeing with a prior statement more natural than neutral intonation would. Additionally, the data show that the RFR exhibits a valence asymmetry, noted by Göbel (2019): the amelioration of a disagreement is greater when the RFR is used in a positive reply to a negative statement than in a negative reply to a positive statement. Experiments 2 and 3 investigate factors contributing to this asymmetry, showing that it disappears in replies to questions and is weakened when the reply contains an additive particle. Based on these results, we argue that the RFR has a scalar meaning, following Göbel (2019), with the relevant scale being contextually determined and resulting in an ambiguity resembling the Focus-particle at least.

Incremental pragmatic interpretation of gradable adjectives: The role of standards of comparison

While for relative gradable adjectives the value on the underlying measurement scale that serves as a standard of comparison is contextually determined, for absolute gradable adjectives this is typically taken to be a fixed, context-invariant value (Rotstein & Winter 2004; Kennedy & McNally 2005). The present study investigates how lexical-semantic factors, such as the type of standard of comparison invoked by gradable adjectives, affect the incremental computation of scalar implicatures triggered by such adjectives. Our study shows that the incremental computation of scalar implicatures is facilitated by the immediate visual context but only for relative adjectives. Minimum standard absolute adjectives, which impose a lower bound on their corresponding measurement scales, robustly trigger upper-bounded interpretations independently of the availability of contrastive visual information. Our findings indicate that different kinds of scalar meaning are computed incrementally and potentially in parallel. Overall, these findings shed new light on theories of scalar implicatures and highlight the need for a model of adjective meaning that incorporates semantic and pragmatic factors (see also Gotzner 2021; and for related ideas in the domain of quantifiers see Franke & Bergen 2020 and Cremers, Wilcox & Spector 2022, and Magri (2017) for Hirschberg scales).

The role of comparison in discourse

Abstract This study investigates the meaning and use of the Japanese utterance comparative expressions sore-yori-(mo) ‘than that’ and nani-yori-(mo) ‘than anything’ and considers the role of comparison in discourse. I argue that sore-yori and nani-yori can compare individuals at the semantic (at-issue) level, but they can also compare utterances (speech acts) at the non-at-issue level (= conventional implicature (CI)) (e.g., Grice 1975; Potts 2005; McCready 2010; Sawada 2010; Gutzmann 2011). The utterance comparative sore-yori conventionally implicates that U in sore-yori(U) is more important than the previous utterance, and the utterance comparative nani-yori conventionally implicates that U in nani-yori(U) is more important than any alternative utterance. An interesting feature of the utterance comparatives sore-yori-(mo) and nani-yori-(mo) is that their pragmatic functions are quite flexible. As for sore-yori, in some contexts, it can function as a topic-changing expression, but in other contexts it does not. As for nani-yori, when it occurs discourse-initially, it functions like the expression first of all, but when it occurs discourse-finally, it functions as an additive reinforcing expression. I argue that the pragmatic effects of utterance comparative expressions arise based on the interaction between their scalar meanings and the general pragmatic principles of relevance/Question Under Discussion and manner (e.g., Grice 1975; Roberts 1996). This study demonstrates that in addition to regular comparison and metalinguistic comparison, there is a third type of comparison: utterance comparison, and that the notion of comparison plays an important role in advancing the conversation economically/effectively. Finally, cross-linguistic variations in utterance comparison will also be discussed using English and Korean data.

Linear Lengthening in Iwaidja: An Event-Quantifying Intonation at the Phonology to Semantics/Pragmatics Interface

This paper investigates the meaning of a specific intonation contour called linear lengthening intonation (LLI), which is found in the northern Australian language Iwaidja. Using an experimental field work approach, we analysed approximately 4000 utterances. We demonstrate that the semantics of LLI is broadly event-quantificational as well as temporally scalar. LLI imposes aspectual selectional restrictions on the verbs it combines with (they must be durative, i.e., cannot describe ‘punctual’, atomic events), and requires the event description effected by said verbs to exceed a contextually determined relative scalar meaning. Iwaidja differs from other northern Australian languages with similar intonation patterns in that it does not seem to have any argument NP-related incremental or event scalar meaning. This suggests that LLI is a decidedly grammatical, language-specific device and not a purely iconic kind of expression (even though it also possibly has an iconic dimension).

Processing symbolic magnitude information conveyed by number words and by scalar adjectives.

Humans not only process and compare magnitude information such as size, duration, and number perceptually, but they also communicate about these properties using language. In this respect, a relevant class of lexical items are so-called scalar adjectives like “big,” “long,” “loud,” and so on which refer to magnitude information. It has been proposed that humans use an amodal and abstract representation format shared by different dimensions, called the generalised magnitude system (GMS). In this paper, we test the hypothesis that scalar adjectives are symbolic references to GMS representations, and, therefore, GMS gets involved in processing their meaning. Previously, a parallel hypothesis on the relation between number symbols and GMS representations has been tested with the size congruity paradigm. The results of these experiments showed interference between the processing of number symbols and the processing of physical (font-) size. In the first three experiments of the present study (total N = 150), we used the size congruity paradigm and the same/different task to look at the potential interaction between physical size magnitude and numerical magnitude expressed by number words. In the subsequent three experiments (total N = 149), we looked at a parallel potential interaction between physical size magnitude and scalar adjective meaning. In the size congruity paradigm, we observed interference between the processing of the numerical value of number words and the meaning of scalar adjectives, on the one hand, and physical (font-) size, on the other hand, when participants had to judge the number words or the adjectives (while ignoring physical size). No interference was obtained for the reverse situation, i.e., when participants judged the physical font size (while ignoring numerical value or meaning). The results of the same/different task for both number words and scalar adjectives strongly suggested that the interference that was observed in the size congruity paradigm was likely due to a response conflict at the decision stage of processing rather than due to the recruitment of GMS representations. Taken together, it can be concluded that the size congruity paradigm does not provide evidence in support the hypothesis that GMS representations are used in the processing of number words or scalar adjectives. Nonetheless, the hypothesis we put forward about scalar adjectives is still is a promising potential line of research. We make a number of suggestions for how this hypothesis can be explored in future studies.

On the Gradable Nature of the Search Domain: A Study of Degree Modifiers and the Scalar Semantics of Finnish Spatial Grams

Abstract Degree modifiers (DM) are intensifying words that typically modify adjectives or adverbs. Some DMs (e.g., ‘rather’, ‘very’) indicate an open scale, which is unbounded and has no maximal or minimal boundaries, others (e.g., ‘quite’, ‘almost’) a closed scale, which has either or both. In Finnish, many spatial grams, i.e., adpositions and adverbs, accept DMs. Such grams have a scalar meaning, which the DM then elaborates. I analyze three groups of grams: 1) topological luona ‘at; by’, lähellä ‘near’, and kaukana ‘far’; 2) directional kohti ‘towards’ and ohi ‘past’; and 3) targeting keskellä ‘in the middle of’. I argue that the scalar meaning of the grams may relate 1) to the distance between Figure and Ground; 2) to the direction of Figure’s motion or orientation with respect to Ground; 3) to the precision of Figure’s location at (or deviation from) a targeting point specified with respect to Ground. Most of the grams accept only closed-scale DMs, while some accept open-scale DMs, and yet others both. The compatibility of closed-scale DMs with most of the grams indicates that the search domain of the grams is typically bounded and has at least a maximal-degree boundary and often also a minimal-degree boundary.

ДИСТРИБУЦИЈА ЗНАЧЕЊА КВАНТИФИКАТОРА НЕКИ У СРПСКОМ ЈЕЗИКУ: КОРПУСНА АНАЛИЗА

The paper analyzes the distribution of meanings of the quantifier neki 'some' in over 1500 utterances excerpted from the Serbian electronic corpus of early child language and the Corpus of contemporary Serbian language. The aim is to test the implicit Frequency Assumption of lexicalist approaches to scalar implicatures (SI), claiming that the use of the quantifier some often triggers SI: some = some, but not all. The analysis of proportions of meanings shows high dominance of different types of non-scalar meanings (existential, quantitative, spesumptive, exclamative). In child speech there are no instances of scalar meaning, whereas in the child directed speech they are extremely rare, which overall suggests that one of the possible reasons for the developmental asymmetry might be the low frequency of scalar meaning in the language input. In the written language of adults, a higher percentage of utterances bearing the potential to derive SIs is registered; however, scalar interpretation is strengthened by contextual factors.

The mirative and scalar meaning of even

The analysis I develop here draws on the concept of mirativity (DeLancey 1987) and on Kay’s (1990) insight into the scalar nature of even. I show that even calls for the reconstruction of an implicit scale, on which the element highlighted by this adverbial marker stands out as the most (or more) surprising in the set considered. This non-referential, non-propositional meaning of even is likely to trigger a series of inferences, whose status is duly discussed, and to strengthen or weaken other derived assumptions, and even to guide their derivation itself.

Especificidades de nem coordenativo em português europeu

European Portuguese nem corresponds to two different categories, a coordenative conjunction and a negative non-conjunctional element that in some contexts assumes a scalar meaning. We will show that, although both of these homonymous particles necessarily occur in negative domains, they have a different syntactic distribution and display specific properties. Focusing on coordenative nem in correlative and the non-correlative constructions, we will propose an account of their licensing conditions in integrated and parenthetical coordinate structures.

Scale structures in discourse: Discourse-pragmatic properties of Japanese comparative expressions

The Japanese sore-yori ‘lit. than it’ and nani-yori ‘lit. than what’ have a pragmatic use (in addition to semantic use), and their pragmatic functions are highly discourse-sensitive. In terms of scalarity, the pragmatic sore-yori is non-endpoint-oriented in that it conventionally implicates that U in sore-yori(U) is preferable to the previous utterance. In contrast, the pragmatic nani-yori is endpoint-oriented in that it conventionally implicates that U in nani-yori(U) is preferable to any alternative utterance. In this paper I argue (i) that these two types of scalar meanings at the level of conventional implicaure (CI) are derived compositionally by the single yori ‘than’, and (ii) that various kinds of discourse-pragmatic functions of sore-yori and nani-yori―such as “topic shifting” in sore-yori, and “priority listing” and “additive reinforcing” in nani-yori―automatically arise from the interaction between the expression’s scale structures (endpoint vs. non-endpoint scales) and Grice’s conversational maxims (relevance, manner). This paper shows that scale structures play a crucial role in managing the direction of discourse and that there is a rich interaction between CIs and general conversational maxims in pragmatic comparative expressions.

Scalar marking without scalar meaning: Nonscalar, nonexhaustive even-marked NPIs in Greek and Korean

This article discusses in detail two cases of even-marked negative polarity items (NPIs) in Greek and Korean that are not scalar or exhaustive. This prima facie paradoxical finding suggests that even-marking is not always an indicator of scalarity—and, at least in the case of the Korean and Greek NPIs discussed, even is grammaticalized as a nonscalar NPI marker. We propose that the nonscalar NPIs are antispecific indefinites with referential vagueness, which is a form of ignorance best captured as nonexhaustive variation in the potential values of the NPIs (Giannakidou & Quer 2013). We also show that the difference in Greek and Korean between scalar and nonscalar NPIs is reflected in prosody: scalar NPIs are ‘emphatic’, and nonscalar NPIs are ‘non-emphatic’; we therefore conclude that prosodic prominence, not even, signals scalar structure. The fact that not all NPIs are scalar or exhaustive falsifies theories claiming that exhaustivity is the source of all NPIs (Chierchia 2006, 2013).

Two types of wh-exclamatives

We study a particular aspect of the semantics of matrix wh-exclamatives. In particular, we focus on the relation between fairly straightforward morpho-syntactic properties of such structures and the kind of scalar meanings they express. We identify two types of wh-exclamatives: two distinct types of structures with two distinct types of scalar meaning. Languages differ with respect to which wh expressions serve in which of the two types.

Quantity and gradability across categories

This paper proposes a unified analysis of scalar modifiers across the adjec- tival, nominal and verbal domains, with a special focus on the proportional modifier half in English. I claim that half has a scalar meaning in all the environments in which it appears. Specifically, I show that in partitive and event-modifying uses, half targets a quantity-based scale whose scale structure crucially depends on the part structure of a nominal argument, just like many adjectival cases. To formalize the analysis, I extend the degree-based analysis of Kennedy & McNally (2005) for gradable adjectives to partitives and VPs headed by incremental theme verbs, with some discussion of compounding uses of half with both nouns and verbs.

The meanings of positive polarity minimizers in Japanese: a unified approach

In Japanese there are multiple lexical items for positive polarity minimizers (hereinafter, minimizer PPIs), each of which can differ in meaning/use. For example, while sukoshi ‘lit. a bit/a little’ can only express a quantitative (amount) meaning, chotto ‘lit. a bit/a little’ can express either a quantitative meaning or an ‘expressive’ meaning (i.e. attenuation in degree of the force of a speech act). The purpose of this paper is to investigate the semantics and pragmatics of the Japanese minimizer PPIs chotto and sukoshi and to consider (i) the parallelism/non-parallelism between truth conditional scalar meanings and non-truth conditional scalar meanings, and (ii) what mechanism can explain the cross-linguistic and language internal variation between minimizer PPIs. As for the semantics/pragmatics of minimizers, I will argue that although the meanings of the amount and expressive minimizers are logically and dimensionally different (non-parallelism), they can systematically be captured by positing a single lexical item (parallelism). As for the language internal and cross-linguistic variations, it will be shown that there is a point of variation with respect to whether a particular degree morpheme allows a dimensional shift (i.e. an extension from a semantic scale to a pragmatic scale). Based on the above proposals, this paper will also investigate the pragmatic motivation behind the use of minimizers in an evaluative context.

The emergence of scalar meanings.

This paper analyzes the emergence of scalar additive meanings. We show that in Basque the same particle ere can obtain both the “simple additive” reading (akin to English too) and the “scalar additive” reading (akin to English even) but we argue that we do not have to distinguish two types of ere. We provide evidence, by means of a production and a perception experiment, that the reading is disambiguated by means of prosody (the placement of nuclear stress), which is a correlate of focus. We argue that the scalarity effect is generated by the combination of two presuppositions (a focus-induced one and a lexical one) and the assertion of the sentence.

Best nogal aardige middenmoters: de semantiek van graadadverbia van het midden-bereik

In this squib, I discuss the semantics of Dutch adverbs of medium degree. The goal is to identify which scalar properties are part of the semantics of such expressions. I refrain from giving a definitive formal-semantic account, but I do argue that the scalar meaning of such expressions is much more complex than the identification of a particular (e.g. midrange, high range, etc.) region on a scale.

Additive Focus and Additional Functions of Karbi (Tibeto-Burman) =tā1

<p>This study examines different functions of the enclitic =t<span>ā </span>in Karbi with the goal to contribute to a cross-linguistic typology of additive focus markers. Karbi =tā translates as the English additive particle ‘also,’ but additionally occurs in at least five other constructions, as laid out in this paper. Specifically, the data show that besides 1) marking additive focus, =tā may 2) function as a coordinator, or 3) indicate the scalar additive meaning ‘even.’ Through that function =tā also appears to be part of concessive conjunctions. Furthermore, =tā functions 4) to mark universal quantification. Perhaps related to this latter function, =tā occurs seemingly just idiomatically with certain adverbs. Attaching to verbs, this enclitic occurs 5) in a copy verb construction that seems to have an intensifying function. Finally and most intriguingly, =tā functions 6) as a discourse structuring device.</p>

Re-conceptualizing scale boundaries: The case of Dutch helemaal

Maximizers – adverbs denoting a maximum degree of a property (e.g. completely) – are often re-conceptualized as boosters denoting a high degree (cf. very). As a result, these degree adverbs come to modify unbounded adjectives which are not compatible with the idea of a maximum value. Although this kind of meaning change proved cross-linguistically robust, the exact mechanisms of this process have never been investigated. The present paper aims to shed more light onto semantic and contextual factors facilitating combinations of open-scale (unbounded) adjectives with closed-scale (bounded) adverbs by analyzing the distribution of the Dutch maximizer helemaal in the Corpus of Spoken Dutch. Following the boundedness hypothesis, we hypothesized that configurational harmony destroyed by combinations of the maximizer helemaal with unbounded adjectives can be restored by either imposing scale boundaries onto, by default, unbounded adjectival scales, or by re-conceptualizing the degree adverb as an unbounded modifier. Both predictions were confirmed by the data in this study. The findings suggest that there is no one-to-one relationship between semantic classes of adjectives and scalar structures associated with them. Rather, scalar meanings are a matter of dynamic construal constrained by semantic properties of adjectives and degree modifiers, as well as by context and world knowledge.

Quantity and gradability across categories

This paper proposes a unified analysis of scalar modifiers across the adjec- tival, nominal and verbal domains, with a special focus on the proportional modifier half in English. I claim that half has a scalar meaning in all the environments in which it appears. Specifically, I show that in partitive and event-modifying uses, half targets a quantity-based scale whose scale structure crucially depends on the part structure of a nominal argument, just like many adjectival cases. To formalize the analysis, I extend the degree-based analysis of Kennedy & McNally (2005) for gradable adjectives to partitives and VPs headed by incremental theme verbs, with some discussion of compounding uses of half with both nouns and verbs.