On the Scalar Antonomy of Only and Even

On the Scalar Antonomy of Only and Even
Yael Greenberg
November 2022

An old observation about the focus sensitive particles only and even is that they are in some sense scalar antonyms. We examine three schematic proposals raised in the litera-ture to capture this observation, namely that only vs. even presuppose that the proposi-tion denoted by their prejacent, p, is lower vs. higher, respectively (A) than what is EX-PECTED/the default STANDARD (the ‘mirative/evaluative antonymy’ view), (B) than SOME (salient) alternative in the set of contextually relevant focus alternatives, C, (the ‘existential antonymy’ view), or (C) than ALL alternatives in C (the ‘superlative antonymy’ view). To tease these views apart, we examine the behavior of only vs. even in a wide range of contexts and types of discourse, concentrating on the way previously uttered sentences and the salient QUD interact to constrain the C set of contextually rel-evant alternatives with only (C) (p) and even (C) (p). Based on these examinations we argue for the preferability of the ‘superlative antonymy’ view of only and even. In con-trast, we argue that the ‘existential’ antonymy and the ‘mirative/evaluative’ antonymy between only and even are apparent. The former only holds in specific contexts where one alternative to p is made maximally salient. As to the latter, we show that while an evaluative (‘above the standard’ / ‘a lot’) inference is hardwired into the scalar presup-position of even, alongside the superlative inference, the mirror imaged one (‘below the standard’ / ‘a little’) is cancellable for only and can be derived from the interaction of its superlative scalar presupposition and domain-based constraints on the alternatives in C.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/007091 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	Natural Language Semantics
keywords:	only  even  scales  focus  alternatives  mirativity  evaluativity  contextual effects  standards  qud, semantics
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