Linguistics and Philosophy 35 (2):135-169 (2012)
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Abstract |
It has been generally assumed that certain categories of numerical expressions, such as ‘more than n’, ‘at least n’, and ‘fewer than n’, systematically fail to give rise to scalar implicatures in unembedded declarative contexts. Various proposals have been developed to explain this perceived absence. In this paper, we consider the relevance of scale granularity to scalar implicature, and make two novel predictions: first, that scalar implicatures are in fact available from these numerical expressions at the appropriate granularity level, and second, that these implicatures are attenuated if the numeral has been previously mentioned or is otherwise salient in the context. We present novel experimental data in support of both of these predictions, and discuss the implications of this for recent accounts of numerical quantifier usage
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Keywords | Granularity Implicature Quantifiers Constraints Pragmatics Numerals Salience Relevance |
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DOI | 10.1007/s10988-012-9114-0 |
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References found in this work BETA
Generalized Quantifiers and Natural Language.John Barwise & Robin Cooper - 1981 - Linguistics and Philosophy 4 (2):159--219.
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Citations of this work BETA
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The Experimental and the Empirical: Arne Naess' Statistical Approach to Philosophy.Siobhan Chapman - 2018 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 26 (5):961-981.
Measure Phrase Equatives and Modified Numerals.Jessica Rett - 2015 - Journal of Semantics 32 (3):425-475.
Are Most and More Than Half Truth-Conditionally Equivalent?Milica Denić & Jakub Szymanik - 2022 - Journal of Semantics 39 (2):261-294.
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