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Anyone for non-scalarity?1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2010

PATRICK J. DUFFLEY  and
PIERRE LARRIVÉE
PATRICK J. DUFFLEY
Affiliation:
Département de langues, linguistique et traduction, 1030, avenue des Sciences-Humaines, Université Laval, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, [email protected]
PIERRE LARRIVÉE
Affiliation:
School of Languages and Social Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, [email protected]
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Abstract

This article examines the status of scalarity in the analysis of the meaning of the English determiner any. The latter's position as a prime exemplar of the category of polarity-sensitive items has led it to be generally assumed to have scalar meaning. Scalar effects are, however, absent from a number of common uses of this word. This suggests that any does not involve scales as part of its core meaning, but produces them as a derived interpretative property. The role of three factors in the derivation of the expressive effect of scalarity is explored: grammatical number, stress and the presence of gradable concepts in the NP. The general conclusions point to the importance of developing a causal semantic analysis in which the contributions of each of the various meaningful components of an utterance to the overall message expressed are carefully distinguished.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 14 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 1 - 17
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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