Abstract
This paper 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 absent however 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.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-17 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | English Language and Linguistics |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 9 Feb 2010 |
Keywords
- Copyright of Cambridge University Press. The paper has been accepted for publication and will appear in a revised form
- subsequent to editorial input by Cambridge University Press
- in English Language and Linguistics published by Cambridge University Press.