Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Economy and embedded exhaustification

  • Published:
Natural Language Semantics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Building on previous works which argued that scalar implicatures can be computed in embedded positions, this paper proposes a constraint on exhaustification (an economy condition) which restricts the conditions under which an exhaustivity operator can be licensed. We show that this economy condition allows us to derive a number of generalizations, such as, in particular, the ‘Implicature Focus Generalization’: scalar implicatures can be embedded under a downward-entailing operator only if the (relevant) scalar term bears pitch accent. Our economy condition also derives specific predictions regarding the licensing of so-called Hurford disjunctions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alonso-Ovalle, Luis. 2006. Disjunction in alternative semantics. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

  • Alonso-Ovalle, Luis. 2008. Innocent exclusion in an alternative semantics. Natural Language Semantics 16 (2): 115–128.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beaver, David, and Brady Clark. 2000. ‘Always’ and ‘Only’: Why not all focus sensitive operators are alike. Manuscript, Stanford University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breheny, Richard. 2008. A new look at the semantics and pragmatics of numerically quantified noun phrases. Journal of Semantics 25 (2): 93–139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chemla, Emmanuel. 2009. Similarity: Towards a unified account of scalar implicatures, free choice permission and presupposition projection. Manuscript, CNRS–ENS–EHESS.

  • Chemla, Emmanuel, and Benjamin Spector. 2011. Experimental evidence for embedded scalar implicatures. Journal of Semantics 28 (3): 359–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chierchia, Gennaro. 2004. Scalar implicatures, polarity phenomena, and the syntax/pragmatics interface. In Structures and beyond, vol. 3, ed. Adriana Belletti, 39–103. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chierchia, Gennaro. 2006. Broaden your views: Implicatures of domain widening and the ‘logicality’ of language. Linguistic Inquiry 37: 535–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chierchia, Gennaro, Danny Fox, and Benjamin Spector, 2009. Hurford’s Constraint and the theory of scalar implicatures. In Presuppositions and implicatures: Proceedings of the MIT–Paris Workshop (MIT Working Papers in Linguistics 60), ed. Paul Egré and Giorgio Magri, 47–62. Cambridge, MA: MIT.

  • Chierchia, Gennaro, Danny Fox, and Benjamin Spector. 2012. Scalar implicature as a grammatical phenomenon. In An international handbook of natural language meaning, vol. 3, ed. Paul Portner, Claudia Maienborn, and Klaus von Heusinger, 2297–2331. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, L. Jonathan. 1971. Some remarks on Grice’s views about the logical particles of natural language. In Pragmatics of natural languages, ed. Yehoshua Bar-Hillel, 50–68. Dordrecht: Reidel.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Crnic, Luka, Emmanuel Chemla, and D. Fox. 2015. Scalar implicatures of embedded disjunction. Natural Language Semantics 23 (4): 271–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dalrymple, Mary, Makoto Kanazawa, Yookyung Kim, Sam Mchombo, and Stanley Peters. 1998. Reciprocal expressions and the concept of reciprocity. Linguistics and Philosophy 21 (2): 159–210.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, Danny. 2004. Implicatures and exhaustivity, Class 4. Class handout at MIT. http://lingphil. mit.edu/papers/fox/class_4.pdf.

  • Fox, Danny. 2007a. Free choice and the theory of scalar implicatures. In Presupposition and implicature in compositional semantics, ed. Penka Stateva and Uli Sauerland, 71–120. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, Danny. 2007b. Too many alternatives: Density, symmetry, and other predicaments. In Proceedings of SALT 17, 89–111. Washington, DC: LSA.

  • Fox, Danny. 2008. Two short notes on Schlenker’s theory of presupposition projection. Theoretical Linguistics 34 (3): 237–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, Danny. 2014. Cancelling the Maxim of Quantity: Another challenge for a Gricean theory of scalar implicatures. Semantics and Pragmatics 7 (5): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.7.5.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox, Danny, and Martin Hackl. 2006. The universal density of measurement. Linguistics and Philosophy 29: 537–586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fox, Danny, and Roni Katzir. 2011. On the characterization of alternatives. Natural Language Semantics 19 (1): 87–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Franke, Michael. 2011. Quantity implicatures, exhaustive interpretation, and rational conversation. Semantics and Pragmatics 4 (1): 1–82. https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.4.1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gajewski, Jon, and Yael Sharvit. 2012. In defense of the grammatical approach to local implicatures. Natural Language Semantics 20 (1): 31–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gamut, L.T.F. 1991. Logic, language, and meaning, vol. 1. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gazdar, Gerald. 1979. Pragmatics: Implicature, presupposition and logical form. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geurts, Bart. 2009. Scalar implicature and local pragmatics. Mind and Language 24 (1): 51–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geurts, Bart. 2011. Quantity implicatures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geurts, Bart, and Nausicaa Pouscoulous. 2009. Embedded emplicatures?!? Semantics and Pragmatics 2 (4): 1–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Geurts, Bart, and Bob van Tiel. 2013. Embedded scalars. Semantics and Pragmatics 2 (4): 1–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Groenendijk, Jeroen, and Martin Stokhof. 1984a. On the semantics of questions and the pragmatics of answers. In Varieties of formal semantics: Proceedings of the Fourth Amsterdam Colloquium (1982), ed. Fred Landman and Frank Veltman, 3–73. Dordrecht: Foris.

  • Groenendijk, Jeroen, and Martin Stokhof. 1984b. Studies in the semantics of questions and the pragmatics of answers. PhD dissertation, University of Amsterdam.

  • Horn, Lawrence R. 1969. A presuppositional approach to only and even. In Proceedings of the Chicago Linguistic Society 5, 98–107. Chicago: CLS.

  • Horn, Lawrence R. 1972. The semantics of logical operators in English. PhD dissertation, Yale University.

  • Horn, Lawrence R. 1989. A natural history of negation. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horn, Lawrence R. 2009. WJ-40: Implicature, truth, and meaning. International Review of Pragmatics 1 (1): 3–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurford, James. 1974. Exclusive or inclusive disjunction. Foundations of Language 11: 409–411.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ippolito, Michela. 2008. On the meaning of only. Journal of Semantics 25 (1): 45–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ippolito, Michela. 2011. A note on embedded implicatures and counterfactual presuppositions. Journal of Semantics 28 (2): 267–278. https://doi.org/10.1093/jos/ffq019.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katzir, Roni. 2007. Structurally-defined alternatives. Linguistics and Philosophy 30 (6): 669–690.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katzir, Roni. 2013. A note on contrast. Natural Language Semantics 21 (4): 333–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katzir, Roni, 2014. On the roles of markedness and contradiction in the use of alternatives. In Pragmatics, semantics and the case of scalar implicatures, ed. Salvatore Pistoia Reda, 40–71. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Katzir, Roni, and Raj Singh. 2013. Hurford disjunctions: Embedded exhaustification and structural Economy. In Sinn und Bedeutung (SuB) 18, ed. Urtzi Etxeberria et al., 201–216. http://semanticsarchive.net/sub2013/ProceedingsSuB18.pdf.

  • Kennedy, Chris. 2013. A scalar semantics for scalar readings of number words. In From grammar to meaning: The spontaneous logicality of language, ed. Ivano Caponigro and Carlo Cecchetto, 172–200. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, Chris. 2015. A ‘de-Fregean’ semantics (and neo-Gricean pragmatics) for modified and unmodified numerals. Semantics and Pragmatics 8 (10): 1–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klinedinst, Nathan. 2006. Plurality and Possibility. PhD dissertation. UCLA.

  • Krifka, Manfred. 1993. Focus and presupposition in dynamic interpretation. Journal of Semantics 10 (10): 269–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landman, Fred. 1998. Plurals and maximalization. In Events and grammar, ed. Susan Rothstein, 237–271. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Levinson, S.C. 2000. Presumptive meanings: The theory of generalized conversational implicature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magri, Giorgio. 2009. A theory of individual-level predicates based on blind mandatory scalar implicatures. Natural Language Semantics 17 (3): 245–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magri, Giorgio. 2011. Another argument for embedded scalar implicatures based on oddness in downward entailing environments. Semantics and Pragmatics 4: 1–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mandelkern, Matthew, and Jacopo Romoli. 2017. Parsing and presuppositions in the calculation of local contexts. Semantics and Pragmatics 10(7). https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.10.7.

  • Meyer, Marie-Christine. 2013. Ignorance and grammar. PhD dissertation, MIT.

  • Meyer, Marie-Christine. 2014. Deriving Hurford’s Constraint. In Proceedings of SALT 24, ed. Todd Snider et al., 577–596. Washington, DC: LSA.

  • Rooth, Mats. 1985. Association with focus. PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts at Amherst. http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/handle/1813/28568.

  • Rooth, Mats. 1992. A theory of focus interpretation. Natural Language Semantics 1: 75–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, Benjamin. 2006. Against grammatical computation of scalar implicatures. Journal of Semantics 23 (4): 361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, Benjamin. 2011. Topics in the computation of scalar implicatures. PhD dissertation, Brown University.

  • Sauerland, Uli. 2004. Scalar implicatures in complex sentences. Linguistics and Philosophy 27 (3): 367–391.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sauerland, Uli. 2012. The computation of scalar implicatures: Pragmatic, lexical or grammatical? Language and Linguistics Compass 6 (1): 36–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schlenker, Philippe. 2008. Be articulate: A pragmatic theory of presupposition projection. Theoretical Linguistics 34 (3): 157–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schlenker, Philippe. 2009. Local contexts. Semantics and Pragmatics 2 (3): 1–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schulz, Katrin, and Robert van Rooij. 2006. Pragmatic meaning and non-monotonic reasoning: The case of exhaustive interpretation. Linguistics and Philosophy 29 (2): 205–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarzschild, Roger. 1997. Why some foci must associate. Manuscript, Rutgers University. http://semarch.linguistics.fas.nyu.edu/Archive/WZjNGRmN/schwarzschild.why.pdf.

  • Schwarzschild, Roger. 1999. Givenness, AvoidF, and other constraints on the placement of accent. Natural Language Semantics 7 (2): 141–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sevi, Aldo. 2006. Exhaustivity: A semantic account of “quantity” implicatures. PhD dissertation, Tel Aviv University.

  • Singh, Raj. 2008a. Modularity and locality in interpretation. PhD dissertation, MIT.

  • Singh, Raj. 2008b. On the interpretation of disjunction: Asymmetric, incremental, and eager for inconsistency. Linguistics and Philosophy 31 (2): 245–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spector, Benjamin. 2003. Scalar implicatures: Exhaustivity and Gricean reasoning. In Proceedings of the Eighth ESSLLI Student Session, ed. Balder ten Cate, 277–288. Vienna, Austria.

  • Spector, Benjamin. 2006. Aspects de la pragmatique des opérateurs logiques. Manuscript, Université Paris 7.

  • Spector, Benjamin. 2007. Scalar implicatures: Exhaustivity and Gricean reasoning. In Questions in dynamic semantics (Current research in the semantics/pragmatics interface 17), ed. Maria Aloni, Paul Dekker, and Alastair Butler, 225–249. Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spector, Benjamin. 2013. Bare numerals and scalar implicatures. Language and Linguistics Compass 7 (5): 273–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spector, Benjamin. 2014. Global positive polarity items and obligatory exhaustivity. Semantics and Pragmatics 7 (11): 1–61. https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.7.11.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spector, Benjamin. 2016. Comparing exhaustivity operators. Semantics and Pragmatics 9 (11): 1–33. https://doi.org/10.3765/sp.9.11.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Rooij, Robert, and Katrin Schulz. 2004. Exhaustive interpretation of complex sentences. Journal of Logic, Language and Information 13 (4): 491–519.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Rooij, Robert, and Katrin Schulz. 2006. Only: Meaning and implicatures. In Questions in dynamic semantics (Current Research in the Semantics/Pragmatics Interface 17), ed. Maria Aloni, Alistair Butler, and Paul Dekker, 193–223. Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Winter, Yoad. 2001. Plural predication and the Strongest Meaning Hypothesis. Journal of Semantics 18 (4): 333–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Emmanuel Chemla, Luka Crnic, Roni Katzir, Giorgio Magri, Paolo Santorio, and Philippe Schlenker.

Funding

Funding was provided by Agence Nationale de la Recherche (Grant Nos. ANR-10-LABX-0087 IEC, ANR-10-IDEX-0001-02 PSL*) and H2020 European Research Council (Grant No. 324115-FRONTSEM).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Danny Fox

  2. Institut Jean Nicod (ENS – EHESS – CNRS), Département d’Études Cognitives, École Normale Supérieure, PSL Research University, Paris, France

    Benjamin Spector

Authors
  1. Danny Fox
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Benjamin Spector
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benjamin Spector.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fox, D., Spector, B. Economy and embedded exhaustification. Nat Lang Semantics 26, 1–50 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-017-9139-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-017-9139-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation