A scalar implicature-based approach to neg-raising

A scalar implicature-based approach to Neg-raising

In this paper, I give an analysis of neg-raising inferences as scalar implicatures. The main motivation for this account as opposed to a presupposition-based approach (Bartsch 1973 and Gajewski 2005, 2007) comes from the differences between presuppositions and neg-raising inferences, noticed by Gajewski (2005, 2007) and Homer (2012). In response to this issue, Gajewski (2007) argues that neg-ra...

Processing Scalar Implicature: A Constraint-Based Approach

Three experiments investigated the processing of the implicature associated with some using a "gumball paradigm." On each trial, participants saw an image of a gumball machine with an upper chamber with 13 gumballs and an empty lower chamber. Gumballs then dropped to the lower chamber and participants evaluated statements, such as "You got some of the gumballs." Experiment 1 established that so...

Neg-Raising and Polarity

The representation of Neg-Raising in the grammar is a matter of controversy. I provide evidence for representing Neg-Raising as a kind of presupposition associated with certain predicates by providing a detailed analysis of NPI-licensing in Neg-Raising contexts. Specific features of presupposition projection are used to explain the licensing of strict NPIs under Neg-Raising predicates. Discussi...

Between “cost” and “default”: a new approach to Scalar Implicature

Scalar Implicatures are pragmatic inferences that are normally derived in conversational exchanges when a scalar term, such as for example “or”, is used. Different theoretical accounts have been proposed to describe how and at which point in the derivation we actually add this inference. Large part of the most recent debate is focused on the question of the “cost” of implicature computation, an...

Scalar Implicature