Only Only? An Experimental Window on Exclusiveness

Beaver and Clark (2008) recently argued that only φ does not presuppose the proposition in its scope, contrary to the ‘standard’ theory articulated by Horn (1969). Their rejection of the standard theory is partially based on results of a survey test. We present new experimental evidence challenging Beaver and Clark’s interpretation of this survey test and suggesting that dropping the standard theory altogether might be too radical a move.