Even, Only, and Negative Polarity in Japanese

1. Scope vs. Lexical Theory of Even The English focus particle even is known to introduce a scalar presupposition (ScalarP) given in (1); Alan even saw [Bill]F presupposes that ‘that Bill saw Alan’ is the least-likely proposition among alternatives (LeastP). In contexts where negative polarity items (NPIs) such as any can occur, we observe ambiguity; I doubt that Alan even saw [Bill]F is ambiguous between LeastP and a reading where ‘that Alan saw Bill’ is the most-likely proposition (MostP). Two theories have been proposed to account for this ambiguity. One theory holds that the ambiguity is due to the scope interaction between even and a downward-entailing (DE) expression (e.g. doubt) (Kartunnen and Peters 1979). When even is under doubt, we obtain LeastP, while, when even takes scope over doubt, the likelihood scale gets reversed by the DE operator doubt, yielding MostP. The other theory holds that even is lexically ambiguous between a regular even with (1) and an NPI even with (2) (Rooth 1985). Cross-linguistic data have been provided in favor of the lexical theory; in the German example in (3), sogar ‘even’ allows LeastP only, while auch nur ‘also only’ allows MostP only, suggesting that sogar is a regular even and auch nur is an NPI even. Indeed, sogar, but not auch nur, is acceptable in positive contexts, as in (4).