The missing link between truth and intensification

Truth markers commonly evolve into intensifiers (Heine & Kuteva 2002), but we here argue that this shift is only indirect, and a counter-loosening phase necessarily mediates between truth marking and intensification. Counter-looseners instruct the addressee to avoid (or rather, constrain) the very natural interpretative process of broadening, whereby the speaker-intended concept would have been taken as a loosened, “more or less” interpretation of the meaning of the modified expression (Carston 2002). We provide a diachronic analysis for Hebrew mamash ‘really’, which supports our point, and we reinterpret diachronic analyses of other truth markers in order to show that they too underwent a counter-loosening phase before turning intensifiers. Finally, we briefly distinguish between a counter-loosening mediated intensifier evolution (for truth markers, particularizers and maximizers) and a direct evolutionary path into intensification for originally upscaling expressions (extreme scalar modifiers and augmenters).

Interpretations of embedded pragmatic scalar modifiers

Chapter 8 investigates the interpretation of embedded pragmatic scalar modifiers and considers the semantic mechanism behind subject- and speaker-oriented interpretations of embedded pragmatic scalar modifiers and CIs. For a subject-oriented reading, it is argued that there is a shift from a CI to a secondary at-issue entailment at the clausal level when the embedded clause combines with an attitude predicate and has a subject-oriented reading. For a speaker-oriented reading of embedded pragmatic scalar modifiers, it is claimed that the lower-level pragmatic scalar modifiers have the distinctive property of projection: unlike higher-level pragmatic scalar modifiers/typical CIs, lower-level pragmatic scalar modifiers can project out of the complement of a belief predicate only if there is a speaker-oriented modal in the main clause. This chapter shows that the interpretation of embedded pragmatic scalar modifiers is not only a matter of context and involves semantic and pragmatic mechanisms.

Introduction

Chapter 1 introduces the aim and the target phenomenon of this book, that is, the dual-use phenomenon of scalar modifiers and the meaning and use of pragmatic scalar modifiers. After a brief overview of the current views on the notion of conventional implicatures (CIs) and the semantics/pragmatics interface, and observation of data for the dual-use phenomenon of pragmatic scalar modifiers, this book raises questions concerning (i) the similarities and differences between at-issue scalar meanings and CI (not-at-issue) scalar meanings, (ii) variations in pragmatic scalar modifiers, (iii) the interpretations of embedded pragmatic scalar modifiers, and (iv) the historical development of pragmatic scalar modifiers. It then also briefly outlines the core ideas and analytical directions used for answering these questions.

Counter-expectational scalar adverbs

Chapter 7 investigates the meaning and use of Japanese counter-expectational scalar adverbs—that is, the counter-expectational intensifier yoppodo and the Japanese scale-reversal adverb kaette. It shows that although yoppodo and kaette convey some kind of counter-expectational meaning as lower-level pragmatic scalar modifiers, the way they trigger counter-expectational meaning is quite different. In an adjectival environment, yoppodo semantically intensifies degrees based on extraordinary evidence and conventionally implies that the degree is above the speaker’s expectation. By contrast, kaette reverses the scale of the gradable predicate and conventionally implies that the opposite situation is generally true. It is also proposed that there are two types of counter-expectational expressions that use scalarity: a relative type, which represents “above expectation” (e.g. yoppodo), and a reversal type, which expresses counter-expectation via polarity reversal (e.g. kaette). Comparison with wh-exclamatives, sentence exclamation, and the counter-expectational but is also discussed.

Landscape of scalar meanings

Chapter 2 provides the landscape of scalar meanings and highlights the target phenomenon of this book—the phenomenon of the dual use of scalar modifiers. More specifically, four kinds of scalar meanings are introduced: at-issue scalar meaning, conversational scalar meaning, presuppositional scalar meaning, and conventional implicature (CI) scalar meaning. There follows an informal examination of the dual-use phenomenon of scalar modifiers where a scalar modifier can express an at-issue scalar meaning and a CI scalar meaning. The similarities and differences between a CI and a presupposition are also considered. It is claimed that a CI and a presupposition belong to a different class of meaning and should theoretically be treated differently.

Historical development of pragmatic scalar modifiers

Chapter 9 considers the development of pragmatic scalar modifiers from a historical point of view. The main point is that although the directionality of the semantic change of scalar modifiers can be captured under a general path of semantic change or grammaticalization (i.e. propositional $>$ (textual) $>$ expressive; Traugott 1982), the semantic shift of scalar modifiers is not lexically at random. The chapter argues that semantic change in scalar modifiers is constrained or regulated by their lexical and morphosyntactic properties. At the lexical level, this constraint means that semantic change does not occur if the source meaning does not fit with an expressive mode. At the morphosyntactic level, there is a general constraint that the elements used for expressing a particular CI meaning must form a constituent. Finally, the relationship between syntactic change and semantic change is also discussed.

Conclusion

Chapter 10 summarizes the book’s analyses and proposal regarding (i) similarities and differences between semantic scalar modifiers and pragmatic scalar modifiers, (ii) variations in pragmatic scalar modifiers, (iii) interpretations of embedded pragmatic scalar modifiers, and (iv) the historical development of pragmatic scalar modifiers, and considers theoretical implications. The dual-use phenomenon of scalar modifiers and the interpretations of pragmatic scalar modifiers suggest that although there is a difference between at-issue and not-at-issue meanings, they have a flexible relationship. The chapter argues that both types of meanings must be captured in a unified or flexible fashion. This multidimensional approach is compared to other alternative approaches: the relevance-theoretic approach and Bach’s approach, which does not assume the notion of a CI. Finally, possible future directions for studies of pragmatic scalar modifiers and not-at-issue content are briefly considered.

Intensifiers

Chapter 6 investigates the expressive uses of intensifiers with special reference to the Japanese intensifier totemo and the comparative adverb motto. The expressive totemo combines with a negative gradable modal and conventionally implies that the at-issue proposition (without negation and modal) is highly unlikely or impossible and refuses to update the common ground with the at-issue proposition. The meaning of the negative motto combines with an at-issue gradable predicate locally and conventionally implies that the degree of the target in an expected situation is much greater than the target’s current degree. The chapter argues that the expressive totemo and motto belong to lower-level pragmatic scalar modifiers that recycle the scale of an at-issue gradable predicate, and they are fundamentally different from higher-level pragmatic intensifiers, such as the expressive totally, in terms of the level of modification and compositionality.