Broaden Your Views: Implicatures of Domain Widening and the “Logicality” of Language

TLDR

Polarity-sensitive items (PSIs) encompass negative polarity items such as Italian *mai* ‘ever’, universal free choice items like Italian *qualunque* ‘any/whatever’, and existential free choice items such as Italian *uno qualunque* ‘a whatever’. This article proposes a unified theory of PSIs grounded in domain widening, asserting that scalar items optionally activate scalar alternatives that are recursively incorporated into meaning via an alternative‑sensitive operator akin to *only*. The theory adopts a recursive, grammatically driven approach to scalar implicatures, challenging the conventional view that such implicatures arise from post‑grammatical pragmatic processes and employing an operator similar to *only* to factor alternatives into meaning. Empirically, PSIs obligatorily activate domain alternatives that are incorporated into meaning in the same recursive manner.

Abstract

This article presents a unified theory of polarity-sensitive items (PSIs) based on the notion of domain widening. PSIs include negative polarity items (like Italian mai ‘ever’), universal free choice items (like Italian qualunque ‘any/whatever’), and existential free choice items (like Italian uno qualunque ‘a whatever’). The proposal is based on a ‘‘recursive,’’ grammatically driven approach to scalar implicatures that breaks with the traditional view that scalar implicatures arise via post- grammatical pragmatic processes. The main claim is that scalar items optionally activate scalar alternatives that, when activated, are then recursively factored into meaning via an alternative sensitive operator similar to only. PSIs obligatorily activate domain alternatives that are factored into meaning in much the same way.