On the ambidirectionality of Thai mid-scale predicates: How to get more ‘warm’ by getting less ‘hot’

Abstract

This paper presents new data on the semantic interaction between gradablepredicates and the Thai particle khuen. When the particle composes with rÓ:n (hot)and nǎ:w (cold), it describes temperature increases and decreases, respectively, inmuch the same way as English get hotter and get colder. However, when it composeswith so-called mid-scale predicates like Pùn (warm), it can describe increases ordecreases, as long as the change is toward temperatures described as Pùn (warm).We first consider two types of analyses where (i) Pùn has an inherent central orien-tation much like English mild or (ii) khuen describes changes oriented toward thethreshold of the gradable predicate it combines with. We argue against analyses oftype (i) and (ii) and show that they predict unattested interpretations.We offer a semantic account for khuen in which the particle essentially picks analternative gradable predicate to the one it composes with, and describes changeswhose degree ends up lower than where it started on the alternative predicate’s scale.