Lecture | Com(parative) Syn(tax) Series
On the source of polarity (in)sensitivity in the domain of degree modifiers
- Date
- Thursday 3 July 2025
- Time
- Location
-
Lipsius
Cleveringaplaats 1
2311 BD Leiden - Room
- 1.18
Abstract
Among degree modifiers that compose with relative gradable adjectives, we observe three patterns of polarity sensitivity. Those such as fairly are positive polarity items; those such as (all) that are negative polarity items; and those such as very are acceptable in both positive and negative contexts.
- Aliona is / *isn’t fairly tall.
- Bona *isn’t / is (all) that tall.
- Clea is / isn’t fairly tall.
These patterns can be observed in a range of typologically related and unrelated languages.
Items such as fairly and (all) that can be classified as attenuating polarity items (Israel 1996), a broad class that is not well accounted for by leading semantic theories of polarity sensitivity (e.g. Chierchia 2013). We demonstrate that their behavior can nonetheless be captured in an alternative-based semantic framework by supplementing strength-based competition with a second mechanism, namely simplicity-based competition.
Our central claim is that degree modifiers are blocked when they fail to make a non-trivial semantic contribution relative to the simpler unmodified form (e.g. Dora is tall). We demonstrate that this approach can account for the three patterns exemplified in (1)-(3), and discuss how it might be extended to other classes of degree modifiers, as well as some open questions and puzzles that remain.
Joint work with Andreea Nicolae.
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