‘Just’ as a scale widener with maximum-standard adjectives: emphatic/precisifying effects
(With Ashwini Deo.) Published in Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung, 2024
In this paper, we propose a finer-grained classification of adjectives labeled Maximum Standard Adjectives (MSAs) in order to account for two of their properties in interaction with the particle just. First is the failure of non-extreme MSAs (clean, closed etc.) to be interpreted emphatically with just—in contrast to MSAs like perfect(Beltrama, 2021). The second property has to do with the non-uniform availability of a precisifying reading for MSAs incombination with focused just. While we assume (like Rotstein and Winter, 2004 and Lassiter and Goodman, 2013) that threshold values for MSAs are uniformly provided by the context, we show that MSAs also vary with respect to how these thresholds are sourced from the context. The non-uniform behavior of MSAs with just in its emphatic and precisifying uses is shown to derive from this variability.
Recommended citation: Thomas, William C. and Ashwini Deo. 2024. 'Just' as a scale widener with maximum-standard adjectives: emphatic/precisifying effects. Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 28, 895–911.
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