English polarity items

This file defines the English polarity-sensitive items as PolarityItem entries. The weak negative polarity items any, ever, yet, anymore, at all, in the least, a single and whatsoever are licensed by any downward-entailing operator; the strong ones, lift a finger, budge an inch, in years, until and additive either, need an anti-additive licenser, and Gajewski shows that either is out under only although only is Strawson anti-additive. Any and the free relatives whatever, whoever and whichever have free choice readings. The positive polarity items are blocked by clausal negation: someone also by the other anti-additive operators but not by at most five (Szabolcsi), and already, too (the positive counterpart of either), somewhat, rather, tons of and awfully at least by clausal negation. The idioms wild horses, all the tea in China, a ten-foot pole and in a million years are Israel's maximizer negative polarity items and at the drop of a hat, in a jiffy, for a pittance and for a song his minimizer positive ones; his classification of the items by force, quantity and propositional role is the matter of Studies/Israel2001.lean. The entries are tested against cited judgments in the studies of the papers that report them: any and ever in Studies/Chierchia2013.lean and Studies/KadmonLandman1993.lean, and someone in Studies/Szabolcsi2004.lean.

Main definitions

• English.PolarityItems.weakNPIs, English.PolarityItems.strongNPIs, English.PolarityItems.invertedNPIs, English.PolarityItems.allFCIs, English.PolarityItems.canonicalPPIs, English.PolarityItems.invertedPPIs: the classes.
• English.PolarityItems.allPolarityItems: the lexicon.

Implementation notes

A positive polarity item whose class van der Wouden does not settle carries the weakest anti-licensor, anti-morphic strength, which every positive polarity item has by his (169).

References

• [Isr11]
• [Gaj11]
• [Chi06]
• [Rul03]
• [Lad81]
• [Sza04]
• [vdW97]

Weak NPIs

def English.PolarityItems.any : PolarityItem

any, the prototypical negative polarity and free choice item ([Chi06]).

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.any = { form := "any", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak, freeChoice := true }

def English.PolarityItems.ever : PolarityItem

ever, a temporal negative polarity item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.ever = { form := "ever", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak }

def English.PolarityItems.yet : PolarityItem

yet, a temporal negative polarity item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.yet = { form := "yet", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak }

def English.PolarityItems.anymore : PolarityItem

anymore, a temporal negative polarity item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.anymore = { form := "anymore", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak }

def English.PolarityItems.atAll : PolarityItem

at all, a degree negative polarity item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.atAll = { form := "at all", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak }

def English.PolarityItems.inTheLeast : PolarityItem

in the least, a degree negative polarity item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.inTheLeast = { form := "in the least", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak }

def English.PolarityItems.aSingle : PolarityItem

a single, an emphatic existential negative polarity item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.aSingle = { form := "a single", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak }

def English.PolarityItems.whatsoever : PolarityItem

whatsoever, an emphatic post-nominal negative polarity item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.whatsoever = { form := "whatsoever", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak }

Strong NPIs

def English.PolarityItems.liftAFinger : PolarityItem

lift a finger, an idiomatic minimizer needing an anti-additive licenser.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.liftAFinger = { form := "lift a finger", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiAdditive }

def English.PolarityItems.budgeAnInch : PolarityItem

budge an inch, an idiomatic minimizer needing an anti-additive licenser.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.budgeAnInch = { form := "budge an inch", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiAdditive }

def English.PolarityItems.inYears : PolarityItem

in years, a temporal strong negative polarity item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.inYears = { form := "in years", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiAdditive }

def English.PolarityItems.until_ : PolarityItem

until, a temporal strong negative polarity item in its punctual use.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.until_ = { form := "until", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiAdditive }

def English.PolarityItems.either : PolarityItem

Additive either ([Rul03], [Gaj11]), out under the Strawson anti-additive only: *Only John likes pancakes, either ([Gaj11] p. 120).

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.either = { form := "either", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiAdditive }

Free choice items

def English.PolarityItems.whatever : PolarityItem

whatever, a free-relative free choice item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.whatever = { form := "whatever", freeChoice := true }

def English.PolarityItems.whoever : PolarityItem

whoever, a free-relative free choice item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.whoever = { form := "whoever", freeChoice := true }

def English.PolarityItems.whichever : PolarityItem

whichever, a free-relative free choice item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.whichever = { form := "whichever", freeChoice := true }

Positive polarity items

def English.PolarityItems.someone : PolarityItem

someone, a positive polarity item out in the immediate scope of a clausemate anti-additive operator, *John didn't call someone, *No one called someone, *John came to the party without someone, and fine below at most five, At most five boys called someone ([Sza04] (10)–(13); [vdW97]).

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.someone = { form := "someone", antiLicensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiAdditive }

def English.PolarityItems.already : PolarityItem

already, a temporal positive polarity item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.already = { form := "already", antiLicensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiMorphic }

def English.PolarityItems.too : PolarityItem

too, an additive positive polarity item, the positive counterpart of either ([Lad81]).

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.too = { form := "too", antiLicensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiMorphic }

def English.PolarityItems.somewhat : PolarityItem

somewhat, a degree positive polarity item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.somewhat = { form := "somewhat", antiLicensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiMorphic }

def English.PolarityItems.rather : PolarityItem

rather, a degree positive polarity item.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.rather = { form := "rather", antiLicensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiMorphic }

def English.PolarityItems.tonsOf : PolarityItem

tons of, an emphatic positive polarity item, as in She has tons of friends.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.tonsOf = { form := "tons of", antiLicensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiMorphic }

def English.PolarityItems.awfully : PolarityItem

awfully, an emphatic positive polarity item, as in I was awfully depressed.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.awfully = { form := "awfully", antiLicensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiMorphic }

Maximizer NPIs

def English.PolarityItems.wildHorses : PolarityItem

wild horses, an idiomatic maximizer negative polarity item, as in Wild horses couldn't keep me away.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.wildHorses = { form := "wild horses", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak }

def English.PolarityItems.allTheTeaInChina : PolarityItem

all the tea in China, an idiomatic maximizer negative polarity item, as in I wouldn't do it for all the tea in China.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.allTheTeaInChina = { form := "all the tea in China", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak }

def English.PolarityItems.aTenFootPole : PolarityItem

a ten-foot pole, an idiomatic maximizer negative polarity item, as in I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.aTenFootPole = { form := "a ten-foot pole", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak }

def English.PolarityItems.inAMillionYears : PolarityItem

in a million years, an idiomatic maximizer negative polarity item, as in I wouldn't marry that woman in a million years.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.inAMillionYears = { form := "in a million years", licensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.weak }

Minimizer PPIs

def English.PolarityItems.atTheDropOfAHat : PolarityItem

at the drop of a hat, an idiomatic minimizer positive polarity item, as in He'd quit at the drop of a hat.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.atTheDropOfAHat = { form := "at the drop of a hat", antiLicensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiMorphic }

def English.PolarityItems.inAJiffy : PolarityItem

in a jiffy, an idiomatic minimizer positive polarity item, as in We'll be back in a jiffy.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.inAJiffy = { form := "in a jiffy", antiLicensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiMorphic }

def English.PolarityItems.forAPittance : PolarityItem

for a pittance, an idiomatic minimizer positive polarity item, as in He got Madonna to play for peanuts.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.forAPittance = { form := "for a pittance", antiLicensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiMorphic }

def English.PolarityItems.forASong : PolarityItem

for a song, an idiomatic minimizer positive polarity item, as in He bought that painting for a song.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.forASong = { form := "for a song", antiLicensor := some PolarityItem.DEStrength.antiMorphic }

Lexicon access

def English.PolarityItems.weakNPIs : List PolarityItem

The weak NPIs.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def English.PolarityItems.strongNPIs : List PolarityItem

The strong NPIs.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def English.PolarityItems.invertedNPIs : List PolarityItem

The maximizer NPIs.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.invertedNPIs = [English.PolarityItems.wildHorses, English.PolarityItems.allTheTeaInChina, English.PolarityItems.aTenFootPole, English.PolarityItems.inAMillionYears]

def English.PolarityItems.allNPIs : List PolarityItem

All NPIs (weak + strong + maximizer).

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.allNPIs = English.PolarityItems.weakNPIs ++ English.PolarityItems.strongNPIs ++ English.PolarityItems.invertedNPIs

def English.PolarityItems.allFCIs : List PolarityItem

The FCIs.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.allFCIs = [English.PolarityItems.any, English.PolarityItems.whatever, English.PolarityItems.whoever, English.PolarityItems.whichever]

def English.PolarityItems.canonicalPPIs : List PolarityItem

The plain PPIs.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def English.PolarityItems.invertedPPIs : List PolarityItem

The minimizer PPIs.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.invertedPPIs = [English.PolarityItems.atTheDropOfAHat, English.PolarityItems.inAJiffy, English.PolarityItems.forAPittance, English.PolarityItems.forASong]

def English.PolarityItems.allPPIs : List PolarityItem

All PPIs.

Equations

• English.PolarityItems.allPPIs = English.PolarityItems.canonicalPPIs ++ English.PolarityItems.invertedPPIs

def English.PolarityItems.allPolarityItems : List PolarityItem

The full lexicon.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.