In this book, Yael Greenberg discusses and clarifies a number of controversial issues and phenomena in the generic literature, including the existence of "episodic genericity," existential ...presuppositions, and contextual restrictions of generics.
We propose a unifying analysis of two readings – exclusive and approximative – of the Hebrew particle be-sax ha-kol, arguing that under both the particle is a scalar focus sensitive exclusive, ...expressing a positive and a negative inference, i.e. the truth of its prejacent and the exclusion of stronger focus alternatives, respectively. The difference between the readings is argued to derive from a minimal difference in the overtness vs. covertness of the focus associate of be-sax ha-kol: Whereas the exclusive reading is standardly derived by associating the particle with overt and prosodically marked material, the approximative reading results from its association with the covert pos modifier of gradable expressions, resulting in an “x is pos A, but not maximally A” inference.We show that this approximative reading is only licensed when the scale associated with the gradable expression is upper-bound, but the standard of comparison is not necessarily maximal, pace Kennedy & McNally (2005), and compare it with the effects of true approximators (like more or less). We also observe that relative to only and to the exclusive reading of be-sax ha-kol, the at-issueness status of the positive and negative components in the approximative reading is reversed, being at-issue vs. not-at-issue, respectively. We discuss this observation in light of claims about the mirror imaged status of components of only vs. p-exh in Bassi et al. (2019), and in light of theories arguing for the gradience of at-issueness status and its sensitivity to information structure (e.g. Abrusán 2011; Tonhauser et al. 2018).
An old observation about the focus sensitive particles
only
and
even
is that they are in some sense scalar antonyms. We examine three schematic proposals raised in the literature to capture this ...observation, namely that
only
vs.
even
presuppose that the proposition denoted by their prejacent,
p
, is lower vs. higher, respectively
(A)
than
what is EXPECTED/the default STANDARD
(
the ‘mirative/evaluative antonymy’ view
),
(B)
than
SOME (salient) alternative
in the set of contextually relevant focus alternatives, C, (
the ‘existential antonymy’ view
), or
(C)
than
ALL alternatives
in C (
the ‘superlative antonymy’ view
). To tease these views apart, we examine the behavior of
only
vs.
even
in a wide range of contexts and types of discourse, concentrating on the way the C set of contextually relevant alternatives with
only
(C)
(p)
and
even
(C)
(p)
is constrained by the interaction of (i) previously uttered sentences and (ii) the salient QUD. Based on these examinations we argue for the preferability of the ‘superlative antonymy’ view of
only
and
even
. In contrast, we argue that the ‘existential’ antonymy and the ‘mirative/evaluative’ antonymy between
only
and
even
are apparent. The former only holds in specific contexts where one alternative to
p
is made maximally salient. As to the latter, we show that while an evaluative (‘above the standard’ / ‘a lot’) inference is hardwired into the scalar presupposition of
even
, alongside the superlative inference, the mirror imaged one (‘below the standard’ / ‘a little’) is cancellable for
only
. We propose that this inference can be derived from the interaction of the superlative scalar presupposition of
only
and domain based constraints on alternatives in C.
The memories and the visual images of 9/11 are embedded in the public psyche as remnants of a collective trauma, and this collectivity can serve to create a common ground and an intersubjective space ...for trauma work. In addition to emphasizing the importance of enactive witnessing and recognition in the healing process, I discuss in this paper the impact of trauma, including that of 9/11, that has been experienced from afar, as I was living in Ohio on September 11, 2001. I will also address the impact of experiencing a traumatic event from a physical distance on trauma work, using the concept of "distance" both literally and figuratively. The clinical illustrations provided all involve witnessing 9/11 on a television screen. Each vignette illustrates how the images themselves can be used as actual screens on which to project earlier trauma history. Similarly, part of the clinical work was done from afar. Telephone and virtual therapy at certain times facilitated both disclosures and, paradoxically, enhanced feelings of closeness. The analyst's engagement in the process of witnessing facilitated connection to dissociated areas of experience, but enactive witnessing brought cohesiveness and clarity to the fragmentation caused by trauma and lack of early recognition. The clinical stories illustrate how this engagement enabled both participants to enliven deadened, dissociated parts of the self.
This paper concentrates on giving precise content to the general wisdom on the scalar presupposition of even, according to which the prejacent of even, p, is stronger than its relevant focus ...alternatives, q. To that end I first examine both familiar challenges for the popular 'comparative likelihood' view of the 'stronger than' relation, as well as novel challenges, having to do with the context dependency of even (with entailed and non-entailed alternatives) and with its sensitivity to standards of comparison. To overcome these challenges and to account for the full range of data I develop a revised, 'gradability-based' scalar presupposition for even, which differs from the 'comparative likelihood' one in several respects: instead of directly comparing degrees to which propositions (namely p and q) are more or less likely, we compare extents to which non-focus entities x in p and q (in the accessible p worlds and the exhaustified q worlds) exceed the salient standard on a scale associated with a contextually supplied gradable property G. To capture cases where information about contrastive topics is crucial for fixing two distinct standards on G, I follow theories which view even as a general, two-place alternative-sensitive operator, allowing it to associate with both focus and contrastive topics. Beyond the ability to account for a large range of intricate felicity variations and inferences found with even, a more general contribution of the paper lies in showing the linguistic relevance of tools originally developed in the literature on gradable predicates to the semantics of scalar alternative–sensitive particles.
There have been ongoing debates about the semantics of Mandarin particle dou, which, among its various readings, has a distributive reading and a scalar reading. In the paper, we make a novel ...observation that dou, on both readings, is sensitive to a standard on a scale associated with a contextually supplied gradable property, and take this to be new evidence in favor of a unified, scalar analysis of dou. To uniformly capture its two readings and its standard-sensitivity, we propose to integrate insights from two proposals, Liu 2017 and Greenberg 2018a. Specifically, on the one hand, we follow Liu 2017 in arguing that (a) dou is uniformly a scalar particle, (b) it operates on distinct types of alternatives on distinct readings and (c) a trivialization operation occurs on the distributive reading; on the other hand, we, deviating from Liu, adopt two components adapted from the gradability-based semantics originally suggested for Englishevenin Greenberg 2018a, i.e. (a) anevaluative presupposition and (b) a contextually determined scale, instead of one based on unlikelihood. Our revised proposal can successfully account for the two readings in a unified manner but circumvents the issue regarding the dimension of the scale faced by Liu 2017 in the meanwhile.
Abstract In this paper, I offer a psychoanalytic reading of the biblical narratives of Joseph, Moses, and Saul that demonstrates the biblical authors' deep knowledge of the unconscious. ...the ...protagonist's unconscious is communicated to the reader while being safeguarded from the awareness of both protagonist and reader. The biblical author's keen awareness of the unconscious is manifested in Joseph's youthful dreams, as well as in the mature Joseph's ability to interpret the dreams of others. Zornberg (1996, 253) has noted Joseph's transformation from a youth who is blind to his brothers' feelings into a young man who is aware of the emotions of others: while in prison, the mature Joseph demonstrates sensitivity to the feelings of his fellow prisoners, Pharaoh's Chief Cupbearer and Chief Baker.
There have been ongoing debates about the semantics of Mandarin particle dо̄u, which, among its various readings, has a distributive reading and a scalar reading. In the paper, we make a novel ...observation that dо̄u, on both readings, is sensitive to a standard on a scale associated with a contextually supplied gradable property, and take this to be new evidence in favor of a unified, scalar analysis of dо̄u. To uniformly capture its two readings and its standard-sensitivity, we propose to integrate insights from two proposals, Liu 2017 and Greenberg 2018a. Specifically, on the one hand, we follow Liu 2017 in arguing that (a) dо̄u is uniformly a scalar particle, (b) it operates on distinct types of alternatives on distinct readings and (c) a trivialization operation occurs on the distributive reading; on the other hand, we, deviating from Liu, adopt two components adapted from the gradability-based semantics originally suggested for Englishevenin Greenberg 2018a, i.e. (a) an evaluative presupposition and (b) a contextually determined scale, instead of one based on unlikelihood. Our revised proposal can successfully account for the two readings in a unified manner but circumvents the issue regarding the dimension of the scale faced by Liu 2017 in the meanwhile.
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