TY  - JOUR
A1  - Mazzarella, Diana
A1  - Gotzner, Nicole
T1  - The polarity asymmetry of negative strengthening
BT  - dissociating adjectival polarity from face-threatening potential
JF  - Glossa : a journal of general linguistics
N2  - The interpretation of negated antonyms is characterised by a polarity asymmetry: the negation of a positive polarity antonym (X is not interesting) is more likely to be strengthened to convey its opposite ('X is uninteresting') than the negation of a negative polarity antonym (X is not uninteresting to convey that 'X is interesting') is. A classical explanation of this asymmetry relies on face-management. Since the predication of a negative polarity antonym (X is uninteresting) is potentially face-threatening in most contexts, the negation of the corresponding positive polarity antonym (X is not interesting) is more likely to be interpreted as an indirect strategy to minimise face-threat while getting the message across. We present two experimental studies in which we test the predictions of this explanation. In contrast with it, our results show that adjectival polarity, but not face-threatening potential, appears to be responsible for the asymmetric interpretation of negated antonyms.
KW  - negation
KW  - polarity
KW  - antonyms
KW  - negative strengthening
KW  - politeness
KW  - face
Y1  - 2021
U6  - https://doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.1342
SN  - 2397-1835
VL  - 6
IS  - 1
PB  - Open Library of Humanities
CY  - London
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gotzner, Nicole
A1  - Romoli, Jacopo
T1  - Meaning and alternatives
JF  - Annual review of linguistics
N2  - Alternatives and competition in language are pervasive at all levels of linguistic analysis. More specifically, alternatives have been argued to play a prominent role in an ever-growing class of phenomena in the investigation of natural language meaning. In this article, we focus on scalar implicatures, as they are arguably the most paradigmatic case of an alternative-based phenomenon. We first review the main challenge for theories of alternatives, the so-called symmetry problem, and we briefly discuss how it has shaped the different approaches to alternatives. We then turn to two more recent challenges concerning scalar diversity and the inferences of sentences with multiple scalars. Finally, we describe several related alternative-based phenomena and recent conceptual approaches to alternatives. As we discuss, while important progress has been made, much more work is needed both on the theoretical side and on understanding the empirical landscape better.
KW  - alternatives
KW  - scalar implicatures
KW  - symmetry problem
KW  - focus
KW  - polarity
KW  - sensitivity
KW  - negative strengthening
Y1  - 2022
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031220-012013
SN  - 2333-9691
SN  - 2333-9683
VL  - 8
SP  - 213
EP  - 234
PB  - Annual Reviews
CY  - Palo Alto
ER  -