Even, Polarity, and Scope

Two theories of the interaction between even and negative polarity licensers are evaluated. It is argued that Rooth’s analysis, which claims that English even is lexically ambiguous, is superior to that of Wilkinson and others, according to which even can vary in scope with respect to the polarity licenser. Arguments against Wilkinson’s scope theory come mainly from considerations concerning general restrictions on scope assignment. An alternative explanation for Wilkinson’s main argument against Rooth’s NPI theory is based on the idea that the existential presupposition introduced by even is actually not part of the lexical meaning of that particle but is derived indirectly.

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