The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese Keely New - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese Keely New and Michael Yoshitaka Erlewine (mitcho) National University of Singapore

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Colloquial Burmese m ̥ a appears to have two uses: (1) Exhaustive m ̥ a (cle fu ): Aung-g ɑ ye-ko- m ̥ a θɑ u ʔ -k ɛ -d ɛ . Aung- NO NOM water- AC drink- PA PAST - RE ACC - MA MA REAL ‘It’s WATER that Aung drank.’

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Colloquial Burmese m ̥ a appears to have two uses: (1) Exhaustive m ̥ a (cle fu ): Aung-g ɑ ye-ko- m ̥ a θɑ u ʔ -k ɛ -d ɛ . Aung- NO NOM water- AC drink- PA PAST - RE ACC - MA MA REAL ‘It’s WATER that Aung drank.’ (2) Scalar m ̥ a (‘even’-like): Aung-g ɑ ye-ko- m ̥ a m ə - θɑ u ʔ -k ɛ -d ɑ r. Aung- NO NOM water- AC ACC - MA NEG -drink- PA PAST - DA MA NE DAR ≈ ‘Aung didn’t even drink WATER.’

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine • John Okell’s 1969 reference grammar says there are two m ̥ ɑ : with no description of their distribution.

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine • John Okell’s 1969 reference grammar says there are two m ̥ ɑ : with no description of their distribution. • We show that the scalar reading requires the combination of local negation and sentence-final –dar .

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Proposal • m ̥ ɑ C ( p )( w *) introduces the not-at-issue content: ∀ q ∊ C [ q < likely p → ¬ q ( w *)] “All less likely alternatives are false.” At-issue meaning is una fg ected. ( ≈ Velleman et al 2012’s semantics for English it cle fu s.)

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Proposal • m ̥ ɑ C ( p )( w *) introduces the not-at-issue content: ∀ q ∊ C [ q < likely p → ¬ q ( w *)] “All less likely alternatives are false.” At-issue meaning is una fg ected. ( ≈ Velleman et al 2012’s semantics for English it cle fu s.) • C includes conjunctive alternatives

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Exhaustive m ̥ a Aung drank beer Aung drank water

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Exhaustive m ̥ a Aung drank beer Aung drank water Aung drank water and beer

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Exhaustive m ̥ a Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Exhaustive m ̥ a > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Exhaustive m ̥ a prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Exhaustive m ̥ a prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer m ̥ ɑ C ( p ) ⤳ ¬beer ∧ ¬(water ∧ beer)

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Exhaustive m ̥ a prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer m ̥ ɑ C ( p ) ⤳ ¬beer ∧ ¬(water ∧ beer) Together with p = water, ⇒ ¬beer Exhaustive : ‘It’s water that Aung drank.’ = (1)

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Exhaustive m ̥ a prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Exhaustive m ̥ a prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer m ̥ ɑ C ( p ) ⤳ ¬(water ∧ beer)

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Exhaustive m ̥ a prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer m ̥ ɑ C ( p ) ⤳ ¬(water ∧ beer) Together with p = beer, ⇒ ¬water Exhaustive : ‘It’s beer that Aung drank.’

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine LF: m ̥ a under negation NEG m ̥ ɑ C P prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine LF: m ̥ a under negation NEG m ̥ ɑ C P prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer NEG ( m ̥ ɑ C ( p )) at-issue: ¬water

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine LF: m ̥ a under negation NEG m ̥ ɑ C P prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer NEG ( m ̥ ɑ C ( p )) at-issue: ¬water m ̥ ɑ C ( p ) ⤳ ¬beer ∧ ¬(water ∧ beer) Together, ⇒ ¬beer

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine LF: m ̥ a under negation NEG m ̥ ɑ C P prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer NEG ( m ̥ ɑ C ( p )) at-issue: ¬water m ̥ ɑ C ( p ) ⤳ ¬beer ∧ ¬(water ∧ beer) Together, ⇒ ¬beer

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine LF: m ̥ a under negation NEG m ̥ ɑ C P prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine LF: m ̥ a under negation NEG m ̥ ɑ C P prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer NEG ( m ̥ ɑ C ( p )) at-issue: ¬beer

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine LF: m ̥ a under negation NEG m ̥ ɑ C P prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer NEG ( m ̥ ɑ C ( p )) at-issue: ¬beer m ̥ ɑ C ( p ) ⤳ ¬(water ∧ beer)

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine LF: m ̥ a under negation NEG m ̥ ɑ C P prejacent > likely Aung drank beer Aung drank water > > likely likely Aung drank water and beer NEG ( m ̥ ɑ C ( p )) at-issue: ¬beer m ̥ ɑ C ( p ) ⤳ ¬(water ∧ beer) Here, m ̥ ɑ C contributes nothing! Therefore ungrammatical by Non-Vacuity ( Č rnic 2011)

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Upshot • m ̥ ɑ references likelihood, but does not express that the prejacent is low or high on the scale (cf. even ).

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Upshot • m ̥ ɑ references likelihood, but does not express that the prejacent is low or high on the scale (cf. even ). • Nonetheless, under negation, the use of m ̥ ɑ requires that there are less likely alternatives and that they are false.

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine Upshot • m ̥ ɑ references likelihood, but does not express that the prejacent is low or high on the scale (cf. even ). • Nonetheless, under negation, the use of m ̥ ɑ requires that there are less likely alternatives and that they are false. • With wide scope, m ̥ ɑ is always grammatical as an exhaustive.

The expression of exhaustivity and scalarity in Burmese New & Erlewine At the poster • The function of sentence -final –dar • Wh - m ̥ ɑ NPIs: (3) ŋɑ b ɛ -p ɑ n θ i-ko- m ̥ ɑ m ə -yu-k ɛ -bu. 1 which-apple- AC ACC - MA NEG -take- PA PAST - NE MA NE NEG ‘I didn’t take any apple(s).’ • Snacks from Singapore Thank you!