Exclusive Company: Only and the Dynamics of Vertical Inference ...

22 Only and the Dynamics of Vertical Inference
Note that even if the assertion of the upward-orientated (56a) semantically
commits the speaker to the negative proposition in (56c), the latter is not part of
the point of the utterance and thus plays no role in the computation of polarity
licensing.
The downward orientation of barely and only expressions follows from the
dynamic content of these expressions, while their positive inference is at most
an inert aspect of meaning to be accommodated. Converging evidence for this
conclusion is provided by a variety of constructions, including the asymmetry
in the scalar suspenders displayed in (60) (see Horn 1970, 1972, 1989: Ch. 4).
(60) a. He's {barely/only} 16, if that,
b. # He's almost 16, if that.
Since Karttunen & Peters (1979), one standard technique for distinguishing
what is (conventionally) implicated from what is said focuses on the interaction
of the diagnosed material with the scope of higher illocutionary, attitudinal, or
epistemic predicates. In the frames of (61), the prejacent—the proposition that
Hillary trusts Bill—behaves as though it's outside the scope of what is said, or
more specifically what is hypothesized, discovered, regretted, or asked. 30
(61) a. If [only Hillary trusts Bill], all is well.
b. I just discovered that only Hillary trusts Bill.
c. It's too bad that only Hillary trusts Bill.
d. I know Hillary trusts Bill, but does ONLY Hillary trust Bill
e. #1 know nobody besides Hillary trusts Bill, but does only Hillary trust
Bill
In particular, as seen in the contrast between (6id, e), once the discourse model
contains the exclusion, the only sentence is pragmatically deviant—whence the
anomaly of (62). 31
(62) #1 know that nobody besides Kim is coming, but
I wonder if only Kim is coming.
I just found out only Kim is coming.
if [only Kim is coming], we'll be all right.
Downloaded from http://jos.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on September 12, 2014
The contrasts in (63) speak to the same point, in particular the distribution of
but vs. and, reflecting contrastive vs. shared orientation of the connected
clauses. The non-monotonic conjunctions in (63b, d), lacking scalar
orientation, block contrastive but. (See Horn 1991 for extensive discussion of
informationally redundant affirmation.)
(63) a. Only Muriel voted for Hubert, but {she did/#nobody else did).
b. Muriel and only Muriel voted for Herbert, but {#she did/#nobody else
did).