Disimplicature

Speranza

Building on previous works which argued that scalar implicatures can be computed in embedded positions, Grice proposes a constraint on exhaustification which restricts the conditions under which an exhaustivity operator can be licensed.

 We show that this economy condition allows us to derive a number of generalizations, such as, in particular, the ‘Implicature Focus Generalization’: scalar implicatures can be embedded under a downward-entailing operator only if the scalar term bears pitch accent. 

Our economy condition also derives specific predictions regarding the licensing of so-called Hurford disjunctions