{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/84414"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/84414","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"'Only' and association with negative antonyms","abstract":"A problem is detected in how only, traditionally viewed, associates with Negative Quantifiers (NQs) like few, [at most n], and [less than n]. The predicted meanings, which negate the stronger alternatives of the relevant NQs, is shown to be incorrect. The attested meanings are shown to be truth-conditionally equivalent to the result of removing only, hence giving the illusion that only is vacuous. It is further observed that, given an NQ, sentences where only appears to be vacuous become ungrammatical when the NQ is replaced with its positive counterpart. I argue for a view that relates the two phenomena: the ungrammaticality of the only-positive cases explains the unavailability of the predicted meanings in only-negative cases. The attested readings for the negatives, where only appears to be vacuous, is derived from LFs that feature a silent existential quantifier above the NQ. Thesis supervisor:","abstract_html":"A problem is detected in how only, traditionally viewed, associates with Negative Quantifiers (NQs) like few, [at most n], and [less than n]. The predicted meanings, which negate the stronger alternatives of the relevant NQs, is shown to be incorrect. The attested meanings are shown to be truth-conditionally equivalent to the result of removing only, hence giving the illusion that only is vacuous. It is further observed that, given an NQ, sentences where only appears to be vacuous become ungrammatical when the NQ is replaced with its positive counterpart. I argue for a view that relates the two phenomena: the ungrammaticality of the only-positive cases explains the unavailability of the predicted meanings in only-negative cases. The attested readings for the negatives, where only appears to be vacuous, is derived from LFs that feature a silent existential quantifier above the NQ. Thesis supervisor:","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Al Khatib, Sam (Samer)"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Irene Heim and Martin Hackl."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013","date_published":"2013","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:07Z","subjects":["Linguistics and Philosophy."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/84414","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Irene Heim and Martin Hackl."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Al Khatib, Sam (Samer)"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2014-01-23T18:42:39Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2014-01-23T18:42:39Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2013"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Linguistics and Philosophy."]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/84414"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis (Ph. D. in Linguistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2013.","Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. \"September 2013.\"","Includes bibliographical references (pages 138-144)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["A problem is detected in how only, traditionally viewed, associates with Negative Quantifiers (NQs) like few, [at most n], and [less than n]. The predicted meanings, which negate the stronger alternatives of the relevant NQs, is shown to be incorrect. The attested meanings are shown to be truth-conditionally equivalent to the result of removing only, hence giving the illusion that only is vacuous. It is further observed that, given an NQ, sentences where only appears to be vacuous become ungrammatical when the NQ is replaced with its positive counterpart. I argue for a view that relates the two phenomena: the ungrammaticality of the only-positive cases explains the unavailability of the predicted meanings in only-negative cases. The attested readings for the negatives, where only appears to be vacuous, is derived from LFs that feature a silent existential quantifier above the NQ. Thesis supervisor:"]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Ph.D.in Linguistics"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["'Only' and association with negative antonyms"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Irene Heim and Martin Hackl."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy."],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Linguistics and Philosophy."],"dc:creator":["Al Khatib, Sam (Samer)"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2014-01-23T18:42:39Z"],"dc:date.available":["2014-01-23T18:42:39Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2013"],"dc:description":["Thesis (Ph. D. in Linguistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2013.","Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. \"September 2013.\"","Includes bibliographical references (pages 138-144)."],"dc:description.abstract":["A problem is detected in how only, traditionally viewed, associates with Negative Quantifiers (NQs) like few, [at most n], and [less than n]. The predicted meanings, which negate the stronger alternatives of the relevant NQs, is shown to be incorrect. The attested meanings are shown to be truth-conditionally equivalent to the result of removing only, hence giving the illusion that only is vacuous. It is further observed that, given an NQ, sentences where only appears to be vacuous become ungrammatical when the NQ is replaced with its positive counterpart. I argue for a view that relates the two phenomena: the ungrammaticality of the only-positive cases explains the unavailability of the predicted meanings in only-negative cases. The attested readings for the negatives, where only appears to be vacuous, is derived from LFs that feature a silent existential quantifier above the NQ. Thesis supervisor:"],"dc:description.degree":["Ph.D.in Linguistics"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/84414"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Linguistics and Philosophy."],"dc:title":["'Only' and association with negative antonyms"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:07Z"}