Discourse only: Cross-Linguistic Data @cite{ippolito-kiss-williams-2025}

Theory-neutral empirical data on discourse only — a clausal connective that conjoins two propositions while signaling that the second undermines the evidential direction of the first.

Cross-linguistic forms

Language	Form	Example
Italian	solo che	§7 ex. 29a, 33
Russian	tol'ko	§7 ex. 29b, 30
Hungarian	csak	§7 ex. 29c, 31
Mandarin	zhǐshì	§7 ex. 29d, 32
English	only	§1 ex. 2

Key Distributional Generalizations

1. The left argument S cannot be a canonical info-seeking interrogative (§5.2); declaratives, imperatives, exclamatives, and biased/rhetorical questions are all attested as S
2. The prejacent S' varies cross-linguistically: Russian and Hungarian allow all types; Mandarin blocks exclamatives; Italian restricts S' to declaratives only (§7)
3. S and S' must be relevant to the same QUD
4. S must support some answer α that S' fails to support

§7 Clause-Type Matrix (Table equivalent)

The paper's main typological result: clause-type restrictions on S' vary cross-linguistically. Italian solo che restricts S' to declaratives only. Russian tol'ko and Hungarian csak allow all clause types as S'. Mandarin zhǐshì allows all types except exclamatives.

inductive Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.ClauseType : Type

Clause types relevant to discourse only's distributional restrictions.

Fine-grained enough to capture the key contrasts in IKW §5.2 and §7:

• Canonical info-seeking questions fail the doxastic condition (DOX_sp ⊄ q)
• Biased/rhetorical questions satisfy it (DOX_sp ⊆ q for some q)
• High-negation polar questions pattern with biased questions

• declarative : ClauseType
• canonicalPolarQ : ClauseType
• highNegPolarQ : ClauseType
• canonicalWhQ : ClauseType
• negRhetoricalWhQ : ClauseType
• imperative : ClauseType
• exclamative : ClauseType

instance Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instDecidableEqClauseType : DecidableEq ClauseType

Equations

• Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instDecidableEqClauseType x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

instance Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprClauseType : Repr ClauseType

Equations

• Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprClauseType = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprClauseType.repr }

def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprClauseType.repr : ClauseType → Nat → Std.Format

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instBEqClauseType.beq : ClauseType → ClauseType → Bool

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• Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instBEqClauseType.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)

instance Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instBEqClauseType : BEq ClauseType

Equations

• Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instBEqClauseType = { beq := Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instBEqClauseType.beq }

inductive Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.ArgPosition : Type

Position of the clause in the discourse only construction.

• left : ArgPosition
• right : ArgPosition

instance Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instDecidableEqArgPosition : DecidableEq ArgPosition

Equations

• Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instDecidableEqArgPosition x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

instance Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprArgPosition : Repr ArgPosition

Equations

• Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprArgPosition = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprArgPosition.repr }

def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprArgPosition.repr : ArgPosition → Nat → Std.Format

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instBEqArgPosition.beq : ArgPosition → ArgPosition → Bool

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• Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instBEqArgPosition.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)

instance Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instBEqArgPosition : BEq ArgPosition

Equations

• Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instBEqArgPosition = { beq := Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instBEqArgPosition.beq }

structure Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.DiscourseOnlyDatum : Type

A discourse only datum with original language text and English glosses.

• language : String

  Language of the example

• form : String

  Surface form of the discourse only particle

• sClause : String

  The left clausal argument S (original language text)

• sPrimeClause : String

  The right clausal argument S' (original language text)

• sGloss : String

  English gloss of S (empty for English examples)

• sPrimeGloss : String

  English gloss of S' (empty for English examples)

• qud : String

  The QUD addressed (informal description)

• felicitous : Bool

  Whether the sentence is felicitous in context

• source : String

  Source reference (section/example number)

• clauseType : Option ClauseType

  Clause type of the tested argument

• position : Option ArgPosition

  Which argument position is being tested

• notes : String

  Notes on distributional properties

def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprDiscourseOnlyDatum.repr : DiscourseOnlyDatum → Nat → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprDiscourseOnlyDatum : Repr DiscourseOnlyDatum

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• Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprDiscourseOnlyDatum = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.instReprDiscourseOnlyDatum.repr }

def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_house : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Italian (29a): "La casa è bella, solo che è costosissima"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_house : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Russian (29b): "Dom krasivyj, tol'ko ochen' dorogoj"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_house : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Hungarian (29c): "Szép ez a ház, csak nagyon drága"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_house : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Mandarin (29d): "Zhège fángzì hěn piàoliang, zhǐshì yǒudiǎr guì"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.english_house : DiscourseOnlyDatum

English (2): "The house is beautiful, only it's too expensive"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_polarQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Russian (30a): "Dom krasivyj, tol'ko byl li on otremontirovan?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_highNegQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Russian (30b): "Dom krasivyj, tol'ko ne bylo li tam problemy s kryshoj?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_whQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Russian (30c): "Dom krasivyj, tol'ko kogda on byl otremontirovan?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_negRhetWhQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Russian (30d): "Dom krasivyj, tol'ko kto za nego zaplatit dva milliona?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_imperative : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Russian (30e): "Voz'mi moj proezdnoj na metro, tol'ko ne poterjaj ego"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_exclamative : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Russian (30f): "Kakoj krasivyj dom! Tol'ko vot rajon uzhasnyj!"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_polarQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Hungarian (31a): "Szép ez a ház, csak fel van újítva?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_highNegQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Hungarian (31b): "Szép ez a ház, csak nem ezt adták el az előbb?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_whQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Hungarian (31c): "Szép ez a ház, csak mikor lett felújítva?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_negRhetWhQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Hungarian (31d): "Szép ez a ház, csak ki fizetne érte 2 milliót?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_imperative : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Hungarian (31e): "Vidd el a bérletem, csak ne hagyd el!"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_exclamative : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Hungarian (31f): "Milyen szép ház! Csak micsoda környék!"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_polarQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Mandarin (32a): "Zhège fángzì hěn piàoliang, zhǐshì zhuāngxīu le ma?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_highNegQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Mandarin (32b): "Zhège fángzì hěn piàoliang, zhǐshì tā bú shì diànlì xìtǒng chū le wèntí ma?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_whQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Mandarin (32c): "Zhège fángzì hěn piàoliang, zhǐshì tā shénme shíhou zhuāngxīu de?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_negRhetWhQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Mandarin (32d): "Zhège fángzì hěn piàoliang, zhǐshì shéi huì fù liǎngbǎiwàn mǎi ne?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_imperative : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Mandarin (32e): "Yòng wǒ de jiāotōngkǎ ba, zhǐshì bié diū le"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_exclamative : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Mandarin (32f): "Duōme piàoliang de fángzi a! #Zhǐshì nàme chà de shèqū huánjìng!"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_s'_declarative : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Italian (33a): "La casa è bella, solo che è costosissima"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_s'_polarQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Italian (33b): "La casa è bella, solo che *è stata ristrutturata?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_s'_whQ : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Italian (33c): "La casa è bella, solo che *quando è stata ristrutturata?"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_s'_imperative : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Italian (33d): "La casa è bella, solo che *non comprarla adesso"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_s'_exclamative : DiscourseOnlyDatum

Italian (33e): "La casa è bella, solo che *che vicini!"

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.coreExamples : List DiscourseOnlyDatum

Core discourse only examples from §7 ex. 29 + §1 ex. 2.

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.clauseTypeData : List DiscourseOnlyDatum

§7 clause-type variation data: S' restrictions.

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def Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.allDiscourseOnlyData : List DiscourseOnlyDatum

All discourse only data from @cite{ippolito-kiss-williams-2025}.

Equations

• Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.allDiscourseOnlyData = Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.coreExamples ++ Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.clauseTypeData

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_house_felicitous : italian_house.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_house_felicitous : russian_house.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_house_felicitous : hungarian_house.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_house_felicitous : mandarin_house.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.english_house_felicitous : english_house.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_polarQ_ok : russian_s'_polarQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_highNegQ_ok : russian_s'_highNegQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_whQ_ok : russian_s'_whQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_negRhetWhQ_ok : russian_s'_negRhetWhQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_imperative_ok : russian_s'_imperative.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.russian_s'_exclamative_ok : russian_s'_exclamative.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_polarQ_ok : hungarian_s'_polarQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_highNegQ_ok : hungarian_s'_highNegQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_whQ_ok : hungarian_s'_whQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_negRhetWhQ_ok : hungarian_s'_negRhetWhQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_imperative_ok : hungarian_s'_imperative.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.hungarian_s'_exclamative_ok : hungarian_s'_exclamative.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_polarQ_ok : mandarin_s'_polarQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_highNegQ_ok : mandarin_s'_highNegQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_whQ_ok : mandarin_s'_whQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_negRhetWhQ_ok : mandarin_s'_negRhetWhQ.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_imperative_ok : mandarin_s'_imperative.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_s'_exclamative_bad : mandarin_s'_exclamative.felicitous = false

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_s'_declarative_ok : italian_s'_declarative.felicitous = true

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_s'_polarQ_bad : italian_s'_polarQ.felicitous = false

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_s'_whQ_bad : italian_s'_whQ.felicitous = false

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_s'_imperative_bad : italian_s'_imperative.felicitous = false

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_s'_exclamative_bad : italian_s'_exclamative.felicitous = false

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.whQ_s'_allowed_except_italian : russian_s'_whQ.felicitous = true ∧ hungarian_s'_whQ.felicitous = true ∧ mandarin_s'_whQ.felicitous = true ∧ italian_s'_whQ.felicitous = false

Canonical wh-Q as S' is allowed in Russian, Hungarian, and Mandarin. The restriction on canonical info-seeking questions (§5.2) applies to the LEFT argument S, not the prejacent S'. Only Italian blocks wh-Q as S', but Italian blocks ALL non-declarative S'.

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.negRhetWhQ_s'_allowed_where_nonDecl_ok : russian_s'_negRhetWhQ.felicitous = true ∧ hungarian_s'_negRhetWhQ.felicitous = true ∧ mandarin_s'_negRhetWhQ.felicitous = true

Negative rhetorical wh-Q as S' is allowed in all languages that allow non-declarative S'. The doxastic condition explains this: the speaker believes the answer to a rhetorical question (DOX_sp ⊆ q).

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.italian_s'_only_declarative : italian_s'_declarative.felicitous = true ∧ italian_s'_polarQ.felicitous = false ∧ italian_s'_whQ.felicitous = false ∧ italian_s'_imperative.felicitous = false ∧ italian_s'_exclamative.felicitous = false

Italian solo che restricts S' to declaratives — the most restrictive pattern in the sample.

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.mandarin_blocks_exclamative_s' : mandarin_s'_exclamative.felicitous = false ∧ russian_s'_exclamative.felicitous = true ∧ hungarian_s'_exclamative.felicitous = true

Mandarin zhǐshì uniquely blocks exclamative S' among the languages that otherwise allow non-declarative S'.

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.core_count : coreExamples.length = 5

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.clauseType_count : clauseTypeData.length = 23

theorem Phenomena.Focus.DiscourseOnly.total_count : allDiscourseOnlyData.length = 28