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Linglib.Theories.Pragmatics.NeoGricean.Exhaustivity.Chierchia2004

A strengthened meaning pairs a plain denotation with its strengthened version and the alternatives used to compute the strengthening.

This is the central data structure: every propositional node in a derivation carries both ‖α‖ (plain) and ‖α‖^S (strong).

  • plain : Prop' World

    ‖α‖ — the plain semantic value

  • strong : Prop' World

    ‖α‖^S — the strengthened semantic value

  • alternatives : Set (Prop' World)

    The scalar alternatives considered

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    Lift a plain meaning to a trivially strengthened one (‖α‖^S = ‖α‖).

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      def NeoGricean.Exhaustivity.Chierchia2004.scaleAxiomsSatisfied {World : Type u_1} (activated : Set (Prop' World)) (utt : Prop' World) :

      Chierchia's scale axioms (99a–c) as a predicate: (a) Context activates at least 2 members of the scale (b) The uttered term is a member of the activated scale (c) The uttered term is not the strongest activated member

      "Strictly stronger" means: a ⊆ₚ utt (a entails utt, true in fewer worlds) but not utt ⊆ₚ a (utt does not entail a).

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        The Strength Condition (82): ‖α‖^S must entail ‖α‖.

        If this fails, the strengthened meaning is discarded and we fall back to the plain meaning. This prevents over-generation of implicatures.

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          Apply the strength condition: keep strengthened meaning if it entails plain; otherwise fall back to plain. Uses a Boolean flag for decidability.

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            def NeoGricean.Exhaustivity.Chierchia2004.krifkaRule {World : Type u_1} (φ : Prop' World) (ALT : Set (Prop' World)) :

            Krifka's Rule (cf. (81)): At a scope site, introduce a direct implicature by conjoining the plain meaning with the negation of each strictly stronger alternative.

            ‖S‖^S = ‖S‖ ∧ ⋀{¬‖alt‖ : alt ∈ ALT, alt strictly stronger than ‖S‖}

            "Strictly stronger" = a ⊆ₚ φ ∧ ¬(φ ⊆ₚ a): the alternative entails the uttered meaning but not vice versa (true in strictly fewer worlds).

            This is the source of DIRECT implicatures.

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              Direct implicatures satisfy the strength condition: ‖S‖ ∧ ¬(stronger alts) entails ‖S‖.

              def NeoGricean.Exhaustivity.Chierchia2004.IsDE {World : Type u_1} (f : Prop' WorldProp' World) :

              A context function is downward-entailing (DE) over Prop' World.

              f is DE iff: φ ⊆ₚ ψ → f(ψ) ⊆ₚ f(φ).

              This reverses entailment: strengthening the argument weakens the result.

              Note: This is the World → Prop version, paralleling IsDownwardEntailing (Antitone) from Semantics.Entailment.Polarity which uses World → Bool.

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                def NeoGricean.Exhaustivity.Chierchia2004.strongApply {World : Type u_1} (f fS : Prop' WorldProp' World) (g : StrengthenedMeaning World) (fIsDE : Bool) :

                Strong Application (84): DE-sensitive function application.

                This is the formal heart of @cite{chierchia-2004}.

                Non-DE case (UE contexts): Pass strengthened meanings through. ‖[f g]‖^S = f^S(g^S)

                DE case: Strip implicatures from the argument (use plain meaning), then add INDIRECT implicatures from the alternatives. ‖[f g]‖^S = f^S(g) ∧ₚ ⋀{∼(f(alt)) : alt ∈ g.alternatives, f(alt) not entailed}

                The key insight: in DE contexts, direct SIs of the argument are blocked because strengthening the argument would WEAKEN the result. But indirect implicatures arise at the matrix level from the alternatives.

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                  Classification of implicatures by their source.

                  • direct : ImplicatureType

                    Direct: from Krifka's Rule at a scope site (UE contexts)

                  • indirect : ImplicatureType

                    Indirect: from Strong Application through a DE function

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                      In UE contexts, scalar items generate DIRECT implicatures. In DE contexts, the direct implicature is blocked, but the DE operator may generate INDIRECT implicatures at the matrix level.

                      Example:

                      • UE: "John ate some cookies" → direct: ¬all (from Krifka's Rule)
                      • DE: "John didn't eat some cookies" → direct ¬all blocked; indirect: ¬(¬all) = all may arise at matrix
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                        theorem NeoGricean.Exhaustivity.Chierchia2004.si_npi_generalization {World : Type u_1} (f : Prop' WorldProp' World) (hDE : IsDE f) (g : StrengthenedMeaning World) (hStrength : g.strong ⊆ₚ g.plain) :

                        The SI-NPI Generalization (@cite{chierchia-2004}, (53)):

                        Scalar implicatures are systematically SUSPENDED in the same environments that LICENSE negative polarity items (NPIs).

                        Formally: If f is DE, then direct scalar implicatures of its argument are blocked. The strengthened argument g^S entails g (by the strength condition), so DE reverses this: f(g) ⊆ₚ f(g^S). Using the strengthened argument would WEAKEN the matrix meaning, violating the strength condition at that level.

                        This is exactly the DE property that licenses NPIs: DE contexts are precisely where scalar strengthening is blocked.

                        theorem NeoGricean.Exhaustivity.Chierchia2004.de_blocks_direct_si {World : Type u_1} (f : Prop' WorldProp' World) (hDE : IsDE f) (φ : Prop' World) (ALT : Set (Prop' World)) :
                        have strengthened := (krifkaRule φ ALT).strong; f φ ⊆ₚ f strengthened

                        Corollary: Under a DE function, applying f to the Krifka-strengthened argument is WEAKER than applying f to the plain argument.

                        def NeoGricean.Exhaustivity.Chierchia2004.domainExhaustify {World : Type u_1} (assertion : Prop' World) (subdomainAlts : Set (Prop' World)) :
                        Prop' World

                        Chierchia's O operator (cf. (127)): exhaustification over domain alternatives.

                        For an indefinite with domain D, the O operator provides universal closure over the domain — the NPI "widens" the domain to the maximal set, and O yields the strengthened meaning.

                        O_D(∃x∈D. P(x)) = ∃x∈D. P(x) ∧ ∀D'⊂D. ¬(∃x∈D'. P(x) ∧ ∀y∈D\D'. ¬P(y))

                        Simplified: the assertion holds AND no subdomain alternative holds.

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                          def NeoGricean.Exhaustivity.Chierchia2004.npiStrengtheningSucceeds {World : Type u_1} (exhaustified competitor : Prop' World) :

                          NPI strengthening succeeds when the exhaustified meaning entails the plain meaning of the non-widened competitor.

                          (127): ‖any NP‖^S = O_D(∃x∈D.P(x)) must be stronger than ∃x∈D₀.P(x) where D₀ is the default (non-widened) domain.

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                            theorem NeoGricean.Exhaustivity.Chierchia2004.npi_blocked_under_de {World : Type u_1} (f : Prop' WorldProp' World) (hDE : IsDE f) (widened competitor : Prop' World) (hStronger : widened ⊆ₚ competitor) :
                            f competitor ⊆ₚ f widened

                            NPI strengthening is BLOCKED when embedding under a DE function, because the DE function reverses the strengthening relationship.

                            This connects NPIs to scalar implicatures: both involve DE-ness, but for NPIs, the blocking is what makes them grammatical in DE contexts (they don't need to strengthen, so domain widening is "free").

                            Intervention occurs when a strong scalar item (every, and, numerals) sits between an NPI licensor and the NPI.

                            The strong item generates an INDIRECT implicature that conflicts with the NPI's domain-widening requirement.

                            Weak items (some, or) do not intervene because they don't generate indirect implicatures that conflict.

                            • strong : ScalarStrength

                              Strong: top of scale (every, and, all numerals > 1). Generates indirect implicatures that can interfere with NPI licensing.

                            • weak : ScalarStrength

                              Weak: bottom of scale (some, or). No interfering indirect implicatures.

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                                Whether a scalar item of given strength intervenes in NPI licensing.

                                Strong scalars generate indirect implicatures under DE operators; these indirect implicatures can block NPI strengthening. Weak scalars don't generate interfering implicatures.

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                                  theorem NeoGricean.Exhaustivity.Chierchia2004.root_ue_bridge {World : Type u_1} (φ : Prop' World) (ALT : Set (Prop' World)) (hMC : ∃ (E : Set (Prop' World)), isMCSet ALT φ E) (hFlat : aALT, isInnocentlyExcludable ALT φ a → (a ⊆ₚ φ) ¬φ ⊆ₚ a) (w : World) :
                                  (krifkaRule φ ALT).strong wexhIE ALT φ w

                                  At a root-level scope site in a UE context, Chierchia's parallel strengthening entails Fox's exhIE.

                                  Krifka's Rule produces: φ ∧ ⋀{¬alt : alt strictly stronger than φ} exhIE produces: φ ∧ ⋀{¬alt : alt innocently excludable}

                                  On "flat" (linearly ordered) scales, every innocently excludable alternative is strictly stronger, so Krifka's output negates a superset and thus entails exhIE. The hypothesis hFlat captures this: every IE alt is strictly stronger.

                                  Requires MC-set existence to decompose IE members into φ or ∼a forms.

                                  Strength relation for scalar licensing.

                                  @cite{krifka-1995a} and @cite{chierchia-2004} treat all NPIs as STRENGTHENING: the NPI makes the assertion stronger than its scalar alternatives, so under negation the negated NPI statement is informationally weaker (= more conservative), which is the hallmark of DE environments.

                                  @cite{schwab-2022} observes that ATTENUATING NPIs (like German "so recht") work in the opposite direction: they make the assertion WEAKER than alternatives. Under negation, the negated attenuating statement is actually STRONGER — which means attenuating NPIs should NOT produce illusion effects in non-DE environments (and empirically, they don't).

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                                      Unified scalar licensing parametrized by direction.

                                      For strengthening (= Krifka's ScalAssert): Assert φ and deny all strictly stronger alternatives. φ ∧ ⋀{¬alt : alt ∈ ALT, alt ⊂ φ}

                                      For attenuating (Schwab & Liu's condition): Assert φ and affirm the existence of a strictly stronger alternative. φ ∧ ⋁{alt : alt ∈ ALT, alt ⊂ φ} (Simplified: we record the required relationship, not the full licensing.)

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                                        Strengthening licensing satisfies the strength condition (inherits from krifkaRule).