Abstract The meaning of a wide variety of natural language expressions can be stated in terms of degrees on scales. This paper provides an overview of the contribution of scales to linguistic meaning. I discuss the ontology of scales, survey the role of scalarity within and across languages, and summarize recent research into the linguistically relevant features of scales, organizing these findings into a preliminary framework for a comprehensive model of scale structure. The relation between the scales underlying the interpretation of gradable expressions and those involved in the calculation of scalar implicatures – so‐called Horn scales – is also briefly discussed.
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