Punctual Until as a Scalar NPI

Abstract

Until-phrases are polarity sensitive when construed with telic event descriptions and polarity insensitive when construed with atelic event descriptions. They are interpreted like temporal frame adverbials in the former case and durative adverbials in the latter case. In addition, until is often referred to as “punctual until” in the former case and “durative until” in the latter case. The punctual and durative readings of until have been attributed to either lexical ambiguity or scopal ambiguity. This chapter examines lexical ambiguity and its implications for the interpretation of negation, and discusses the semantics of punctual until. It incorporates scalarity into the meaning of punctual until and considers negative polarity items as opposed to positive polarity items.

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