TY - JOUR AU - Berends, Matthew AU - Kaufmann, Stefan PY - 2019/07/19 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - 'Only' and Monotonicity in Conditionals JF - Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung JA - SuB VL - 13 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.18148/sub/2009.v13i1.498 UR - https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/sub/index.php/sub/article/view/498 SP - 63-76 AB - <p>This paper proposes an account of the interpretation of ‘<em>only</em>’ in the antecedents of indicative conditionals. Our concern lies with the implication from a conditional of the form if (only ?), ? to its ‘<em>only</em>’ -less counterpart if ?, ?: when and why it is warranted. We argue that the pragmatic relationship of <em>scalar upward monotonicity</em> determines its availability. Two factors serve as license. First, it may arise by virtue of a language user’s pre-existing world knowledge. Second, it may manifest when it constitutes the most informative reading of the conditional available. We discuss one case in point; namely, its appearance when the consequent is desirable.</p> ER -