[PLing] Jezik & Linguistic colloquium series: Mojmir Dočekal, May 13 @ 12pm

[Jezik&Linguistics Colloquia]

Dear all,

*The Doctoral Study Programme "Cognitive Science of Language" at the
University of Nova Gorica* would like to invite you to the next Jezik &
Linguistics Colloquium, to be held on Wednesday, *13 May, at 12:00 CET*, in
classroom P7 in the Kompas building in Rožna dolina. You can also join via
Zoom
<https://ungsi.zoom.us/j/63430843202?pwd=ajrebp2OBVCZGdRIxFz8PILwd3uOgI.1>.

*Mojmír Dočekal *(Masaryk University, Brno) will be presenting a talk
titled "*From NPI Licensing to Concessive Semantics: Czech Scalar Particles
in Conditional Contexts*".

*Abstract:*

This talk investigates how Czech scalar particles distribute across
conditional types, focusing on NPI minimizers (e.g., “the slightest”) and
high-end scalar particles (e.g., “the highest”). A corpus study (random
sample of 500 sentences from csTenTen23) annotated for conditional type and
particle type shows a robust pattern: minimizers strongly prefer indicative
and
subjunctive/counterfactual conditionals, while high-end particles strongly
prefer *even if *conditionals. Conditional inference trees identify
conditional type as the key predictor (with high classification
performance), and logistic modeling reportedly converges on the same
conclusion.

The theoretical discussion starts from standard Stalnaker/Lewis-style
semantics and Barker’s scope-based account of NPI licensing, which predicts
that NPIs should be licit in all non-monotonic conditionals.  While this
helps explain why minimizers can appear in indicatives and counterfactuals,
it does not explain their dispreference in *even if *conditionals or the
strong preference for high-end scalar particles. To capture that asymmetry,
the talk adds a pragmatic-scalar layer (Crnič; Dočekal & Juren) and argues
that concessive *even if* structures are best modeled with an inherent
asymmetry between *$p$* and *$\neg p$* (Crupi & Iacona 2022): maximal
endpoints (high-end scalar particles) create the strongest contrast with
stereotypical expectations and therefore fit concessive meaning better than
minimizers.


We hope to see you there!

Best,

Artem Novozhilov, on behalf of the Doctoral Study Programme "Cognitive
Science of Language"- University of Nova Gorica
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