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Relations of Inclusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Steven B. Smith
Steven B. Smith*
Affiliation:
University of California, Riverside
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Abstract

Otto Jespersen 1917 pointed out that the normal meaning of the negation of a quantitative term Q is ‘less than Q’. This fact is shown to stem from the possibility of interpreting Q as ‘at least Q’ in some non-negative environments. The analysis is extended beyond quantifiers per se to other terms involved in inclusion relations, and it is shown that such relations play a role in determining the acceptability of various grammatical constructions.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , June 1972 , pp. 276 - 284
Copyright
Linguistic Society of America 1972

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References

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