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Negating gradable adjectives

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Abstract

In this short paper, I analyze the syntax and semantics of the prefix un- with gradable adjectives like unhappy and compare it to the syntax and semantics of not. Within the framework of Collins and Postal (2014), I propose that un- and not have the same semantics but negate different constituents, accounting for the differences in interpretation.

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Acknowledgements

I thank the editor and two reviewers for useful feedback on an earlier version of this paper. I also thank Paul Postal and Larry Horn for many relevant discussions about negation over the last decade.

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  1. Department of Linguistics, NYU, 10 Washington Place, New York, NY, 10003, USA

    Chris Collins

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  1. Chris Collins
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Correspondence to Chris Collins.

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Collins, C. Negating gradable adjectives. Nat Lang Semantics 31, 121–137 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-023-09204-1

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