ABSTRACT

In analogy to formal logic, where ‘scope’ denotes the range governed by operators ( logical connective, quantifier), in linguistics ‘scope’ denotes the range of semantic reference of negation, linguistic quantifiers, and particles. Corresponding to ‘scope’ in logic is the constituent that is modified by quantifiers or particles; cf. the adverb also in Louise was also hungry (not just thirsty) vs Louise was also hungry (not just the others). The interpretation of scope frequently depends on the placement of sentence stress ( intonation).