'So' as a weak degree expression

Authors

  • Elena Castroviejo-Miro CCHS-CSIC

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3765/salt.v21i0.2624

Keywords:

so, enough, gradability, modality, anaphora, familiarity, focus

Abstract

This paper aims to answer three questions about the degree expression 'so' in English: (i) what semantics does it contribute? (I.e., in what ways is 'so' different from 'enough'?) (ii) how can we explain its restricted distribution? And (iii) how does the that-clause compose with 'so'? I point out that equating 'enough' and 'so' (as has been done in the literature) is problematic, and I propose that a new approach that establishes an analogy between"so" and weak pronouns can yield satisfactory answers to questions (i)--(iii). In a nutshell, I argue that there are two 'so's: a strong (deictic) one and a weak (anaphoric) one. I concentrate on weak 'so' and show that its limited distribution has to do with the informational properties of weak items more generally. I further claim that its accompanying that-clause is not a complement of 'so', but rather an adjoined sentence that provides a bona fide focus to the sentence.

Downloads

Published

2011-09-03

Issue

Section

Articles