Exhaustivity in the pen33-Cleft in Thai: A formal semantics account
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Abstract
This paper addresses exhaustivity derived through the pen33-cleft construction in Thai. Based on a formal semantic account, the paper is aimed at analysing the meaning and nature of exhaustivity observed in this particular construction. The analyses show that exhaustivity in the pen33-cleft is not truth-conditional. Moreover, applying Büring and Križ’s (2013) parthood relation approach, the paper proposes that the exhaustive meaning in pen33-cleft suggests that the clefted argument is not a proper part of the sum of the arguments that share the property as determined in the cleft clause.
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