Scope: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:06, 25 January 2023

A phrase's scope is the part of the sentence that that phrase's semantics apply to.

For example, the scope of a determiner that introduces a logical quantifier is the smallest clause it's in. This means that the interpretation of the quantification happens in that smallest clause, and not at the level of the entire sentence:

Shoe jí ꝡä kuq súq sía raı da.
means: “I allow you to say nothing.”
not: ❌ “There is nothing that I allow you to say.”

Here, the scope of sía is the clause “ꝡä kuq súq sía raı”.

Topic and scope

If we want to say the other thing, we have to lift sía out of the clause by clefting it to the main clause:

Sía raı nä shoe jí ꝡä kuq súq ráı da.
There is nothing that I allow you to say.

See Topic and focus in the refgram.

"Scoping over"

For two phrases X and Y, if the scope of X fully includes the scope of Y, then we say “X scopes over Y”.

This amounts to a claim about the order to apply their respective semantics in.

Scope creep

One common beginner mistake is to rephrase sentences involving using a serial verb, under the impression that the meaning stays the same:

Shoe jí ꝡä kuq súq sía raı da.
“I allow you to say nothing.”
→ 🤔 Shoe kuq jí súq sía raı da.
“I allow-to-say you nothing(?)”

However, the ꝡ clause that was limiting the scope of sía is now gone, which means that sía scopes over the whole sentence. The meaning of the sentence is thereby changed to “There is nothing that I allow you to say”.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{GammaNote}}
 A phrase's '''scope''' is the part of the sentence that that phrase's semantics apply to.
@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 <blockquote>
-{{t|Shỏe jí kûq súq <u>sıa</u> rảı da.}}<br>
+{{t|Shoe jí {{vy}}ä kuq súq <u>sía</u> raı da.}}<br>
 '''means:''' “I allow you to say <u>nothing</u>.”<br>
 '''not:''' ❌ “There is nothing that I allow you to say.”
 </blockquote>
-Here, the scope of {{t|sıa}} is the clause “{{t|kûq súq sıa raı}}”.
+Here, the scope of {{t|sía}} is the clause “{{t|{{vy}}ä kuq súq sía raı}}”.
 == Topic and scope ==
-If we want to say the other thing, we have to lift {{t|sıa}} out of the clause by placing it in the [[topic]] of the main clause:
+If we want to say the other thing, we have to lift {{t|sía}} out of the clause by [[clefting]] it to the main clause:
 <blockquote>
-{{t|<u>Sıa rảı bı,</u> shỏe jí kûq súq ráı da.}}<br>
+{{t|<u>Sía raı nä</u> shoe jí {{vy}}ä kuq súq ráı da.}}<br>
 <u>There is nothing that</u> I allow you to say.
 </blockquote>
@@ Line 28: / Line 28: @@
 This amounts to a claim about the ''order'' to apply their respective semantics in.
-For example: [[adverbial|high adverbials]] "scope over" the verb of the clause they're in. Thus, the sentence {{t|Dảı ní bũ da}} is interpreted as <math>\neg \text{possible}(\text{this})</math> “this isn't possible” rather than <math>\text{possible}(\neg \text{this})</math> “this is possibly false”.
+<!-- For example: [[adverbial|high adverbials]] "scope over" the verb of the clause they're in. Thus, the sentence {{t|Dảı ní bũ da}} is interpreted as <math>\neg \text{possible}(\text{this})</math> “this isn't possible” rather than <math>\text{possible}(\neg \text{this})</math> “this is possibly false”. -->
 == Scope creep ==
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 <blockquote>
-{{t|Shỏe jí kûq súq sıa rảı da.}}<br>
+{{t|Shoe jí {{vy}}ä kuq súq sía raı da.}}<br>
 “I allow you to say nothing.”<br>
-→ 🤔 {{t|<u>Shỏe kủq</u> jí súq sıa rảı da.}}<br>
+→ 🤔 {{t|<u>Shoe kuq</u> jí súq sía raı da.}}<br>
 “I allow-to-say you nothing(?)”
 </blockquote>
-However, the {{tone|5}} clause that was limiting the scope of {{t|sıa}} is now gone, which means that {{t|sıa}} scopes over the whole sentence. The meaning of the sentence is thereby changed to ''“There is nothing that I allow you to say”''.
+However, the {{t|{{vy}}}} clause that was limiting the scope of {{t|sía}} is now gone, which means that {{t|sía}} scopes over the whole sentence. The meaning of the sentence is thereby changed to ''“There is nothing that I allow you to say”''.