A. Tan writes:
>I am interested in doing a study on the lexical
>items 'also' and 'too' from the perspective of
>relevance theory. I would be grateful
>if you could provide me with information on
>studies that have been carried out on these
>lexical items.
Well, there's the online: Krifka M. 'Additive particles under stress'.
Proceedings from Semantics & Linguistic Theory, 8. at
http://www.amor.rz.huberlin.de/~h2816i3x/ADDPART.pdf
quoting Green and J. Kaplan.
While focusing on German, Krifka discusses things like
1. Peter also invited Pia for dinner
+> Peter invited Pia for dinner and he invited someone else.
and writes: "Additive particles are so-called because they express that the
predication holds for at least one alternative of the expression in focus."
He goes on to consider:
2. It may be that Peter also invited Pia for dinner.
noting that what is presupposed in (1) is entailed in (2). The refs. to
Green and Kaplan have to do with contrasts like the grammatical (3)-(4) vs.
the odd (5):
3. Jo had fish and Mo had fish, too.
4. Jo had fish and Jo had soup, too.
5. *Jo had fish and Mo had soup, too.
Krifka is interested in 'too' qua a _post-posed_ additive. Interestingly,
this seems to have been a hot topic in English usage (circa 1913). Thus
http://www.bartleby.com/61/59/T0265900.html
has:
"too": "also". "He's coming along too."
USAGE: "Too" meaning "also" is sometimes
used to introduce a sentence:
"There has been a cutback in federal subsidies.
Too, rates have been increasing."
There is nothing grammatically wrong with
this usage, but some critics consider it awkward.
"Awkward but true", as Grice would have it. Similarly, the Webster Dict. of
English Usage, go on to quote a few 'pre-posed' "too"'s:
Too, the Dutch emerged from the oil
crisis with their heads high. NYT 22 Aug 1976
Too, it probably calls for the same kind
of gas as today's small cars. Christian Sc. 29 Apr 1980
Too, the agencies have increasingly pushed banks
into the market. Wall St. J. ll July 1983
Too, there's a certain magic surrounding Gable.
Sports Ill. 18 July 1984
and write: [While 'also' is more common in such a context] _too_ is not
incorrect. The OED indicated in 1913 that _too_ was 'rarely, now never,
used at the beginning of a clause', but the OED Supplement shows that such
usage has been revived in the 20th century, originally in American English".
Refs:
Green, G. On "too" & "either", & not just "too" & "either", either.
Chicago Linguistics Society, vol. 4.
Kaplan, J. Obligatory "too" in English. Language, vol. 60.
Kripka, M. Additive particles under stress.
Proceedings from Semantics & Linguistic Theory, 8.
Online at
http://www.amor.rz.huberlin.de/~h2816i3x/ADDPART.pdf
Cheers
JL
==
J L Speranza, Esq
Country Town
St Michael's Hall Suite 5/8
Calle 58, No 611 Calle Arenales 2021
La Plata CP 1900 Recoleta CP 1124
Tel 00541148241050 Tel 00542214257817
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina
Telefax 00542214259205
http://www.netverk.com.ar/~jls/
jls@netverk.com.ar
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