Hello. I'm studying 'also'. Blakemore (1992) shows how 'also' is used to indicate parallel interpretation. This yields the contextual effect of strengthening. But what happens when 'also' occurs together with a discourse connective that indicates denial/contradiction? Here's an example taken from a news report on the acquisition of a bank by certain parties.
"Although the investment would give them control of Bank P, they would also have to deal with X which has large short-term debts."
I think that in this case, 'also' doesn't indicate parallel interpretation because if we omit 'also', we still get the same interpretation. Instead it brings to focus the second sentence. However, the effect of contradiction from 'although' remains applicable, i.e. the second sentence contradicts the first.
Does this mean that the discourse connective of contradiction, 'although' is 'stronger' than 'also' (in its function to indicate parallel interpretation)? Or is there still an indication of parallel interpretation by 'also' that I'm missing?
Does anyone have any views on this?
Thanks,
Angie
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