Definition: Polarity items denote endpoints on pragmatic scales.
They may be regarded as minimizers and maximizers.
The italicized expressions below are English negative polarity
items serving as focus adverbials (or connectives/ modifying
expressions which denote scalar endpoints).
E.g. She cannot stand Fred, much less his brother.Nobody
understands me, least of all my father.If you so much as lift a
finger, Ill scream.
Polarity items can be grouped into:Minimizers, which mark the
lower endpoints ofscales. They are expressions denoting
minimalquantity, extent, or degree.
Fred did not understand anything of what I said.Fred didnt
understand the least bit of what I said.Fred didnt understand even
one thing of what I said.Fred didnt understand one iota of what I
said.
*The statements above are all equivalent, yet there is
adifferent ranking of the amount of information.
Other expressions may also be used as polarity items with
quantificational force: a word, a thing, a penny:
John didnt say a word.John didnt hear a thing.John didnt pay a
penny.
2. Maximizers are expressionsconventionally denoting a maximal
degreeor quantity:
I wouldnt hurt her for the world.I cannot for the life of me
understand his motives.He wouldnt work there for all the tea in
China.The guy couldnt spell to save his life.
