Continuity’ within Three Scalar Models: The Polysemy of Adverbial still

This study represents an elaboration and revision of Konig's (1977) account of the synchronic interrelations among three senses of the English adverbial still. These senses at issue are those in which still serves as a marker of a state's continuation to a temporal reference point, as a concessive particle, and as an indicator of marginal membership within a graded category. I argue here that the three semantically and grammatically distinct senses can be reconciled by the modern speaker: the lexeme still has an abstract meaning compatible with three types of scalar models. In each of these models, still denotes the existence of effectively identical elements at two contiguous scalar loci. Still-bearing sentences code the existence of an element at the more advanced of these loci, licensing the inference (via lexical presupposition or scalar entailment) that a like element can be found at (at least) one scalar point located closer to the origin of the scale. The three scalar models are ontologically distinct: the scalar loci in question may be time points, worlds, or simply rankings within a property scale. The elements ordered may be eventualities or entities. With respect to its role in discourse, still functions as a scalar operator in the sense of Kay (1990): it serves to relate two propositions within a scalar model. The sense network described here, if it can be regarded as a plausible speaker generalization, provides evidence for the existence of an abstract conception of persistence, i.e. one not restricted to the temporal domain. Persistence can be defined for scales and via scalar inference in general