In this paper we propose a semantic description of Italian già “already” based on a set of characteristic temporal and non temporal uses of this ‘temporal’ adverb. The main idea is that the core semantic value of già is of a more abstract nature – not simply temporal – as usually assumed; and thus that there is no straightforward derivation of the non temporal, for instance scalar, values from the temporal “sooner as expected” values. Specifically, it will be argued that the central semantic component has to be identified as one of ‘counter expectation’: with già the speaker sets himself against an explicit o implicit belief to reject it. The mechanism at play should be of a ‘scalar’ kind, in the sense that the entity (individual or proposition) in the scope of già is located psychologically in close proximity, on a virtual scale, to the last entity that makes the assertion false.
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