Comparative Quantifiers and Negation: Implications for Scope Economy

I examine the scopal interactions between comparative quantifier phrases (CQPs) and negation and argue, based on the complex pattern of interactions observed, that negation must be subject to operative constraints on scope shifting, contra a suggestion of Takahashi (2006). I adopt Mayr and Spector's (2012) Generalized Scope Economy Condition (GSEC) and combine it with a decompositional analysis of CQPs (Hackl 2000; Takahashi 2006), showing that the decompositional analysis is empirically and conceptually preferable to the generalized quantifier treatment Mayr and Spector assume. I further propose that the GSEC's ban on scope shifts in which the output configuration entails the input configuration be limited to cases in which the entailment is non-vacuous (in a sense to be defined). The result is an analysis in which the interactions between CQPs and negation are accounted for solely in terms of more general principles and constraints on scope shifting.