Partikulas pat un tikai: elementa vieta grupā un gaidu skala
Particles pat ‘even’ and tikai ‘only’: the place of element in the group and the scale of expectations

Summary/Abstract: Particle pat ‘even’ is described as a strengthening particle, whereas tikai ‘only’ – as a restriction particle in Latvian grammars and dictionaries. So, they are considered as words having opposite meaning. This kind of description of meanings is quite vague and asks for a deeper look in semantics of particles. Words corresponding to the meaning and functions of Latvian pat and tikai – like even and only, and others have been an object of different kind of research in semantics, pragmatics and language philosophy all over the world during many decades. There is an analysis of pat and tikai performed in this paper using linguistic experiment and negation test – particles are inserted in utterance Jānis vakar atnāca pie Kārļa. ‘Jānis yesterday came to Kārlis’ house.’ both in affirmative and negative form of utterance. The meanings are stated in connection with the place of element in the group of similar elements, and also, in connection with the fulfillment of expectations in real life. Several meanings of pat and tikai differ according to the affirmative or negative – partial or complete – form of the utterance. A conclusion is drawn that independently from affirmative or negative form of an utterance pat and tikai convey opposite meanings in connection with the place of element in its group. In connection with the fulfillment of expectations in reality, the meaning of pat and tikai not only depends from the affirmative and negative form but we need to also consider the aspect of scalarity – different positions on the scale of expectations.

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