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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">Dear linguists,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">I’m interested in cases where a restricting focus adverbial such as ‘only’/’just’ can mark the rectification of X (e.g.,
<i>green</i>)<i> </i>to Y (e.g., <i>yellow)</i>, as in: <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">It’s not green
<b>but</b> yellow.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">Uttering [<i>Not</i> X
<i>but</i>/<i>sondern</i> Y], the speaker first rejects some option X (hence the obligatory negation in the first conjunct), in order to then replace X by a different alternative Y. Note that I’m looking for a single holistic construction:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">It’s not green only yellow.
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">and not:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">It’s not green<b>.</b> Only yellow.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">Also, the rectifying phrase does not have to be a lower scalar value, as in:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">She’s not a
<b>judge</b> only a <b>lawyer</b></span></i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">It should also be acceptable to say:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">She’s not a
<b>lawyer </b>only a <b>judge</b></span></i><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">It’s enough for me if the ‘but (rather’) expression is etymologically related to an ‘only’ expression (this is the case for Hebrew
<i>ela</i>). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">Thanks,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41">Mira Ariel<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;color:#0A2F41"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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