Nedum: ‘much less’ or ‘much more’?

Abstract Nedum (‘let alone’) is a connective scalar particle which indicates that the second act is entailed by the first one. Usually the first act contains a semantic, lexical or pragmatic negation; it can however also be used after an affirmative first act. In examining in which contexts nedum can be paraphrased ‘much more’ or ‘much less’, I distinguish four uses of nedum, depending on whether the first act has either a semantic or a lexical/pragmatic/no negation and on whether nedum introduces a phrase or a clause. Typically the first act is the more informative, the second or nedum-act the most relevant in the context. The speaker can make his point in the second act, which is all the more convincing as it is entailed by the first act. Nedum is composed of negating ne and the focus or scalar particle dum. Many scholars connect this with the illocutionary use of ne; but there are several problems with this approach. An alternative explanation of the origin of ne in nedum could be a negation, nedum originally meaning ‘surely not’ or ‘not yet’.