Title: Epistemic Modal-fiers: The Case of Even Though

The concessive subordinator even though displays several properties of epistemic modals. In particular, these clauses obey the Epistemic Containment Principle (ECP) (von Fintel and Iatridou 2003), which states that quantifiers can never take scope over an epistemic modal. In this talk, I will walk through some evidence that even though clauses attach high up in the periphery, possibly at the so-called EpisP projection. This lends support to the view that the ECP is a syntactic, as opposed to semantic, effect. I will also present a new semantics for even though-clauses as modifiers of epistemic modals operating on the modal ordering source. This may explain certain asymmetries like the following:

i. Even though it's raining, Mary went for a walk.
ii. #Even though Mary went for a walk, it's raining.