I don't think your explanation is correct. There's only a small subset of English verbs that exhibit this behavior. For counter examples: if I were to say "I d

I don't think your explanation is correct. There's only a small subset of English verbs that exhibit this behavior. For counter examples: if I were to say "I don't drive fast", you would likely not interpret that as "I drive slowly"; if I say "I'm not rich", you wouldn't hear "I'm poor". Yet in all these classes, we must be using some resolution. So your explanation only begs the question of "why, then, do some kinds of statements get treated to higher resolution than others?".