CAS LX 502 Semantics

1
CAS LX 502Semantics

• 10a. Presupposition
• 10.2

2
Presupposition

• Frege 1892
• Referring expressions (names, definite
  descriptions) carry the presupposition that they
  do in fact refer.
• For a sentence to have a truth value, its
  presupposition must hold.
• A presupposition of a sentence is also a
  presupposition of its negation.

3
Presupposition triggers

• Lexical triggers
• Definite noun phrases
• The student fell asleep.
• The student didnt fall asleep.
• Factive verbs
• Pat wanted to eat a sandwich.
• Tracy thought Pat ate a sandwich.
• Tracy realized Pat ate a sandwich.
• Pat regretted eating a sandwich.
• Pat liked eating a sandwich.
• Pat ate a sandwich.

4
Presupposition triggers

• Lexical triggers
• Change of state verbs
• Pat stopped eating a sandwich (at 2pm).
• Pat started eating a sandwich (at 2pm).
• Verbs of judgment
• Tracy blamed Pat for eating the sandwich.
• Tracy faults Pat for eating the sandwich.

5
Presupposition triggers

• Structural triggers
• Cleft constructions and focus
• It was Tracy that ate the sandwich.
• Tracy ate the sandwich.
• The sandwich was eaten.
• It was the sandwich that Tracy ate.
• What Tracy ate was the sandwich.
• Tracy ate the sandwich.
• Tracy ate something.
• Too, even
• Even Tracy ate a sandwich.
• Tracy ate a sandwich too.

6
Presupposition survival

• Families of sentences.
• The Queen of America is bald.
• The Queen of America isnt bald.
• Is the Queen of America bald?
• Perhaps the Queen of America is bald.
• If the Queen of America is bald, I will not wear
  a wig.
• Joan has stopped drinking wine for breakfast.
• Joan hasnt stopped drinking wine for breakfast.
• Has Joan stopped drinking wine for breakfast?
• Perhaps Joan has stopped drinking wine for
  breakfast.
• If Joan has stopped drinking wine for breakfast,
  I will celebrate.

7
Non-presupposition non-survival

• Families of sentences.
• Its cold in here.
• Its not cold in here.
• Is it cold in here?
• Perhaps its cold in here.
• If its cold in here, John loses the bet.
• Rocky is a squirrel.
• Rocky is not a squirrel.
• Is Rocky a squirrel?
• Perhaps Rocky is a squirrel.
• If Rocky is a squirrel, I will celebrate.

8
Non-presupposition survival

• Families of sentences.
• Pat, who bought something here, ate lunch.
• Pat, who bought something here, didnt eat lunch.
• Did Pat, who bought something here, eat lunch?
• Perhaps Pat, who bought something here, ate
  lunch.
• If Pat, who bought something here, ate lunch, I
  will not cook the spinach.
• What Pat bought here was a fork.
• What Pat bought here wasnt a fork.
• Was what Pat bought here a fork?
• Perhaps what Pat bought here was a fork.
• If what Pat bought here was a fork, I will
  celebrate.

9
So

• The families of sentences test can tell us when
  something is not a presupposition (a
  presupposition will always survive).
• Or will it?
• The Queen of America isnt baldthere is no Queen
  of America.

10
Metalinguistic negation, etc.

• Matt groaning isnt standing over there, Matt
  grayning is.
• He isnt adequate at painting eggshes fantastic
  at it.
• Objecting to the sentence, on various grounds
  (pronunciation, implicature, connotation,
  register, ).
• Usually comes with a special intonation.
• If the Queen of America just opened the window,
  America must have a Queen.

11
ps projection holes and plugs

• Joan has stopped drinking wine for breakfast.
• Joan previously drank wine for breakfast.
• Pat knows that Joan has stopped drinking wine for
  breakfast.
• Joan previously drank wine for breakfast.
• Pat believes that Joan has stopped drinking wine
  for breakfast.
• (No presupposition)
• PlugsDo not let presuppositions through
  (believe)
• HolesLet presuppositions through (know)

12
ps projection filters

• JOHN drinks too.
• JOHN drinks too and Mary doesnt like it.
• Bill is not present and JOHN drinks too.
• Somebody else drinks besides John.
• Bill drinks and JOHN drinks too.
• No constraint on the context?
• If JOHN drinks too, then the bottle will not last
  long.
• If the bottle is already empty, then JOHN drinks
  too.
• Somebody else drinks besides John.
• If Bill drinks, then JOHN drinks too.
• No constraint on the context?
• Generalization so far p?q and p?q inherit the
  presuppositions of both p and q except any pss of
  q entailed by p. Conjunctions and conditionals
  are filters (letting some pss through and others
  not).

13
ps projection filters refined

• If there is a depression, the president of GM
  will lose his job too.
• Someone besides the president of GM will lose
  his/her job?
• Well, no, not really. But why? There being a
  depression doesnt logically entail that someone
  loses his/her job.
• But the normal context is one in which it is
  assumed that when there is a depression, many
  people lose their jobs. In that context, p
  entails the presupposition of qand so it is
  filtered out.
• If there is a thunderstorm, the president of GM
  will lose his job too.
• Filter out any ps of q which is entailed by the
  contextp.

14
ps projection local contexts

• If there is a depression, the president of GM
  will lose his job too.
• Someone besides the president of GM will lose
  his/her job?
• A way to look at this local contexts
• Suppose c is the context, p?q is our sentence.
• To be felicitous, c must entail ps(p).
• Add p to c, and cp is now the context against
  which q is evaluated.
• To be felicitous, cp must entail ps(q).
• So in a normal context where when theres a
  depression all sorts of people lose their jobs,
  cp will be a context in which all sorts of
  people lose their jobs, and this entails ps(q).
  So, the overall c is fine so long as cp entails
  ps(q).

15
ps projection filters refined

• Bill is absent and JOHN drinks too
• Someone besides John drinks?
• Actually, that one was a bit misleading.
• A I need a non-drinker to support me in avoiding
  alcohol. It is known that Bill does not drink,
  and youve just mentioned the known fact that
  Mary drinks.
• A kind of normal context, compatible. Because
  ps(q).
• B I need a non-drinker to support me in avoiding
  alcohol. The only possible reason for anybody to
  not be present (in this room) is to drink vodka
  in the other room.
• But here, ps(q) seems not to be presupposed. Why?
• The difference is that in this context p entails
  ps(q).
• So, really, it didnt presuppose ps(q) after all,
  but rather that cp entails ps(q). If p is deemed
  irrelevant, then the context by itself has to
  entail ps(q).

16
Some difficulties with filters

• I havent told the truth.
• I realize that I havent told the truth.
• I didnt realize that I havent told the truth.
• I regret that I havent told the truth.
• If JOHN sings too then I will celebrate.
• If I regret that I havent told the truth, I will
  confess it to everyone.
• If I realize that I havent told the truth, I
  will confess it to everyone.
• If Frank realizes that he hasnt told the truth,
  he will confess it to everyone.

17
A cancellation view

• Triggers yield potential presuppositions. A
  potential ps may or may not become an actual ps.
  In particular, not if it is canceled. This
  happens when
• The ps is inconsistent with assumptions in the
  context.
• The ps is inconsistent with one of the
  conversational implicatures of the matrix
  sentence containing the trigger.
• If the problem has been solved, then it is Lauri
  who solved it.
• Implicature truth value of the problem has been
  solved (somebody has solved the problem) not
  assumed.

18
A cancellation view

• Triggers yield potential presuppositions. A
  potential ps may or may not become an actual ps.
  In particular, not if it is canceled. This
  happens when
• The ps is inconsistent with assumptions in the
  context.
• The ps is inconsistent with one of the
  conversational implicatures of the matrix
  sentence containing the trigger.
• I dont have a dog.
• So at least you dont have to walk your dog.
• Problems here too.
• If John has twins, Mary will not like his
  children.

19
Projection into ones beliefs?

• The unicorn is waiting in the garden.
• Yet there are no unicorns.
• Pat knows that the unicorn is waiting in the
  garden.
• Yet there are no unicorns.
• Pat thinks that the unicorn is waiting in the
  garden.
• Yet there are no unicorns (silly Pat).
• Yet, Pat believes there are no unicorns.
• Pat wants the unicorn to sleep in the garden.
• If the unicorn is in the garden, Pat will be
  happy.

20
Attitude verbs

• Patrick wants to sell his cello.
• Patrick is under the mistaken belief that he owns
  a cello, and he wants to sell his cello.
• Embed q under an attitude verb (SVq) requires
  that ps(q) be entailed by Ss beliefs.

21
?

• ? ?
• ?
• ? ?
• ? ?
• ?
• ?