Presupposition cancellation: explaining the ‘soft–hard’ trigger distinction

Natural Language Semantics 24 (2):165-202 (2016)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Some presuppositions are easier to cancel than others in embedded contexts. This contrast has been used as evidence for distinguishing two fundamentally different kinds of presuppositions, ‘soft’ and ‘hard’. ‘Soft’ presuppositions are usually assumed to arise in a pragmatic way, while ‘hard’ presuppositions are thought to be genuine semantic presuppositions. This paper argues against such a distinction and proposes to derive the difference in cancellation from inherent differences in how presupposition triggers interact with the context: their focus sensitivity, anaphoricity, and question–answer congruence properties. The paper also aims to derive the presuppositions of additive particles such as too, also, again, and of it-clefts.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 84,292

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

God's Justified Knowledge and the Hard-Soft Fact Distinction.John R. Shook - 2006 - The Proceedings of the Twenty-First World Congress of Philosophy 8:69-73.
Predicting the presuppositions of soft triggers.Márta Abrusán - 2011 - Linguistics and Philosophy 34 (6):491-535.
Contra Snapshot Ockhamism.David Widerker - 1996 - International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 39 (2):95 - 102.
On the conversational basis of some presuppositions.Mandy Simons - 2001 - Semantics and Linguistic Theory 11.
Why God's beliefs are not hard-type soft facts.77 88 - 2002 - Religious Studies 38 (1):77-88.
Why God's beliefs are not hard-type soft facts.David Widerker - 2002 - Religious Studies 38 (1):77-88.
On denying presuppositions.Lenny Clapp - 2017 - Synthese 194 (6).
A scalar implicature-based approach to neg-raising.Jacopo Romoli - 2013 - Linguistics and Philosophy 36 (4):291-353.
Soft facts and ontological dependence.Patrick Todd - 2013 - Philosophical Studies 164 (3):829-844.
Norms of Presupposition.Manuel Garcia-Carpintero - 2010 - In Erich Rast & Luiz Carlos Baptista (eds.), Meaning and Context. Peter Lang. pp. 2--17.
What is Presupposition Accommodation, Again?Kai Von Fintel - 2008 - Philosophical Perspectives 22 (1):137--170.

Analytics

Added to PP
2016-06-17

Downloads
89 (#156,532)

6 months
4 (#200,270)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Márta Abrusán
Institut Jean Nicod

References found in this work

Semantics in generative grammar.Irene Heim & Angelika Kratzer - 1998 - Malden, MA: Blackwell. Edited by Angelika Kratzer.
Scorekeeping in a language game.David Lewis - 1979 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 8 (1):339--359.
A Natural History of Negation.Laurence R. Horn - 1989 - University of Chicago Press.
Common ground.Robert Stalnaker - 2002 - Linguistics and Philosophy 25 (5-6):701-721.
Scorekeeping in a Language Game.David Lewis - 1979 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 8 (3):339.

View all 45 references / Add more references