Demonstratives, definite descriptions and non-redundancy

Philosophical Studies 177 (1):39-64 (2020)
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Abstract

In some sentences, demonstratives can be substituted with definite descriptions without any change in meaning. In light of this, many have maintained that demonstratives are just a type of definite description. However, several theorists have drawn attention to a range of cases where definite descriptions are acceptable, but their demonstrative counterparts are not. Some have tried to account for this data by appealing to presupposition. I argue that such presuppositional approaches are problematic, and present a pragmatic account of the target contrasts. On this approach, demonstratives take two arguments and generally require that the first, covert argument is non-redundant with respect to the second, overt argument. I derive this condition through an economy principle discussed by Schlenker (2005).

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Kyle H. Blumberg
University of Melbourne

Citations of this work

Indirectly direct: An account of demonstratives and pointing.Dorothy Ahn - 2022 - Linguistics and Philosophy 45 (6):1345-1393.
Pronouns as Demonstratives.Kyle Blumberg - 2021 - Philosophers' Imprint 21 (35).
Deixis, demonstratives, and definite descriptions.Thomas J. Hughes - 2020 - Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 9 (4):285-297.

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References found in this work

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Assertion.Robert Stalnaker - 1978 - Syntax and Semantics (New York Academic Press) 9:315-332.

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