Existence Presuppositions Research Articles

Focus Fronting in a Language with In Situ Marking: The Case of Mǝ̀dʉ́mbà

This paper discusses the structural realisation of contrastive focus in the Grassfields Bantu language Bamileke Mǝ̀dʉ́mbà, yet another language with grammatically optional focus fronting. We show that the realisation of contrastive focus in Mǝ̀dʉ́mbà is by default marked in situ with the morphological focus marker á. We further show that á introduces an additional, not-at-issue exhaustivity inference as part of its lexical meaning. Taken together, this means that two often-discussed interpretive triggers of grammatically optional focus fronting, namely, contrastivity and exhaustivity, are not responsible for triggering Mǝ̀dʉ́mbà’s focus left-dislocation. Rather, the main semantic contribution of focus fronting consists in triggering an existence presupposition, a discourse-semantic effect well known from other focus–background bipartitions, possibly in combination with other, softer discourse-semantic effects, such as the special emphasis required in cases of discourse unexpectedness.

Possessor raising and structural variations within the <em>v</em>P domain

In this paper, we analyze external possessors in Brazilian Portuguese, showing that those realizing Nominative-Case (Nominative-possessors) are not syntactically uniform, varying derivationally. These variations are related to the vP internal structure. In agentive argument structures, Nominative-possessors are licensed in obligatory control configurations. Non-agentive argument structures give rise to raising configurations. In turn, raising configurations are not syntactically uniform either. Unaccusative vPs, differently from inchoative ones, contain a dative position at the vP edge. This position is used as an intermediate landing site for the raised Nominative-possessor. Importantly, a copy of a possessor in this intermediate position alters information structure at LF, having three interpretative effects: (a) affectedness: the possessor is interpreted as being affected by the denoted event, (b) presupposition of existence: the possessor must be an existent entity, and (b) contextual confinement: the possessor-possessum is interpreted as an integral part-whole at the event time.

Differential object marking in inanimate objects in Spanish

The aim of this paper is to explain the differential object marking (DOM) of inanimate objects in Spanish. Generally, animate objects in Spanish are marked with an A morpheme; however, it is possible for the A-marker to appear also with inanimate objects in specific circumstances. In this article, I defend the idea that a lexical feature of the verb (the presupposition of existence) must be licensed with the organizing node that dominates the specificity features. V inherits this organizing node from v. The analysis will be done using mainly two theoretical tools: the feature geometry of Harley & Ritter (2002) and Chomsky's (2013, 2015) labeling theory.

Presupposing indefinite descriptions☆

The IMPAQTS corpus of Italian political speeches annotated per implicit contents contains recurrent examples of NPs introduced by indefinite articles which are characterized by anaphoric specific reference:(Questa legge) hanno tentato di dichiararla anticostituzionale per non applicarlaa una persona che si ritiene al di sopra della giustizia.(This law) they tried to declare it unconstitutional so as not to apply it toa person who thinks to be above justice.Such examples must be interpreted as anaphorically referring to a specific, identifiable referent, recoverable in the co-text or in the universe of discourse. Consequently, they activate a presupposition of existence for the mentioned entity, thus revealing that indefinite expressions can trigger existential presupposition in a similar way to definite descriptions. We analyze the formal characteristics of such “presuppositional indefinite descriptions”, which show a recurrent syntactic and semantic structure. As for their functions, we show that they allow a different distribution of the speaker's responsibility on the contents of the utterance, as compared to definite descriptions. This is particularly relevant for the syntactic expansions to the indefinite NPs, whose contents are typically derogatory and disputable, which – in persuasive discourse – makes it beneficial for them to be conveyed in an implicit way.

Pranggapan dalam Album DAYDREAM Karya Aimer (Kajian Pragmatik)

The purpose of this study to indentification form presupposition of Aimer songs in Daydream album and to describe the meaning of presupposition. The resources which used in this research are five song titled For Lonenly, Insane Dream, Kataomoi, Kowairo and Ninelie. This study use theory by Yule.The method of this study is use watch and note method for collection data, then use descriptive method for analysis data. In descriptive method will identify song lyrics by Aimer in album Daydream that contain presupposition and then analysis data with detail descriptive. The data presentation stage use informal method.The result of the study in song lyrics For Lonenly, Insane Dream, Kataomoi, Kowairo dan Ninelie are found that there are 63 data presupposition, such as 19 data of existence presupposition, 19 data of factual presupposition, 2 data of non-factual presupposition, 11 data of lexical presupposition, 7 data of structural presupposition and 5 data of counterfactual presupposition. The form of presupposition that often appears are existence presupposition total of 19 data and factual presupposition total of 19 data.

Generic bare plurals in Russian and beyond

This paper focuses on indirect reference to kinds achieved by means of bare plural nominal expressions in Russian, which is a language without articles. These NPs refer to sums of individuals, whose denotation is built on Number. Their default interpretation is indefinite, while generic and definite readings are a result of a pragmatic strengthening, i.e. these readings appear only in certain environments (argument position of k-level predicates, subject position of characterising statements) and depend on the world knowledge of interlocutors. Generically and definitely interpreted expressions are similar to each other, being characterised by maximality, identifiability and presupposition of existence. However, the former ones cannot be spatiotemporally localised or anaphorically anchored. Going beyond Russian, it is suggested that in some languages genericity (along with definiteness) may be encoded semantically by means of a definite article, while in others it is pragmatically inferred on bare NPs; this difference can account for the inter- and intra- linguistic variation in the expression of genericity.

Definiteness projection

We argue that definite noun phrases give rise to uniqueness inferences characterized by a pattern we call definiteness projection. Definiteness projection says that the uniqueness inference of a definite projects out unless there is an indefinite antecedent in a position that filters presuppositions. We argue that definiteness projection poses a serious puzzle for e-type theories of (in)definites; on such theories, indefinites should filter existence presuppositions but not uniqueness presuppositions. We argue that definiteness projection also poses challenges for dynamic approaches, which have trouble generating uniqueness inferences and predicting some filtering behavior, though unlike the challenge for e-type theories, these challenges have mostly been noted in the literature, albeit in a piecemeal way. Our central aim, however, is not to argue for or against a particular view, but rather to formulate and motivate a generalization about definiteness which any adequate theory must account for.

That’s not quite it: An experimental investigation of (non‑)exhaustivity in clefts

We present a novel empirical study on German directly comparing the exhaustivity inference in es -clefts to exhaustivity inferences in definite pseudoclefts, exclusives, and plain intonational focus constructions. We employ mouse-driven verification/falsification tasks in an incremental information-retrieval paradigm across two experiments in order to assess the strength of exhaustivity in the four sentence types. The results are compatible with a parallel analysis of clefts and definite pseudoclefts, in line with previous claims in the literature (Percus 1997, Buring & Križ 2013). In striking contrast with such proposals, in which the exhaustivity inference is conventionally coded in the cleft-structure in terms of maximality/homogeneity, our study found that the exhaustivity inference is not systematic or robust in es -clefts nor in definite pseudoclefts: Whereas some speakers treat both constructions as exhaustive, others treat both constructions as non-exhaustive. In order to account for this unexpected finding, we argue that the exhaustivity inference in both clefts and definite pseudoclefts — specifically those with the compound definite derjenige — is pragmatically derived from the anaphoric existence presupposition that is common to both constructions. EARLY ACCESS Supplementary materials

Focus, exhaustivity and existence in Akan, Ga and Ngamo

AbstractThis paper discusses the relation between focus marking and focus interpretation in Akan (Kwa), Ga (Kwa), and Ngamo (West Chadic). In all three languages, there is a special morphosyntactically marked focus/background construction, as well as morphosyntactically unmarked focus. We present data stemming from original fieldwork investigating whether marked focus/background constructions in these three languages also have additional interpretative effects apart from standard focus interpretation. Crosslinguistically, different additional inferences have been found for marked focus constructions, e.g. contrast (e.g. Vallduví, Enric & Maria Vilkuna. 1997. On rheme and kontrast. In Peter Culicover & Louise McNally (eds.),The limits of syntax(Syntax and semantics 29), 79–108. New York: Academic Press; Hartmann, Katharina & Malte Zimmermann. 2007b. In place – Out of place: Focus in Hausa. In Kerstin Schwabe & Susanne Winkler (eds.),On information structure, meaning and form, 365–403. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.; Destruel, Emilie & Leah Velleman. 2014. Refining contrast: Empirical evidence from the Englishit-cleft. In Christopher Piñón (ed.),Empirical issues in syntax and semantics 10, 197–214. Paris: Colloque de syntaxe et sémantique à Paris (CSSP).http://www.cssp.cnrs.fr/eiss10/), exhaustivity (e.g. É. Kiss, Katalin. 1998. Identificational focus versus information focus.Language74(2). 245–273.; Hartmann, Katharina & Malte Zimmermann. 2007a. Exhaustivity marking in Hausa: A re-evaluation of the particle nee/cee. In Enoch O. Aboh, Katharina Hartmann & Malte Zimmermann (eds.),Focus strategies in African languages: The interaction of focus and grammar in Niger-Congo and Afro-Asiatic(Trends in Linguistics 191), 241–263. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.), and existence (e.g. Rooth, Mats. 1999. Association with focus or association with presupposition? In Peter Bosch & Rob van der Sandt (eds.),Focus: Linguistic, cognitive, and computational perspectives, 232–244. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.; von Fintel, Kai & Lisa Matthewson. 2008. Universals in semantics.The Linguistic Review25(1–2). 139–201). This paper investigates these three inferences. In Akan and Ga, the marked focus constructions are found to be contrastive, while in Ngamo, no effect of contrast was found. We also show that marked focus constructions in Ga and Akan trigger exhaustivity and existence presuppositions, while the marked construction in Ngamo merely gives rise to an exhaustive conversational implicature and does not trigger an existence presupposition. Instead, the marked construction in Ngamo merely indicates salience of the backgrounded part via a morphological background marker related to the definite determiner (Schuh, Russell G. 2005. Yobe state, Nigeria as a linguistic area.Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society31(2). 77–94; Güldemann, Tom. 2016. Maximal backgrounding=focus without (necessary) focus encoding.Studies in Language40(3). 551–590). The paper thus contributes to the understanding of the semantics of marked focus constructions across languages and points to the crosslinguistic variation in expressing and interpreting marked focus/background constructions.

Definite meaning and definite marking

We look at definite marking in Esperanto, Papiamentu, and Yiddish considering three semantically definite contexts: the referential use of proper names and unique nouns, as well as anaphoric definites. We argue for a three-dimensional analysis of definiteness: an individual denotation, an existence presupposition, and a uniqueness conventional implicature. We present an HPSG encoding of this system and model the central aspects of the definite marking systems of our three object languages.

Subalternation and existence presuppositions in an unconventionally formalized canonical square of opposition

An unconventional formalization of the canonical (Aristotelian-Boethian) square of opposition in the notation of classical symbolic logic secures all but one of the canonical square’s grid of logical interrelations between four A-E-I-O categorical sentence types. The canonical square is first formalized in the functional calculus in Frege’s Begriffsschrift, from which it can be directly transcribed into the syntax of contemporary symbolic logic. Difficulties in received formalizations of the canonical square motivate translating I categoricals, ‘Some S is P’, into symbolic logical notation, not conjunctively as \({\exists x[Sx\wedge Px]}\), but unconventionally instead in an ontically neutral conditional logical symbolization, as \({\exists x[Sx\rightarrow Px]}\). The virtues and drawbacks of the proposal are compared at length on twelve grounds with the explicit existence expansion of A and E categoricals as the default strategy for symbolizing the canonical square preserving all original logical interrelations.

The distribution of quantifiers in clefts

This paper examines the distribution of quantifiers in clefts. It addresses the fact that quantifiers are not always banned as clefted constituents and discusses analyses which have been proposed in the literature in order to account for this phenomenon. The paper argues that quantifiers qualify for clefted constituents only when they bear a strong reading (Agouraki, 2010). Using Cypriot Greek data, it argues that clefts express identificational focus and shows that under this analysis, the distribution of quantifiers, which are sometimes allowed to occur in clefts and sometimes not, can be explained. Quantifiers which have a strong interpretation can express exhaustive identification, whereas quantifiers which bear a weak reading cannot, as they do not satisfy the existence presupposition induced by the cleft clause. The analysis can carry over to crosslinguistic data displaying similar constraints on the distribution of quantifiers in constructions which express identificational focus.

False but Slow: Evaluating Statements with Non-referring Definites

One central debate in the analysis of denite descriptions concerns the truthvalue of sentences where there is no entity that meets the description in the denite. Classical Russellian accounts predict them to be plain false, whereas presuppositional accounts predict them to be infelicitous. Recent discussions have homed in on the factors that aect actual judgment behavior in relation to the underlying status posited by dierent accounts. This paper presents experimental evidence for a presuppositional view based on response times for judging statements with non-referring denites to be ‘false’, which were longer relative to control statements where existence was asserted. I discuss the theoretical implications of these results, as well as of other ndings from the literature, arguing that they support a presuppositional view of denites that sees the existence presupposition as conventionally encoded. The paper also makes a methodological contribution, as systematic evidence on speakers’ judgments in these cases turns out to be hard to come by. Finally, the results inform the more general issue of the online processes involved in the interpretation of presupposed, as opposed to asserted, content.

Indefinite subjects in Durban Zulu

It has long been observed that subjects cross-linguistically have topic properties: they are typically definite, referential and/or generic (Givón 1976). Bantu languages are said to illustrate this generalization: preverbal position for NPs is equated with both subject and topic status and postverbal position with focus (and non-subject). However, there is a growing body of work showing that preverbal subjects are not necessarily syntactically or semantically equivalent to topics. For example, Zerbian’s (2006) careful study of preverbal position in Northern Sotho shows that preverbal subjects meet few of the semantic tests for aboutness topics. The study of restrictions on preverbal subjects in Durban Zulu presented in this paper builds on Zerbian (2006) and Halpert (2012). In particular, we investigate the interpretational properties of preverbal indefinite subjects. These subjects show us that preverbal subjects carry a presupposition of existence. We explore an analysis connecting the "strong reading" of preverbal subjects with how high the verb moves in Zulu (following Tsai’s 2001 work on Mandarin).

The Role of Presuppositionality in the Second Language Acquisition of English Articles

This article investigates the role of presuppositionality (defined as the presupposition of existence) in the second language (L2) acquisition of English articles. Building upon the proposal in Wexler 2003 that young English-acquiring children overuse the with presuppositional indefinites, this article proposes that presuppositionality also influences article (mis)use in adult L2 acquisition. This proposal is supported by experimental results from the L2 English of adult speakers of Korean, a language with no articles. The experimental findings indicate that presuppositional indefinite contexts trigger overuse of the with indefinites in adult L2 acquisition, as in child L1 acquisition (cf. Wexler 2003). The effects of presuppositionality are teased apart from the effects of other semantic factors previously examined in acquisition, such as scope (Schaeffer and Matthewson 2005) and specificity (Ionin, Ko, and Wexler 2004). The results provide evidence that overuse of the in L2 acquisition is a semantic rather than pragmatic phenomenon. Implications of these findings for overuse of the in L1 acquisition are discussed. This article also has implications for the study of access to Universal Grammar in L2 acquisition, as well as for the number and type of semantic universals underlying article choice crosslinguistically.

Dei ex machina: a note on plural/mass indefinite determiners*

Abstract. This article argues that the Italian plural indefinite articledeiand its French counterpart is a partitive structure without an overt numeral. Unlike a similar proposal in (Chierchia 1998a), the present account crucially holds that the definite DP embedded in these ‘defective partitives’ is a kind‐denoting DP. This assumption derives the lack of existence presupposition, the absence of cardinal numerals afterdei, the restrictions to certain types of DPs, the failure ofne‐extraction and various other properties of this construction.

Focus in Yorùbá: a semantic/pragmatic account

Semantic and pragmatic properties of the Yorùbá focus construction have not been fully examined. This paper investigates presupposition, exhaustivity effects, and felicity conditions in some of its attested forms. Yorùbá focus does not trigger existence presuppositions, it does not have any obligatory exhaustivity effects, and argument focus and predicate focus behave differently with respect to question-answer congruence. These properties are compatible Déchaine’s analysis (2002) of Yorùbá focus as inverse predication, essentially a type of cleft.

한정성 효과: 한정성 제약과 비한정성 제약

I argue that Definiteness Effect (DE) should include Indefiniteness Restriction (IR) as well as Definiteness Restriction (DR). DR is exhibited by existential constructions, predicate nominals, inalienable possession constructions, and verbs with semantic features like [((CAUSE TO) COME TO) EXIST]. IR is caused by some existence presupposition of aspectual adverbs, aspectual verbs, repetitives, and topic markers. The environments for DR and IR determine the (in)definiteness of Korean bare noun phrases which otherwise can be used either way. The neutralization of DR is also induced by focus which imposes a certain amount of structure on the event quantification. Van der Sandt''s (1992) Presuppositions-as- Anaphora-Theory is effectively used to account for those examples from DR, ID, and the neutralization of BR. (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies)

Les determinants dans la reference nominale et les conditions de leur absence (review)

Reviewed by: Les déterminants dans la référence nominale et les conditions de leur absence by Hervé Curat Hélène Perdicoyianni-Paléologou Les déterminants dans la référence nominale et les conditions de leur absence. By Hervé Curat. Genève & Paris: Librairie Droz, 1999. Pp. 350. This work on the grammatical semantics of modern French forms a pair with Morphologie verbale et référence temporelle en français moderne (Droz 1991). Curat intends to prove that ‘the determiner is a pronoun whose role is to operate the reference of the nominal syntagm in a cosmic place which the speaker talks about, and that only the classification and the denomination of this referent are the fact of the substantive’ (17). The work is divided into two parts. In the first, C studies the respective roles of the determiner and the substantive in the nominal syntagm on the morphological, syntactic, semantic, and referential planes. After having briefly dealt with methodological problems, such as the pertinence of the graphic semiology, the definition of the signified, of the meaning, and of the interpretation, and finally the reciprocal conditioning between signifier/signified, C defines the paradigm of determiners and proves that they are pronouns, on the basis of similarities of semiology, morphology, and distribution between two classes. He then addresses in detail the problem of agreement and coordination in the nominal syntagm, in the theory established by Leonard Bloomfield according to which the determiner is the head of the nominal syntagm and its reference. C develops the two functions of reference, that of the presupposition of existence and that of the representation of the délocuté; he also deals with the referential function of pronouns, their function in the nominal syntagm, and the function of the substantive and the adjective in a nominal syntagm. Then, he proceeds to study the transition from the generic to the kind. The first part ends with the examination of the definite article (quel and lequel, tel), the numerical (un), universal (tout, chaque), negative (nul, aucun), extensive, and restrictive quantifier determiners. The second part of the work describes the various cases of ‘naked’ construction of the substantive, articulated construction of proper names, and the double determination of the nominal syntagm. C seeks to establish the conditions in which a name appears without a determiner, including the effect on the reference in this case. Thus, he proceeds by means of an analysis of the absence of determiner cases wherein a syntagm substantive appears in naked speech (without determiner). These uses appear in references in praesentia which put words in material contact with the things they speak about (labels of nature, addresses, titles of works, invectives, interpolations, performatives, lists of tasks, nominal imperatives, autonym substantives). To the study of those cases of determiner absence he adds the examination of cases of references absence, monoreferential nominal syntagms (the distributional class hier, aujourd’hui, demain, names of days, domestic titles, titles of courtesy etc.) and proper names. He emphasizes their various types, their identification, meaning, translation, and their relationship with the determiner. The last chapters of the book deal with the role of the preposition— the purpose being to determine whether the partitive makes a preposition a predeterminer or if it is a full determiner in its own right—the coreferential juxtaposition, the relationship between the juxtaposition with the coordination and the apposition, and the spatial and temporal reference. The work ends with a bibliography of the quoted works and examples. This study is based on authentic examples, most often drawn from an assorted corpus (Lévi-Strauss, Kundera, Foucault, Kristof). The approach is founded on grammatical semantics, specifically inspired from Georges Kleiber’s works. The various problems posed by the determiner are presented and [End Page 196] examined with clarity and remarkable rigor. Hélène Perdicoyianni-Paléologou Brown University Copyright © 2001 Linguistic Society of America

Existence Presuppositions and Background Knowledge

When a definite noun phrase fails to refer, the statement containing it is often felt to lack a truth value, as in The king of France is bald. In other examples, however, the statement seems intuitively false, and not truth-valueless: consider the case of a speaker who points at an obviously empty chair and says The king of France is sitting in that chair. The difference appears to depend on the pragmatics of verification; we know the sentence is false because the chair is empty—the question of the existence of the king of France need not even come up. A semantics is sketched for assigning truth values to sentences relative to information states. A sentence containing a definite NP may be evaluated as false relative to a given information state rather than simply truth-valueless if, after removing the information that the NP fails to refer, the resulting information state still cannot be consistently extended to one making the sentence true. On this assumption, existing proposals for the semantics of negation in information-state semantics turn out to correspond to internal and external negation, respectively.