Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora Rob van der Sandt Dept. of Philosophy Radboud University, Nijmegen Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Overview Overview ◮ Temporal and presuppositional anaphora ◮ Kripke’s and Kamp’s puzzles ◮ Some additional data Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Overview Kripke 2009 Abstract LI 40.3: 367 ‘. . . I argue that many presuppositional elements are anaphoric to previous discourse or contextual elements. In compound sentences these can be other clauses of the sentence. We thus need a theory of presuppositional anaphora, analogous to the corresponding pronominal theory.’ Luckily such a theory exists Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Overview Van der Sandt 1992 Abstract JoS 9.4: 333 ‘[. . . ] presuppositional expressions are [. . . ] anaphoric expressions, which have internal structure and semantic content. [. . . ] they only differ from pronouns in that they have more descriptive content. It is this [. . . ] which enables them to create an antecedent in case discourse does not provide one. If their capacity to accommodate is taken into account they can be treated by basically the same mechanism which handles the resolution of pronouns. [. . . ] Section 3 presents a coding of presuppositional expressions [. . . ] The final section [discusses] the constraints which govern the resolution of presuppositional anaphors.’ Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora Presuppositional anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Temporal anaphora Some more data Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions Presuppositional anaphora ◮ Presuppositions are anaphoric expressions that search for suitable antecedents. ◮ If they find an antecedent they will be bound and the descriptive information associated with the presuppositional anaphor will be transferred to its binding site. ◮ If a presuppositional anaphor cannot be bound, it will be accommodated at the highest possible level of discourse structure Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora Presuppositional anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Temporal anaphora Some more data Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions Presuppositional anaphora . . . ◮ This explains their tendency to take maximal scope with respect to embedding operators; ◮ their tendency to ‘accommodate’ in the main context; ◮ the phenomenon that they may be bound/absorbed at subordinate levels (and thus not be visible as actual presuppositions) Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora Presuppositional anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Temporal anaphora Some more data Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions Accommodation Descriptions are generated in situ; projection assigns scope ◮ The king of France is not bald � France has a king and he is not bald x KF(x) bald(x) � ¬ x ¬ bald(x) ∂ KF(x) ∃ x [KF(x) ∧ ¬ bald( x )] Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora Presuppositional anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Temporal anaphora Some more data Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions Binding The presuppositional material is absorbed in the protasis ◮ If France has a king, the King of France is bald � If France has a king, he is bald bald(y) x x � bald(x) → → y KF(x) KF(x) ∂ KF(y) set y to x and transfer the descriptive material to the binding site Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora Presuppositional anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Temporal anaphora Some more data Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions Temporal information exhibits the same pattern ◮ Tense tends to outscope embedding operators: John did not come i.e. ∃ t [ t < n ∧ ¬ come ( j )] ◮ Whenever tenses are bound the temporal information is interpreted at the binding site. Floppy was always on the run i.e. ∀ t [ t < n → flop . run ( t )] Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora Presuppositional anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Temporal anaphora Some more data Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions Partee 1973 Verb tenses ◮ behave like (bound) variables ◮ should be represented by the same mechanism as pronouns They may be linked to a given antecedent (1) a. Sheila had a nice party last Friday and Sam got drunk. b. When Susan walked in, Peter left. They may act as bound variables (2) a. If Susan comes in, John will leave immediately. b. John never talks when he is eating. [. . . ] it is the tense morpheme [. . . ] that is serving as the variable quantified over [. . . ] Partee 1973: 607 Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora Presuppositional anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Temporal anaphora Some more data Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions Partee 1984 Partee 1984 retracts this claim . . . the proposal [. . . ] that past tenses be taken as directly analogous to pronouns, referring to the time specified by a preceding clause or adverb, is incompatible with the moving forward of time in sucessive event sentences (it would be as if pronouns referred to the father of the last mentioned individual) Partee 1984: 256 . . . [Partee (1973) can] in retrospect be seen to suffer from [the inadequacy]. . . that tenses themselves acted like pronouns and the consequent belief that they therefore had to correspond to explicit time variables in a logical representation Partee 1984: 275 Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora Presuppositional anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Temporal anaphora Some more data Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions In the current framework ◮ Sentences introduce eventualities and presuppose temporal information. ◮ The anaphoric variable of the temporal frame is ◮ bound to the location time of a given eventuality, or ◮ bound by a quantifier, or else ◮ (e.g. discourse initial) accommodated. ◮ The resolution is subject to the standard constraints of presupposition theory. Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora Presuppositional anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Temporal anaphora Some more data Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions The simple case Linking to a location time (3) It rained at Christmas (It was Chrismas. It rained). s n t n t Christmas(t) s: rain Christmas(t) set t ′ to t � s ◦ t’ s: rain s ◦ t t’ t < n ∂ t’ < n ◮ t ′ , the anaphoric variable of the temporal frame is bound to the location time t . Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora Presuppositional anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Temporal anaphora Some more data Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions Projection Temporal information tends to flow up (4) If Floppy escaped at Christmas, she will probably escape again at Easter. n, t n, t Christmas(t) Christmas(t) e t < n e: flop.esc � e e ⊆ t’ ⇒ ⇒ blabla e: flop.esc t’ blabla e ⊆ t ∂ t’ < n set t ′ to t and tranfer the temporal information to the binding site Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora Presuppositional anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Temporal anaphora Some more data Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions Trapping (5) Floppy will never escape. n e n e: flop.esc e t e ⊆ t � � NO � NO � � e: flop.esc t t n < t t e ⊆ t ∂ n < t Note that the temporal information cannot be accommodated any higher without unbinding the anaphoric variable of the temporal frame Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The problem The Kripke/Kamp puzzles The basic idea Some more data Resolution The standard view on again (6) At Christmas Floppy will be on the run again. ◮ Again contributes to (7) by inducing the presupposition that there was an event or temporal moment before Christmas at which Floppy was on the run. ◮ Its utterance says she will be on the run at Christmas. Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The problem The Kripke/Kamp puzzles The basic idea Some more data Resolution The standard view . . . According to this view ◮ the sole contribution of again is presuppositional, ◮ the non-presuppositional remainder is independent of the presuppositional information ◮ (6) thus expressed a full-fledged proposition even if the presupposition fails. Both Kripke and Kamp objected to this view Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora
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