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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

• f 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 The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Presuppositional anaphora Temporal anaphora 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 The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Presuppositional anaphora Temporal anaphora 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 The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Presuppositional anaphora Temporal anaphora 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 ¬ bald(x) ∂ x KF(x)

• x

KF(x) ¬ bald(x) ∃x[KF(x) ∧ ¬bald(x)]

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Presuppositional anaphora Temporal anaphora 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 x KF(x) → bald(y) ∂ y KF(y)

• x

KF(x) → bald(x)

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 The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Presuppositional anaphora Temporal anaphora 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 The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Presuppositional anaphora Temporal anaphora 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 The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Presuppositional anaphora Temporal anaphora 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 The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Presuppositional anaphora Temporal anaphora 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 The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Presuppositional anaphora Temporal anaphora 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 Christmas(t) s: rain s ◦ t’ ∂ t’ t’< n set t′ to t n t Christmas(t) s: rain s ◦ t 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 The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Presuppositional anaphora Temporal anaphora 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 Christmas(t) e e: flop.esc e ⊆ t’ ∂ t’ t’ < n ⇒ blabla

• n, t

Christmas(t) t < n e e: flop.esc e ⊆ t ⇒ blabla 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 The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Presuppositional anaphora Temporal anaphora Verb tenses as presuppositional expressions

Trapping

(5) Floppy will never escape. n NO

t

• e

e: flop.esc e ⊆ t ∂ t n < t

• n

t n < t NO

t

• e

e: flop.esc e ⊆ 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 Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea 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 Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea 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

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Kripke

Embedded occurrences

(7) If Floppy will be on the run at Harry’s birthday, she will be on the run again at Christmas.

◮ Kripke: the ‘standard’-presupposition is ‘satisfied’ by the

protasis (and thus neutralized)

◮ but there is still a substantial inference forthcoming: we infer

that Harry’s birthday is before Christmas. The observation is right. But how to account for it?

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Kripke

Embedded occurrences . . .

◮ Kripke: assign the presupposition that Harry’s birthday is

before Christmas to the consequent;

◮ This is deeply puzzling.

◮ Such a consequent presupposition plays havoc with

compositionality

◮ it remains unclear how such a presupposition should make it to

the main context to account for the intuitive inference.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Kripke . . .

The phenomenon is general: e.g. verbs of transition

(8) If Sam watches the opera, he will stop watching it when the Redskins game comes on. [. . . ] a presupposition attached to stop is that the Redskins game comes on during the opera but not at the very beginning of it. Kripke 2009: 376

◮ We will see that there is no need to postulate such

unconventional presuppositions;

◮ given a proper encoding of the presuppositional material the

intuitive inferences are taken care of by the resolution mechanism.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Kamp

Quantified structures

(9)

• a. #Floppy will be on the run at Christmas, but she will

never be on the run. b. Floppy will be on the run at Christmas, but she will never be on the run again

◮ Sentence (9a) is contradictory, but (9b) is fine. Yet the

presupposition that Floppy was on the run before, is satisfied. Kamp: The temporal condition is part of the non-presuppositional content, only the eventuality is presupposed.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Kamp . . .

Quantified structures

Kamp’s proposal breaks down in Kripke-environments. Expand!!

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Preliminary conclusions

The examples show that when processing temporal adverbs like again, aspectual verbs (begin, stop and continue the temporal and eventuality conditions cannot be encoded and resolved as one single entity. For

◮ Kripke’s example shows that the temporal information may

resolve to the main context, while the presupposed eventuality is bound at a subordinate level; while

◮ Kamp’s example shows that the presupposed eventuality may

be resolved to the main context, while the temporal condition is interpreted at a lower level.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Desiderata for a general account

◮ A general encoding of presuppositional/anaphoric expressions; ◮ these are the input for the construction algorithm; ◮ which results in underspecified structures; ◮ that should be (by a general algorithm) be resolved in context.

The full mechanism yields the possible interpretations as testable data.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Our proposal

Split the presuppositional contribution in two (interrelated) components:

◮ a descriptive condition encoding the eventuality ◮ a temporal anaphor encoding the condition of anteriority

• Cf. the treatment of too in Van der Sandt & Geurts (2001) and Geurts & Van

der Sandt (2004)

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Representation

(10) (At Christmas) it rained again. n s s: rain s ◦ t ∂ t t < n ∂ s’ s’: rain s’ ◦ t’ ∂ t’ t’ < t

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

• cf. transition verbs

(11) (At Christmas) it continued (stopped, started) raining. n e s e: s’ ⊃ ⊂ s s: rain s ◦ t ∂ t t < n ∂ s’ s’: rain s’ ◦ t’ ∂ t’ t’ < t

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

transition verbs . . .

◮ The transition verb contributes by providing an eventuality

stating that s′ and s ‘abut’ (e : s′ ⊃ ⊂ s) .

◮ Note the parallelism between the temporal/eventuality

structure of the presuppositional pre-state and the non-presuppositional remainder and

◮ note that we structures for start and stop by negating the

presuppositional pre- or the post-state.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Kripke’s puzzle

(12) If Floppy will be on the run at Harry’s birthday, she will be

• n the run again at Christmas.

n t t′ n < t, n < t′ harry’s-birthday(t), christmas(t′) s flop.run(s), s ◦ t → s′ flop.run(s′), s′◦ t′ ∂ s′′ flop.run(s′′), s′′◦ t′′ ∂ t′′ t′′ < t′ set t′′ to t . . .

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Resolution of the temporal element

n t t′ n< t< t′ harry’s-birthday(t), christmas(t′) s flop.run(s), s ◦ t → s′ flop.run(s′), s′◦ t′ ∂ s′′ flop.run(s′′), s′′◦ t

◮ Setting t′′ to t and tranferring the temporal information to

the binding site adds t < t′ to the main context,

◮ which accounts for Kripke’s observation Harry’s birthday (t) is

before Christmas (t′)

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

The eventuality resolved

◮ We now set s′′ to s ◮ The presupposed eventuality is absorbed in the protasis of the

conditional. n t t′ n< t< t′ harry’s-birthday(t), christmas(t′), s flop.run(s), s ◦ t → s′ flop.run(s′), s′◦ t′ The sole function of again is to locate the eventualities in the temporal structure.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Kamp’s puzzle

(13)

• a. #Floppy will be on the run at Christmas, but she will

never be on the run. b. Floppy will be on the run at Christmas, but she will never be on the run again.

◮ Why does inserting again in (13b) resolve the contradiction?

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Kamp’s puzzle . . .

n t s n < t, Christmas(t) flop.run(s), s ◦ t t′ NO

t’

• s′

flop.run(s′), s′◦ t′ ∂ s′′ flop.run(s′′), s′′◦ t′′ ∂ t′′ t′′ < t′ Set t′′ to t (the location time

• f the earlier state)

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Kamp’s puzzle: resolution

◮ Trapping: the condition t” < t’ cannot be entered at main

level since this would leave t’ free in a condition

◮ This forces accommodation in the subordinate DRS.

n t s n< t, Christmas(t) flop.run(s), s ◦ t t′ t< t′

NO

t’

• s′

flop.run(s′), s′◦ t′ ∂ s′′ flop.run(s′′), s′′◦ t Set s′′ to s

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Kamp’s puzzle: the resolved structure

n t s n < t, Christmas(t) flop.run(s), s ◦ t t′ t < t′

NO

t’

s′

flop.run(s′), s′◦ t′ i.e. Floppy will be on the run at Christmas and she will not be on the run at any future time after Christmas.

◮ Again thus only contributes to (13) by restricting the domain

• f the quantifier to moments after Christmas.

◮ Note that the structure without the temporal condition is

contradictory.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data The problem The basic idea Resolution

Conclusions thus far

◮ Partee’s 1973 claim that the tense morpheme should be

treated as an anaphor on a par with pronouns can be maintained and even strenghtened

◮ The presupposition of again, verbs of transition etc. comes in

two parts

◮ the first encoding a given eventuality ◮ the second is a hidden tense morpheme encoding the temporal

anteriority of this eventuality

◮ These presuppositions may be resolved independent of one

another to an incoming context

◮ This yields an simple solution for Kripke’s and Kamp’s puzzle.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Attitudinal transparency Access to inaccessible positions

Attitudinal transparency

The presupposition of (14) may be read so as not to contribute anything to the beliefs ascribed to Larry. (14) Floppy was on the run at Christmas. Larry believes that she will be on the run again at his birthday. Two readings

◮ Transparent: Floppy was on the run at Christmas and Larry

believes she will be on the run at his birthday. (Larry need not

to believe that she was on the run at Christmas)

◮ Non-transparent: Larry believes that Floppy was on the run at

Christmas and also that she will be on the run at his birthday.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Attitudinal transparency Access to inaccessible positions

Attitudinal transparency . . .

Thus

◮ We need to encode the presupposition(s) of again in such a

way that the inducing sentence expresses a full-fledged proposition.

◮ In other words: in such a way that the presupposition doesn’t

bind a variable in the non-presuppositional remainder.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Attitudinal transparency Access to inaccessible positions

• cf. descriptions

(15) The King of France is bald. bald(x) ∂ x King-of-France(x)

◮ Note: if the presupposition fails, the inducing sentence doesn’t

express a proposition.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Attitudinal transparency Access to inaccessible positions

Preliminary representation

n t t′ s t< n, n< t′ christmas(t), larry’s-birthday(t′) flop.run(s), s ◦ t believeL: s′ flop.run(s′), s′◦ t′ ∂ s′′ flop.run(s′′), s′′◦ t′′ ∂ t′′ t′′ < t′ set t′′ to t

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Attitudinal transparency Access to inaccessible positions

After resolving t

n t t′ s t< n, n< t′ christmas(t), larry’s-birthday(t′) flop.run(s), s ◦ t believe L: s′ flop.run(s′), s′◦ t′ ∂ s′′ flop.run(s′′), s′′◦ t resolve s′′ . . .

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Attitudinal transparency Access to inaccessible positions

Resolution by global binding

n t t′ s t < n t < t’ christmas(t) l.birthday(t′) flop.run(s) s ◦ t believe L: s′

• flop. run(s′)

s′◦ t′

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Attitudinal transparency Access to inaccessible positions

Resolution by local accommodation

n t t′ s t < n t < t’ christmas(t) l.birthday(t′) flop.run(s) s ◦ t believe L: s′ s′′ flop.run(s′) s′◦ t′ flop.run(s′′) s′′◦ t

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Attitudinal transparency Access to inaccessible positions

Syntactically inaccessible positions

The presupposition of again may find an antecedent that is ‘syntactically’ inaccessible. (16) Floppy may be on the run at Christmas, but she will never be on the run again.

◮ The presupposed eventuality of (16) is licensed by material in

the scope of the modal operator.

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Attitudinal transparency Access to inaccessible positions

Representation

t christmas(t) ♦ s flop.run(s), s ◦ t t′ NO

t’

• s′

flop.run(s′), s′ ◦ t′ ∂ s′′ flop.run(s′′), s′′ ◦ t′′ ∂ t′′ t′′ < t′ set t′′ to t and s′′ to s

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora

Presuppositional and temporal anaphora The Kripke/Kamp puzzles Some more data Attitudinal transparency Access to inaccessible positions

Resolution

◮ the temporal structure is intecepted in the restrictor ◮ the eventuality is bound in the scope of the modal

t christmas(t) ♦ s flop.run(s), s ◦ t t′ t< t′

NO

t’

• s′

flop.run(s′), s′ ◦ t′

Rob van der Sandt Pronominal, temporal and descriptive anaphora