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Contents : Fox/Menendez-Benito 11/18/06 Notes on Presupposition this handout largely follows Kai s notes (on the website) with some additions and changes. Most of the examples are taken from there. Parts of the handout follow the discussion in Heim 1990. 1. Introduction Two properties of presupposition: (i) Taken for granted (ii) Generally but not always inherited by complex containing structures. Property 1 1) It was Sam who broke the typewriter. Presupposes: Somebody broke the typewriter Asserts: Sam broke the typewriter. 2) The mathematician who proved Goldbach s conjecture is a woman. Presupposes: there is a unique mathematician who proved Goldbach s conjecture. Asserts: She is a woman. 3) The Hey wait a minute test (von Fintel inspired by Shannon 1976). A: B: B : A: B: B : It was Sam who broke the typewriter. Hey wait a minute! I had no idea that somebody had broken the typewriter. # Hey wait a minute! I had no idea that Sam had broken the typewriter. The mathematician who proved Goldbach s conjecture is a woman. Hey wait a minute! I had no idea that somebody had proved Goldbach s conjecture. # Hey wait a minute! I had no idea that was a woman. Cite as: Daniel Fox and Paula Menendez-Benito course materials for 24.954 Pragmatics in Linguistic Theory Fall 2006. MIT OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu/) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Downloaded on DD Month YYYY . 1 Fox/Menendez-Benito 11/18/06 Property 2 . Existence presupposition of definites and other noun phrases 4) 5) The mathematician who proved Goldbach s conjecture was a woman. John invited every foreign graduate student to his party. . Clefts 6) It was Sam who broke the typewriter. . Factive verbs 7) Bill is aware that Mary kissed John. 4. Additive particles (too again) 8) 9) John is going to drop out of school again. John lives in NYC too. . Change-of-phase predicates 10) John has quit smoking. 11) a. The mathematician who proved Goldbach s conjecture was a woman. b. The mathematician who proved Goldbach s conjecture wasn t a woman. c. Maybe the mathematician who proved Goldbach s conjecture was a woman. d. It is unlikely that the mathematician who proved Goldbach s conjecture was a woman. e. If the mathematician who proved Goldbach s conjecture was a woman then she will get the Fields Medal this year. 12) a. John invited every foreign graduate student to his party. b. John did not invite every foreign graduate student to his party. c. Maybe John invited every foreign graduate student to his party. d. It is unlikely that John invited every foreign graduate student to his party. e. If John invited every foreign graduate student to his party we will need more beer. Cite as: Daniel Fox and Paula Menendez-Benito course materials for 24.954 Pragmatics in Linguistic Theory Fall 2006. MIT OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu/) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Downloaded on DD Month YYYY . 2 Fox/Menendez-Benito 11/18/06 . Clefts 13) a. It was Sam who broke the typewriter. b. It wasn t Sam who broke the typewriter. c. Maybe it was Sam who broke the typewriter. d. It is unlikely that it was Sam who broke the typewriter. e. If it was Sam who broke the typewriter then he will have to fix it. . Factive verbs 14) a. Bill is aware that Mary kissed John. b. Bill is not aware that Mary kissed John. c. Maybe Bill is aware that Mary kissed John. d. It is unlikely that Bill is aware that Mary kissed John. e. If Bill is aware that Mary kissed John then he will not talk to John tonight. 4. Additive particles (too again) 15) a. John is going to drop out of school again. b. John isn t going to drop out of school again. c. Maybe John is going to drop out of school again. d. It is unlikely that John is going to drop out of school again. e. If John is going to drop out of school again his mother will be upset. . Change-of-phase predicates 16) a. John has quit smoking. b. John hasn t quit smoking. c. Maybe John has quit smoking. d. It is unlikely that John has quit smoking. e. If John has quit smoking then we won t need ashtrays at the party. Compare with: Conjunction: 17) Thanksgiving will be great. The turkey is organic and Harry s wife is a great cook. 18) Harry is married and Harry s wife is a great cook. 19) Harry s wife is a great cook and the turkey is organic. 20) # Harry s wife is a great cook and Harry s married. Cite as: Daniel Fox and Paula Menendez-Benito course materials for 24.954 Pragmatics in Linguistic Theory Fall 2006. MIT OpenCourseWare (http://ocw.mit.edu/) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Downloaded on DD Month YYYY . 3 Fox/Menendez-Benito 11/18/06 Generalization: (i) (ii) If A presupposes that p then A & B will also presuppose that p. If B presupposes that p then A & B and will also presuppose that p unless A entails p (together with assumptions in the contex

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