Presupposition and assertion in dynamic semantics Part (I) The Presupposition a critical review of presupposition theory ; Part (II) The Assertion what comes first in dynamic semantics
David Beaver · ERA · 1995
This work concerns presupposition in natural language, which is here understood as a mechanism whereby features of an utterance indicate that the speaker assumes certain facts as common knowledge.The thesis is divided into two parts.The first part introduces the basic concepts (assuming some at least good undergraduate level knowledge of syntax, semantics and logic, but no specific knowledge of presupposition theory), and critically reviews previous theories of presupposition.Various of the approaches discussed appeal to scope ambiguity (e.g.Russell), to Gricean argumentation (e.g.Atlas, Gazdar, Kempson, van der Sandt and Wilson), to partiality and trivalence (e.g.Burton-Roberts, Strawson, Seuren and Link), to an extra presuppositional dimension of evaluation (e.g.Herzberger and Karttunen and Peters), to a mechanism allowing presuppositions to be canceled (e.g.Gazdar, Mercer and van der Sandt), to sentence internal dynamics (e.g.Karttunen, Heim, van der Sandt, Zeevat), and to accommodation, the process whereby linguistic contexts are augmented to ensure that presuppositions are accepted (e.g. in theories of Heim, van der Sandt, Fauconnier and Zeevat).The application of these methods is discussed in detail.In the second part of the thesis, the Context Change Potential (CCP) model of presupposition, due primarily to Karttunen and Heim, is formally elaborated and modified within a propositional dynamic logic, a quantificational dynamic logic, and within three sorted type theory.It is shown that the definitions of connectives and quantifiers can be motivated independently of the phenomenon of presupposition by consideration of the semantics of anaphora and epistemic modality, and that these independently motivated definitions provide a solution to the projection problem for presupposition.It is argued that with regard to the interaction between presupposition and quantification the solution is empirically superior to those in competing accounts.A semantics which integrates dynamic treatments of quantification, anaphora, modality and presupposition is then specified for a fragment of English.The semantics is compositional, and follows the spirit of Montague's approach although it differs considerably with respect to the details of his analysis.A formal model of global accommodation is proposed which is essentially dependent on world-knowledge and common sense reasoning.It is shown to provide both a general solution to the problem of the informativeness of presuppositions, and a specific solution to a problem within the CCP model, namely its tendency to yield inappropriately weak conditionalised presuppositions.It argued that the model provides superior predictions to any purely semantic theory of presupposition, and to any existing theory of accommodation or cancellation. 1 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my parents Allan and Muriel