Presupposition Projection From ‘and’ vs. ‘or’: Experimental Data and Theoretical Implications
Alexandros Kalomoiros, Florian Schwarz · Journal of Semantics · 2024
Abstract A core issue in presupposition theory concerns the potential role of linear order for projection. This paper presents experimental evidence that conjunction and disjunction differ precisely in this regard. Presuppositions project asymmetrically from conjunction: a presupposition in the first conjunct projects regardless of any information in the second conjunct that could be used to satisfy the presupposition, while a presupposition in the second conjunct can be ‘filtered’ by material in the first, so that it doesn’t project. We find no such asymmetry for disjunction, where presuppositions in both the first and the second disjunct can be filtered by information in the other disjunct. Theoretically, these results pose a challenge to traditional dynamic accounts, and also strongly argue against accounts that take all projection and filtering to be uniformly determined by linear order across connectives. Instead, they call for an account of projection that can differentiate between conjunction and disjunction by modulating the effects of linear order through proper consideration of the underlying truth conditions of each connective.