Presupposition Projection as Anaphora Resolution

Presupposition Projection as Anaphora Resolution

1992 | ROB A. VAN DER SANDT
The paper presents an anaphoric account of presupposition, arguing that presuppositional expressions should not be seen as referring or as explicable through non-standard logic. Instead, they are treated as anaphoric expressions with internal structure and semantic content, similar to pronouns but with more descriptive content. The theory is developed within the framework of discourse representation theory (DRT), showing that pragmatic factors influence the resolution of presuppositional anaphors. The paper discusses the limitations of traditional views on presupposition, such as Frege's and Strawson's, and critiques the pragmatic and semantic approaches. It proposes that presuppositions are anaphors that can be resolved using the same mechanism as pronoun resolution, with the additional capacity to accommodate an antecedent if discourse does not provide one. The paper also explores the differences between anaphoric binding and contextual satisfaction, and the testability of the anaphoric account of presupposition.The paper presents an anaphoric account of presupposition, arguing that presuppositional expressions should not be seen as referring or as explicable through non-standard logic. Instead, they are treated as anaphoric expressions with internal structure and semantic content, similar to pronouns but with more descriptive content. The theory is developed within the framework of discourse representation theory (DRT), showing that pragmatic factors influence the resolution of presuppositional anaphors. The paper discusses the limitations of traditional views on presupposition, such as Frege's and Strawson's, and critiques the pragmatic and semantic approaches. It proposes that presuppositions are anaphors that can be resolved using the same mechanism as pronoun resolution, with the additional capacity to accommodate an antecedent if discourse does not provide one. The paper also explores the differences between anaphoric binding and contextual satisfaction, and the testability of the anaphoric account of presupposition.
Reach us at info@study.space