Presupposition Theory

Origin. Frege (1892) on the presuppositions of definite descriptions; Strawson (1950) against Russell; Karttunen (1973, 1974) on projection and plugs, holes, filters; Stalnaker (1973, 1974) on common ground; Heim's file change semantics (1982, 1983); van der Sandt's anaphoric account (1992). Background entailments. Projection problem. Accommodation. Foundation of pragmatic semantics.

Models. Presuppositions as background requirements. Projection through operators. Context update. Accommodation when needed. Pragmatic/semantic interface.

Formalism.

Presupposition: S presupposes P: P backgrounded by S. P survives negation. "The king of France is bald" presupposes France has a king. "The king of France is not bald" still presupposes it.

Presupposition triggers: Definite descriptions: "the X." Factive verbs: "know that P." Change of state: "stop," "continue." Clefts: "It was John who..." Various constructions.

Projection problem: How presuppositions project through operators. "If France has a king, the king is bald" — presupposition satisfied in antecedent. "John doesn't know that P" — P still presupposed. Filtering vs projection.

Stalnaker: Presuppositions in common ground. CG: shared assumptions. Assertion must be compatible. Presupposition = requirement on CG.

Heim's semantics: Context change potential. c[S] = c updated with S. Presupposition = definedness condition. c[S] defined only if c entails presupposition.

Accommodation: Presupposition not in CG? Hearer adds it. "My sister is arriving" (hearer didn't know of sister). Repair mechanism.

Local accommodation: Add presupposition locally. Under operator scope. "If John has a sister, his sister will help." Narrow scope.

Symbols.

Metatheory. Background conditions. Projection. Accommodation. Context update.

Applies to. Definiteness. Factives. Context. Pragmatics.

Limitations. Trigger inventory. Accommodation limits. Local vs global. Interaction effects.

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