Obligatory presupposition in discourse

Pascal Amsili | Université Paris Diderot & Laboratoire de Linguistique Formelle, CNRS

Claire Beyssade | Institut Jean Nicod, CNRS Paris

Some presupposition triggers, like too, seem to be obligatory in discourses where the presupposition they induce is explicitely expressed. We show that this phenomenon concerns a larger class than is usually acknowledged, and suggest that this class corresponds to the class of presupposition triggers that have no asserted content. We then propose a pragmatic explanation relying on the neo-gricean notion of antipresupposition. We also show that the phenomenon has a complex interaction with discourse relations.

Published online: 14 April 2010
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.194.06ams

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