Dynamics and alternatives of unconditionals

Abstract

The 'indistinguishable participants' configuration, typically observed within conditional sentences, has motivated dynamic analyses of anaphora resolution. This study points out that the configuration is attested in 'unconditionals' as well. We analyze these instances of indistinguishable participants by augmenting dynamic semantics to Rawlins’ (2013) proposal for unconditionals, which utilizes Hamblinian alternative semantics. The result is a combination of dynamic semantics and update semantics. The success of the analysis provides further support for the combinatory system, which is independently motivated by Li (2021).