Simultaneous readings of past-under-past in Russian

Abstract

This paper examines simultaneous readings of past-under-past in Russian. Based on the pattern of cessation inferences, I argue that these readings can only be derived through a de re construal. I demonstrate that the pragmatic competitor for this reading is the double access interpretation of the embedded present tense, which is also derived via a de re construal.Under the grammatical approach to implicature calculation, the structure of the competitor provides insight into the structure of the original statement. I propose a straightforward test for identifying languages in which simultaneous readings can only arise through a de re construal.