Sinn und Bedeutung is a major European conference, devoted to formal semantics and pragmatics as well as neighbouring fields. The first installment took place in Tübingen in 1996, initiated by Arnim von Stechow and Sebastian Löbner. The papers of the conference have been made available in proceedings since SUB 6 in 2002, Osnabrück. In an ongoing initiative, the proceedings are being put online and maintained at the University of Konstanz, starting from SuB 22 (2017, Berlin) and adding earlier and further issues by and by. All issues are also available at a SuB site (Gesellschaft für Semantik) maintained by Emar Maier, whom we warmly thank for his efforts in archiving the proceedings. All issues are also available at the SemanticsArchive. The copyright for articles remains with the individual authors. (Konstanz, July 2019)
Deixis and depiction are commonly taken to be incompatible with the composition of descriptive grammatical content. In this paper, we present uses of demonstratives that allow deictic and depictive information to enter descriptive content in a principled way. Specifically, we show that even exophoric demonstratives that take rigid and iconic information can refer at the kind-level. We argue that the derivation of kind reference is different between deictic demonstratives and depictive demonstratives: in the former, a relevant subkind is identified from an object-level entity, while in the latter, the depictive information directly composes with the noun and forms a kind without the intermediate reference to an entity. This analysis has implications on the semantic analysis of demonstratives and highlights the ability of demonstratives to mediate between different modalities of language.
Copyright (c) 2026 Ying Zhang, Dorothy Ahn https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Imperative-or-declarative and practical triviality
We draw attention to a novel puzzle concerning imperative-or-declarative disjunctions. To solve this puzzle, we introduce a notion of practical triviality: a sentence is practically trivial if it produces no effect on the addressee’s preference structure. We spell out this analysis formally using a new formulation of preference semantics (e.g., Starr, 2020) according to which preference relations are defined over worlds rather than over propositions.
Copyright (c) 2026 Yichi (Raven) Zhang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Conditionality without 'if' : Conditional marking strategies in Mandarin
In deriving conditional meaning, it is generally assumed that a conditional connective like if plays a crucial role. Yet, constructions which express conditional meaning without any counterpart of if exist. For instance, sentential conjunctions in English such as Mary sings one more song and I’ll leave may receive a conjunctive or a conditional interpretation (conditional conjunctions (CCs)). The conditional interpretation of CCs is an instance of conditional meaning arising in the absence of if. This paper adds to the discussion of conditionality without ‘if’. I bring evidence from Mandarin, a language known for commonly expressing conditional meaning without any overt marking (e.g., Comrie, 1986; Yang, 2021; Liu and Wang, 2022). I dub the conditionals without an identifiable ‘if’ zero-marked conditionals. I argue that Mandarin zero-marked conditionals are essentially conditional juxtapositions whose first sentences are topicalized. I propose that topicalization is the source of conditionality in Mandarin bare conditionals. I also compare the current approach with the covert-and approach (e.g., Liu, 2017), and show that the current account has wider empirical coverage.
Copyright (c) 2026 Xuetong Yuan https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Presupposition filtering in disjunction: The role of exclusive interpretation
Kalomoiros and Schwarz (2024) report symmetric presupposition projection across disjunction, a key datum for theories of projection. This study further asks whether projection across disjunctions is affected by exclusive interpretations. We observe that many fully semantic implementations of exclusivity and presupposition projection converge on the same, previously untested prediction: exclusive disjunction yields uniform projection (i.e., no filtering for either disjunct), so increasing exclusivity should reduce filtering. Mayr and Romoli (2016a) derive this prediction for Strong Kleene semantics when exclusivity is computed via bivalent exhaustification, and we show that it also follows, under the same assumption, for George’s (2008) algorithm, and for dynamic semantics (Rothschild, 2011). We also derive this prediction for strong-negation variants of trivalent exhaustification (Spector and Sudo, 2017). We then test this prediction in a Mandarin acceptability-judgment experiment adapted from Kalomoiros and Schwarz (2024), manipulating the rate of exclusive readings via environmental monotonicity. In fact, we find no evidence that increasing exclusivity affects filtering. If this null effect proves robust, it puts pressure on most of the above semantic implementations and appears compatible with only a weak-negation version of trivalent exhaustification that has been argued to be undesirable for independent reasons (Spector and Sudo, 2017), so we discuss possible future paths.
Copyright (c) 2026 Yiqian Wang, Kathryn Davidson https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Evaluating theories on 'de re' presuppositions
Presuppositions embedded under attitude predicates are often assumed to project into the belief state of the attitude holder, yielding de dicto interpretations. However, additives such as also and too permit de re construals that escape belief projection, whereas other triggers, such as only, do not. This paper evaluates existing accounts of de re presuppositions and argues that they face two persistent problems: (i) the availability of de re presuppositions is sensitive to the attitude holder’s beliefs, and (ii) it varies systematically across presupposition trigger types. I propose a pragmatic mechanism, the Weak Commitment Assumption, according to which attitude holders are assumed to weakly commit to presupposed content unless explicitly opposed. Combined with trigger-specific partial resolution, this approach explains when and why de re presuppositions are licensed.
Copyright (c) 2026 Yaxuan Wang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
A structurally uniform account of slur-based definites
We argue for a structurally uniform account of slur-based definites (SDs), focusing on the systematic ambiguity between descriptive and epithet readings of SDs in Brazilian Portuguese. We showthat the interpretive and distributional contrasts between these readings – e.g., concerning misdescription tolerance, Principle C effects, binominal constructions, NP ellipsis – do not motivate structural ambiguity within the DP, contrary to recent proposals. Instead, we derive both readings from the interaction of two independently motivated ingredients: (i) an optional type-shifting operation triggered by a syntactic [ex +] feature on NPs, which transfers descriptive content from the truth-conditional to the use-conditional dimension; and (ii) a systematic lexical ambiguity in definite determiners, which can be interpreted either as uniqueness operators or as pronominal elements. This approach preserves a uniform DP syntax while accounting for the full range of interpretive and distributional properties of slur-based nominals. Furthermore, it also unifies epithet readings with referential uses of definite descriptions.
Copyright (c) 2026 Giuseppe Varaschin, Antonio Machicao y Priemer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Revisiting sign language classifiers: (How) do classifiers classify?
Sign language classifiers combine conventional, non-conventional, arbitrary, and iconic elements. While other similarly complex constructions, such as ideophones and gestures, have been analyzed for their at-issueness, classifiers have not. In this paper, we introduce a new type of classifier in HMSL, which we call size-and-class, along with findings on the projection properties of SAS classifiers in LSF. Strikingly, we find that classifiers exhibit the opposite behavior to these other hybrid objects in the way they contribute meaning. To account for the observed difference, we identify three possible hypotheses: i) an iconicity-based hypothesis, ii) a structure-based hypothesis, and iii) a prominence-based hypothesis. We find evidence in favor of the latter two, but call for future work targeting the at-issueness of different types of classifier to further determine whether structure or prominence, or perhaps both, determine at-issueness.
Copyright (c) 2026 Sybil Vachaudez, Semantha Prins, Juan Sian Ajsivinac, Carlo Geraci, Robert Henderson, Jeremy Kuhn https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Beyond categorical handshapes: Iconicity and role-shift in entity classifier predicates in Hong Kong Sign Language
In sign languages, a sign is formed and described along three basic phonological parameters: handshapes, locations, movements, and a sub-parameter of orientation. In classifier (also known as depicting) constructions, these parameters are flexibly combined into complex morphemes to iconically depict the spatial relations among entities simultaneously. While classifier handshape is generally agreed to be a discrete, linguistic unit that captures some iconic visual properties of the referent, movement and location are argued to be gesture-like components that are gradiently produced and perceived. By looking into whole-entity classifier predicates of Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) that encode manners of location, this paper aims to (i) identify the hand features that are integrated as part of a complex demonstration in classifiers, and (ii) understand how action role-shift is used to further exemplify demonstration. Finally, we sketch a formal semantic account of demonstration with entity classifiers and roleshift in HKSL.
Copyright (c) 2026 Vanessa Wing Yan Tsang, Markus Steinbach, Gladys Tang, Yiu Leung Aaron Wang https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Temporal connectives and differential arguments in Japanese
This paper examines the Japanese temporal connective mae ‘before’ with a focus on scale structure. It has been argued that temporal precedence expressed by a temporal connective can be defined in terms of a dense scale (e.g., Klein, 2009; von Stechow, 2009; Sharvit, 2014; a.o.). This study, however, points out that mae exhibits some peculiarities not expected by an analysis using a dense scale, and offers an alternative analysis of mae based on Alstott’s (2023, 2025) analysis of ordinals. Specifically, I propose that mae can occur in two distinct types of syntactic structures: a nominal structure and an adjectival comparative structure. In each structure, mae bears a different semantic function, and its interpretation varies according to the nature of an appropriate scale.
Copyright (c) 2026 Yuta Tatsumi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
A clausal analysis of a class of phrasal comparatives in Japanese
This paper argues that a class of Japanese phrasal comparatives involves reduced clausal structure. Bhatt and Takahashi (2007, 2011) argue that Japanese requires both a 2-place and a 3-place -er, with the former deriving clausal comparatives and the latter deriving phrasal comparatives. I argue instead that the relevant phrasal comparatives can be derived uniformly with a 2-place -er. The argument comes from two readings of Japanese phrasal comparatives: a narrow reading, in which the standard is associated with a DP-internal nominal, and a wide reading, in which it is associated with a DP-external argument. I show that these readings correspond to two independently motivated structures for Japanese adjectival modification: an Indirect Modification structure and a Direct Modification structure. The distribution of the readings follows from the interaction between these structures and the scope position of -er: the narrow reading is derived when -er takes scope inside a relative clause, whereas the wide reading is derived when -er takes scope in the matrix clause. To implement this scope-based analysis with a 2-place -er, I follow Pancheva (2006, 2009) in allowing yori-phrases to contain reduced clausal material smaller than a full CP, specifically vP. On this view, the different readings arise from different scope positions of the same 2-place -er within the two types of modification structures.
Copyright (c) 2026 Jun Tamura https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Gradable abstract nouns and eventualities
This paper proposes that gradable abstract nouns (GNs) such as beauty and bravery and related gradable adjectives (GAs) such as beautiful and brave have a shared semantic root, namely a measure function on states. However, GAs and GNs are lexicalized as being of a different semantic type. The proposal explains why GNs and GAs share properties such as gradability, but also why they differ. For instance, it account for why GNs do not imply positive readings above a certain contextual standard (Alex’s bravery was lacking). The paper additionally provides data supporting the view that GNs can be categorised as either dispositional or non-dispositional. Only dispositional GNs allow for unrestricted spatiotemporal location (Alex’s bravery/?beauty in the courthouse yesterday). This is analysed as a routinised coercion from states to acts that manifest those dispositional states.
Copyright (c) 2026 Peter R. Sutton https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Obligatory speaker-oriented rhetoricality: The case of Cantonese 'me'↓-utterances
Rhetorical utterances employ the same sentence types as ordinary questions and assertions, yet differ systematically in how they engage with discourse structure and speaker commitment. Prevailing accounts analyze rhetoricality as Common-Ground–oriented, deriving rhetorical interpretations when the Issue raised by an utterance is already closed in the shared discourse context. This paper proposes a refinement of that view, arguing that rhetoricality is fundamentally speaker-oriented: an utterance is rhetorical when it raises a proposition that conflicts with the speaker’s own public discourse commitments. I develop this proposal through a case study of Cantonese sentence-final particles, focusing on me1 and its high-falling tonal variant me↓. While me1 signals epistemic uncertainty by raising a proposition without committing the speaker to it, me↓ obligatorily yields a rhetorical interpretation in which the speaker rejects the prejacent despite contextual evidence that might support it. I argue that me↓ is compositionally derived from me1 and an additional low boundary tone (L%), where me1 suspends speaker commitment and L% introduces a requirement of incompatibility between the prejacent and the speaker’s discourse commitment in the input context. Their interaction produces a stable configuration in which an Issue is raised while remaining incompatible with the speaker’s commitments, thereby encoding rhetoricality in the form itself.
Copyright (c) 2026 Yingyu Su https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Circumstantial possibility with degrees: The case of German 'bar'-adjectives
We analyze German deverbal adjectives formed with the derivational suffix -bar (e.g., les-bar ‘read-able’). We argue that whether and in what way bar-adjectives are gradable depends on the event description introduced by the verbal stem and is highly context dependent. We discuss Kratzer’s semantic analysis of bar-adjectives and point out limitations of her account. We propose an alternative account where Kratzer’s notion of circumstantial possibility is replaced by a notion of generic success: bar-adjectives express that the action described by their verbal stem can be successfully performed with their individual argument as a patient. Success is measured relative to a contextually given goal. We discuss various bar-adjectives and show that the observed gradability patterns depend on what counts as success relative to a goal.
Copyright (c) 2026 Frank Sode, Sarah Zobel https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Future/epistemic ambiguities as height-relativity: Evidence from Gujarati
Epistemic claims and future claims often involve the same morpheme (Enç, 1996; Kush, 2015; Winans, 2016; Giannakidou and Mari, 2018). This paper argues that, in some languages, this is because apparent reference to future times is quantification over future worlds. This assimilates the epistemic/future parallel to variable-flavor modality. I introduce novel data from Gujarati (Indo-Aryan), which allows only epistemic readings of the morpheme -s- when it is placed on the auxiliary verb (hovu, ‘to be’), and only future readings when on main verbs. I provide a univocal analysis of the morpheme, where -s- contributes universal modal force, but the modal base (epistemic vs. metaphysical) is determined by syntactic position (following Hacquard, 2006). I also show -s- can scope under negation, strengthening the claim that -s- is a necessity modal.
Copyright (c) 2026 Malhaar Shah https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Negative Polarity, presuppositions, and the Harmony hypothesis
I present the idea that any denotes a disharmonious quantifier: a device for logically incoherent “all or nothing” generalizations. To prevent triviality, any cannot be used with assertoric force in the premises, conclusion, or presuppositions of a valid argument: a restriction that the grammar implements as an exclusion from Strawson upward monotone environments.
Copyright (c) 2026 Giorgio Sbardolini https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Perspective shift in speech and thought event reports: A mixed-quotation analysis of indirect discourse
There is a prevalent consensus that indirect discourse (ID), in contrast to other modes of speech and thought representation, does not allow shifted readings of deictic expressions. We present the results of an acceptability rating study which illustrate that temporal indexicals can receive an interpretation from the protagonist’s rather than the speaker’s perspective in German ID, as long as certain conditions are fulfilled. We propose that one crucial condition is that the ID matrix clause constitutes a report of a speech or thought event rather than a mental state. Based on Clark and Gerrig’s (1990) demonstration-based model of quotation and following Walter and Hinterwimmer’s (2025) analysis of shifted emoji readings in ID, we analyze perspective shift in ID as a case of mixed-quotation that functions as a demonstration of the original speech or thought event.
Copyright (c) 2026 Christopher Saure, Stefan Hinterwimmer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This paper develops some arguments implicit in Roberts (2002) in favor of her proposal that endophoric demonstratives are associated with a demonstration that targets a preceding or following discourse fragment, with the proximity feature of the demonstrative determined by their linear, temporal proximity. It also provides some additional evidence, partly facilitated by peculiarities of the Dutch demonstrative system. Circular and self-referential textual (and discourse) demonstratives, cataphoric demonstratives, and contrastingdemonstrative pairs give rise to obligatory choices for proximal or distal variants, based on thelinear ordering imposed by syntax.
Copyright (c) 2026 E.G. Ruys https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The shared core of memory predicates is non-novel knowledge
I claim that what memory predicates like English remember, German noch wissen (‘still know’) and sich erinnern (‘refl remember/remind’) have in common is that they denote a form of non-novel (not necessarily retained, contra Rosina and Liefke, 2025b) knowledge (‘still know, know again, or re-know’). This is oftentimes reflected in morphemes of retention, repetition, and restitution (cognates of still, again, re-). I attribute cross-predicate variation (like the availability of ‘eventive’ readings, ‘remembering right now’) to the distinction between ‘still’, ‘again’ and ‘re-’ and to differences in the way the meaning ‘non-novel knowledge’ comes about: sich erinnern (‘refl remember/remind’) is included in the perceived predicate class due to pragmatic entailment plus grammaticalization, while in remember and noch wissen (‘still know’) ‘non-novel knowledge’ comes about compositionally in a more or less transparent way.
Copyright (c) 2026 Emil Eva Rosina https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
An existential semantics for over-informative attitudinal embedding in film
We review prior work on geometric semantics, temporal progression, and indexing in pictorial narratives, and then develop them for film, using an abstract syntax that assembles film shots, and is interpreted compositionally. The result is a compositional possible worlds semantics for extensional passages in film. Intensional passages in film include shots describing the hallucinations, dreams, and recollections of a character. Thematically, they include stories about drug-induced hallucination, characters who see the dead, and schizophrenic characters who interact with imaginary ones. In the abstract syntax, a straightforward embedding strategy is adopted, involving an attitude predicate, an index for an experiencer, and an index for the counterpart of the experiencer in the embedded passage. For the semantics, we argue that there is a systematic problem of the embedded shots having detailed geometric, temporal, and (for sound film) acoustic information. This information is so strong that it is implausible that in described situations, the experiencing character should have strong enough information to entail the information in the embedded shot. This makes Hintikka/Lewis semantics for embedding in film problematic. A starting point for a solution is found in linguistic descriptions of the content of embedded film passages that use an existential modal could, rather than a universal one. This is developed into a possible worlds semantics for filmic embedding that uses existential world quantification, strengthened by a normality condition stated using an ordering source.
Copyright (c) 2026 Mats Rooth, Dorit Abusch https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Modally interpreted relative clauses in Spanish: The role of mood
Volitional action verbs like comprar ‘buy’ allow for mood alternation between indicative and subjunctive in an embedded relative clause in Spanish, with subjunctive mood leading to a modally flavored interpretation absent in the indicative counterpart. To analyse this interpretive contrast, Alonso-Ovalle, Menéndez-Benito and Rubinstein (2024) treat mood as introducing world quantification. In the present paper, we present problems for such treatment of mood and develop an alternative proposal in which mood is treated as a world pronoun (Romero, 2024; cf. Schlenker, 2005). The results have repercussions for the locus of world quantification in event-anchored modal frameworks.
Copyright (c) 2026 Maribel Romero https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Predicates such as are extinct or are widespread have long been assumed to apply only to kinds. I present evidence that the predicates typically described as kind-level are numerous-type collective predicates, based on their interaction with all and their failure to exhibit homogeneity effects. This undermines the principal semantic motivation for analysing their bare plural arguments as kind-denoting. Instead, I argue that their arguments are type ???? expressions and that plural kind predication is just plural predication. I give a compositional semantics for bare plurals and explain differences between bare and definite plurals in terms of the situation argument that can restrict their domain.
Copyright (c) 2026 Tom Ralston https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
On the semantics of the response item 'that’s right'
This work discusses the semantic features of the English positive response item that’s right and its kin. It will be argued that, unlike a garden-variety positive response item (e.g., yes), that’s right presupposes (i) that the polar question it responds to, Q, is a congruent subquestion of some contextually prominent non-polar question Q’, and (ii) that the nucleus proposition of Q is such that if it is true, it is the complete answer (most informative answer) to Q’. In consequence of this, a polar question responded to by that’s right must be a “nuclear” (as opposed to “total”) polar question, which contains a (non-polarity) focus.
Copyright (c) 2026 David Y. Oshima https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
The unbearable simplicity of being something
This paper investigates a correlation between copula agreement and anaphoric potential in Czech and German copular clauses. We argue that this correlation stems from a structural ambiguity between standard predicational clauses and a novel category of classificatory clauses. To capture the intuition that nominal predicates in the latter act as classifiers rather than simple property-denoting expressions, we introduce Locus Semantics. By distinguishing between an entity and its mental representation (locus), this framework allows for a formal treatment of grammatical features as class-presuppositions. We propose that while predicational structures resolve conflicting class-presuppositions via a type-shifter—allowing only for accommodated anaphora—classificatory structures utilize a silent, mediating pronoun. This pronoun introduces a distinct locus, thereby licensing non-canonical agreement and direct discourse anaphora.
Copyright (c) 2026 Edgar Onea, Ivona Kučerová https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Greek directive subjunctive questions, high negation bias and modality
In this paper, I examine Greek root subjunctives, addressing the debate over whether the prioritizing modality of inherently performative directive utterances is encoded in their semantics or instead derived via a context-update mechanism in pragmatics (as has been argued for imperatives). Root subjunctives pattern with imperatives in exhibiting directive performative properties, satisfying all standard diagnostics; unlike imperatives, however, they also form Subjunctive Questions (SQs). Focusing on the interaction between SQs and negation, I show that negation can take high scope, yielding High Negation bias effects that support a semantic modal analysis of directive force. I argue that the presence of a modal operator at LF provides a more flexible basis for accounting for the variable force observed in SQs.
Copyright (c) 2026 Despina Oikonomou https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
A unified analysis of concessive conditionals and unconditionals
Across languages, scalar concessive conditionals (SCCs; Even if Al comes…) and unconditionals (Whoever comes…) are typically expressed by distinct constructions. Japanese presents an intriguing contrast: both are realized by te mo adjuncts. This paper argues that mo in these constructions uniformly instantiates the scalar additive particle EVEN, yielding a unified compositional analysis of SCCs and unconditionals. Following Szabolcsi (2019), the universal force of unconditionals is derived through recursive exhaustification applied to existential statements over conditional propositions. The existential structure is not lexically encoded; rather, it is introduced by Erlewine’s (2020) covert ∃ operator, inserted to satisfy the semantic requirements of EVEN. The analysis also extends to FCIs and NPIs involving mo.
Copyright (c) 2026 Kimiko Nakanishi https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
This article explores the semantics of modal adverbs/particles. Specifically, I focus on the counterpart of perhaps in Japanese which can only occur in a polar question or an epistemic possibility statement. I propose a discourse-oriented approach to this distributional pattern: they espouse a plausible answer to a question given in the discourse, but at the same time require that this question is still open after the utterance. A non-modal statement cannot satisfy these two constraints simultaneously because asserting an answer to a question necessarily closes the question, deriving the restricted distribution under polar questions and epistemic possibility statements. I discuss its implication to the semantic theories of concord phenomena.
Copyright (c) 2026 Takanobu Nakamura https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Modal perspectives on counter-expectational 'but'
This paper examines a novel analysis of English but in its counter-expectational use, grounded in a weak necessity modal semantics Kratzer (1991). We focus on a problem for existing accounts: the inference triggered by the second conjunct is systematically either too strong or too weak. We discuss Winter and Rimon (1994) and Toosarvandani (2014), and conclude that neither derives the attested inference pattern without over-/under-generation. We propose that counter-expectational but encodes weak necessity relative to a contextually supplied ordering source. Our account is supported by empirical facts showing modal polysemy as part of the meaning of but.
Copyright (c) 2026 Flavia Naehrlich, David Müller https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Upper limit effects in DPs and the interdependence of worlds and times
The distribution of upper limit effects suggests that an expression’s evaluation time cannot be bound independently from its evaluation world. Specifically, even in cases where worlds and times can be non-locally bound (which implies the availability of mechanisms with object-language quantification or equivalent power), both coordinates must be bound by the same (non-local) antecedent. From this, I conclude that the mechanism manipulating worlds and times in natural language is less expressive than a mechanism that manipulates independent object-language variables that range over worlds and times. At most, the mechanism that binds worlds and times can express binding of evaluation indices (i.e. world-time pairs).
Copyright (c) 2026 Paul Meisenbichler https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
There is a long-standing debate in the literature on how presuppositions project from the scope of quantifiers. Some theories argue for universal projection while others for existential projection, or a combination of both. More recently, some theories have proposed more nuanced, quantifier-specific predictions, where the projected presupposition roughly aligns with the ‘force’ of the quantifier. Previous quantitative studies have helped clarify the empirical landscape, but their results do not fully distinguish between these theories. Building on their methodologies, we conducted two experiments to further investigate presupposition projection in quantificational contexts, focusing on the existence presupposition of definite descriptions, and gender presuppositions of pronouns. Our results show that theories integrating both universal and what we dub ‘intermediate’ projection, in addition to local accommodation, provide the strongest account of the data in both experiments. However, our results also reveal differences between existence and gender presuppositions which are not fully accounted for by existing theories. We suggest that this discrepancy partly arises from the differential availability of local accommodation across presupposition types and explore potential theoretical refinements to address this issue.
Copyright (c) 2026 Paul Marty, Patrick D. Elliott, Alexandros Kalomoiros, Jacopo Romoli https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Denials as a window into semantic and world knowledge violations
A long-standing challenge in semantics concerns the boundary between semantic anomaly – understood as a violation of linguistically encoded selectional restrictions – and statements that are semantically well-formed but false given world knowledge. This paper proposes a novel approach that starts from the assumption that semantic knowledge and world knowledge differ in the roles they play within the Common Ground. Specifically, we argue that they differ with respect to their potential at-issueness. Whereas semantic restrictions are, by their very nature, non-at-issue, world knowledge may be either at-issue or non-at-issue. We exploit this difference to further explore the dividing line between semantic and world knowledge. Treating denials as a window into this distinction, we derive two diagnostics that are both grounded in speakers’ use of denial: the FALSUM Test and the “Wait a Minute!” Test. Both tests show that denials and related ways of challenging an utterance are available only for world knowledge violations, but not for semantic violations. The diagnostics converge in their results and successfully classify not only clear cases of category mismatch, but also more controversial borderline cases. Two judgment studies provide empirical support for the proposed approach. Overall, our findings offer a principled step toward delineating semantic well-formedness from semantic anomaly.
Copyright (c) 2026 Claudia Maienborn, Frauke Buscher-Schiewe, Carolin Dudschig, Barbara Kaup https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/