Iconic presuppositions

Abstract

Why are some linguistic inferences treated as presuppositions? This is the 'Triggering Problem', which we attack from a new angle: we investigate highly iconic constructions in gestures (speech-replacing gestures or 'pro-speech gestures') and in signs (classifier predicates in ASL) and show that some regularly trigger presuppositions. These iconic constructions can be created and understood 'on the fly', with two advantages over lexical words: they suggest the existence of a productive 'triggering algorithm', since presuppositions can arguably be generated with no prior exposure to the iconic construction; and they make it possible to minimally modify the target constructions to determine which do and which don't generate presuppositions. Our investigation does not just target standard presuppositions, but also 'cosuppositions', initially defined as conditionalized presuppositions triggered by co-speech gestures. We show that pro-speech gestures and classifier predicates alike can trigger cosuppositions, which are thus an inferential class that goes beyond the confines of co-speech gestures (Aristodemo 2017). Our data argue for a triggering algorithm that can generate presuppositions on iconic grounds, and we offer a generalization of cosupposition theory on which these can be triggered for reasons of manner (co-speech gestures), but also for conceptual reasons.

Sign Language Semantics: Problems and Prospects

“…We simultaneously asked our informants to assess the strength (also on a 7point scale) of the cosuppositional inference: if the speaker were to lift the child, effort/difficulty would be involved. The results suggest that we obtain a weak cosupposition under questions with LIFT-difficult in (27)b but not with the at-issue control in (27)c. Embedding under other operators confirms this pattern of projection (Schlenker 2018c).…”

“…The same conclusion can be drawn on the basis of pro-speech gestures in English (Schlenker 2018c). (27) contrasts two realizations of a lifting gesture: a neutral lifting gesture, glossed as LIFT in (27)a; and a lifting gesture realized with difficulty (trembling hands), glossed as LIFT-difficult in (27)b.…”

Clausal embedding in Washo: Complementation vs. modification

“…We offer here a couple of suggestions for how future work might proceed on this question. For instance, Schlenker (2021) proposes a default presupposition projection algorithm for factive verbs and other presupposition triggers. His main motivation is that classical lexicalist theories of presupposition run into problems in cases where a presupposition trigger does not uniformly trigger the relevant presupposition (for instance, like our ( 86) and ( 87) above), and in cases where a presupposition projects in the absence of a lexical trigger (e.g., in the case of certain gestures).…”

What is Super Semantics?*

“…The literature has now considered a variety of pro‐speech gestures that similarly trigger presuppositions. The next step is to determine how these examples bear on existing ‘triggering algorithms’, and possibly how they could suggest new ones (see Schlenker , for discussion).…”

“…This can be described as a cosupposition (a conditionalized presupposition) triggered by purely iconic means. See Schlenker for potentially related examples involving pro‐speech gestures and ASL classifier predicates.…”