Week 12

Question 1

Peter wants to sell his cello
• This sentence means that:
• A: Peter owns a cello and in the possible worlds compatible with his desires he sells the cello
• B: Peter believes he owns a cello and in the possible worlds compatible with his desires he sells the cello

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Dimension.

- attitude holder:

Answer 2

the proposition expressed by the complement is true for the attitude holder

Question 3

Dimension.

• the type of possible worlds:

Answer 3

restricted by the lexical semantics of the attitude verb

Question 4

example
• Peter wants to sell his cello 
attitude holder:
• possible worlds: 
• = in the worlds compatible with Peter’s desire, he sells his cello
• not necessarily true in other worlds

Answer 4

• Peter

- worlds compatible with Peter’s desires

Question 5

believe v. know: similarities (2)

Answer 5

• 1. the attitude verb restricts the worlds in which P is true
• 2. the attitude holder believes that P is true

Question 6

believe v. know: differences (2)

Answer 6

• believe: we don’t know what the speaker thinks about P

* know: the speaker believes P is true

Question 7

Peter regrets selling his cello
• This sentence means that:
• A: Peter sold his cello and in the possible worlds in which Peter gets what he wants he didn’t sell the cello
• B: Peter believes he sold his cello and in the possible worlds in which he gets what he wants he didn’t sell his cello

Answer 7

B

Question 8

what all verbs of propositional attitudes have in common is that …

Answer 8

if they assume that something holds about p, then the attitude- holder believes p

Question 9

presuppositions:

Answer 9

• a requirement that something holds (p is true) for a sentence to be uttered felicitously

Question 10

my daughter is a brilliant hockey player

• presupposes that …

Answer 10

I (=the speaker) have a daughterI

Question 11

I’ll get the blue car

• presupposes that …

Answer 11

there is a unique blue car

Question 12

Peter is going to NYC too

• presupposes that…

Answer 12

someone else is going to NYC

Question 13

if the complement of an attitude verb presupposes something about its complement, then the whole utterance presupposes that ….

Answer 13

the attitude-holder believes p

Question 14

ambiguity:

Answer 14

• when a DP appears inside of a complement of a modal predicate, then it is systematically ambiguous

Question 15

de re/ de dicto readings:

Answer 15

• in the de re reading, the DP “escapes” from being evaluated in the possible worlds restricted by the modal predicate (extensional)
• in the de dicto reading, the DP is evaluated in the scope of the modal predicate (intensional)

Question 16

ex: John believes that your paper will be accepted
de re reading:
de dicto reading:

Answer 16

de re reading:

• John reviewed your paper and he told me about it without knowing it was your paper
• but I know its yours…

de dicto reading:
-John’s world

Question 17

Where does the difference come from (de re reading and de dicto reading)?

Answer 17

in general, differences in scope, i.e., genuine systematic ambiguities, arise through movement

Question 18

What are some presuppositional triggers?

Answer 18

• again
• too
• definite expressions
• pronouns

Question 19

p: I’m not going to see the new Transformers. q: I’m going to see a movie
• A: p entails q
• B: q entails p
• C: p entails q and q entails p
• D: there is no entailment

Answer 19

D

Question 20

What are the four tests that presuppositions have to pass in order to be presuppositions?

Answer 20

• embedding under setential negation
• embedded within If- clauses
• embedding under modals
• questions