Types of presupposition triggers in natural language.
Each trigger type introduces a characteristic presupposition pattern. These are used for alternative generation in SI computation.
- definite : PresupTrigger
Definite descriptions: "the X" presupposes X exists and is unique
- factive : PresupTrigger
Factive predicates: "know/regret that P" presupposes P
- changeOfState : PresupTrigger
Change-of-state predicates: "stop/start V-ing" presupposes prior state
- iterative : PresupTrigger
Iteratives: "again", "still" presuppose prior occurrence
- cleft : PresupTrigger
Cleft constructions: "It was X that..." presupposes existence
- aspectual : PresupTrigger
Aspectual predicates: "finish", "continue" presuppose event structure
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A presupposition trigger occurrence in a sentence.
Records the position and type of trigger, enabling compositional presupposition computation and alternative generation.
- position : ℕ
Word position in the sentence
- trigger : PresupTrigger
Type of trigger
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A derivation extended with presupposition tracking.
This extends the basic Implicature infrastructure to track presuppositions through the derivation, enabling:
- Presupposition projection computation
- Interaction between presuppositions and SIs
- meaning : Core.Presupposition.PrProp W
The underlying presuppositional proposition
- triggers : List TriggerOccurrence
Presupposition triggers in the sentence
- polarity : Core.NaturalLogic.ContextPolarity
Current polarity context
Surface form (optional, for display)
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Exhaustification may strengthen presuppositions.
When alternatives to a sentence have presuppositions, exhaustification (negating those alternatives) can introduce additional presuppositions.
This is a structural observation; detailed computation would require integrating with the Exhaustivity module.
- base : Core.Presupposition.PrProp W
The base sentence
- alternatives : List (Core.Presupposition.PrProp W)
Alternatives with their presuppositions
- exhaustified : Core.Presupposition.PrProp W
The exhaustified meaning
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Alternative Structure for Presupposition Triggers #
@cite{wang-2025} Table 4.1 classifies presuppositional triggers by what non-presuppositional alternative they have. This determines their behavior under the IC >> FP >> MP constraint ranking.
Three patterns:
- Deletion alternatives: trigger can be deleted (ye/also → ∅, you/again → ∅)
- Replacement alternatives: trigger has a specific lexical alternative (zhidao/know → believe, buzai/no-longer → not)
- No structural alternative: no available alternative (jiu/only → ∅)
This classification predicts obligatoriness:
- Deletion/replacement alternatives → trigger can be optional or obligatory
- No alternative → trigger is mandatorily omitted when presupposition only partially holds
@cite{wang-2025} Table 4.1: How a presupposition trigger relates to its non-presuppositional alternative.
- deletion : AltStructure
Alternative is obtained by deleting the trigger (ye/also → ∅, you/again → ∅)
- replacement : AltStructure
Alternative is a specific lexical replacement (zhidao/know → believe)
- none : AltStructure
No structural alternative available (jiu/only)
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- Implicature.Presuppositions.instBEqAltStructure.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)
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@cite{wang-2025} pragmatic constraint ranking: IC >> FP >> MP.
- IC (Internal Coherence): S_p's presupposition is consistent with its assertion. Non-violable.
- FP (Felicity Presupposition): S_p's presupposition is entailed by the CG. Violable but ranked above MP.
- MP (Maximize Presupposition): Prefer the presuppositional S_p over its non-presuppositional alternative S when context supports it. Violable.
- IC : PragConstraint
Internal Coherence: presupposition consistent with assertion (non-violable)
- FP : PragConstraint
Felicity Presupposition: CG entails presupposition (violable)
- MP : PragConstraint
Maximize Presupposition: prefer presuppositional form (violable)
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- Implicature.Presuppositions.instBEqPragConstraint.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)
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IC is non-violable; FP and MP are violable.
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The canonical constraint ranking: IC >> FP >> MP.
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Obligatoriness pattern predicted by the alternative competition framework.
@cite{wang-2025} derives three patterns from the interaction of trigger type, alternative structure, and constraint ranking:
- Obligatory: trigger must be used when CG supports presupposition
- Optional: trigger may or may not be used
- Blocked: trigger must NOT be used (mandatorily omitted)
- obligatory : Obligatoriness
Trigger is obligatory when presupposition is fully entailed by CG
- optional : Obligatoriness
Trigger is optional (either form is acceptable)
- blocked : Obligatoriness
Trigger is blocked (mandatorily omitted in this context)
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- Implicature.Presuppositions.instBEqObligatoriness.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)
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A presupposition trigger entry with @cite{wang-2025} alternative structure.
Extends the basic trigger type with information about what non-presuppositional alternative exists, enabling the constraint-based competition analysis.
- trigger : PresupTrigger
The trigger type (from existing classification)
- altStructure : AltStructure
Alternative structure (Wang Table 4.1)
Lexical form of the alternative (if replacement)
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Assign alternative structure to standard trigger types.
Default mapping based on cross-linguistic generalizations. Language-specific entries may override (see Fragments/Mandarin/).
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- Implicature.Presuppositions.PresupTrigger.definite.defaultAltStructure = Implicature.Presuppositions.AltStructure.replacement
- Implicature.Presuppositions.PresupTrigger.factive.defaultAltStructure = Implicature.Presuppositions.AltStructure.replacement
- Implicature.Presuppositions.PresupTrigger.changeOfState.defaultAltStructure = Implicature.Presuppositions.AltStructure.replacement
- Implicature.Presuppositions.PresupTrigger.iterative.defaultAltStructure = Implicature.Presuppositions.AltStructure.deletion
- Implicature.Presuppositions.PresupTrigger.cleft.defaultAltStructure = Implicature.Presuppositions.AltStructure.none
- Implicature.Presuppositions.PresupTrigger.aspectual.defaultAltStructure = Implicature.Presuppositions.AltStructure.replacement