At-issueness ≠ anaphoric availability

Abstract

The at-issue status of a proposition and its availability for anaphora have been tightly linked in the literature (e.g., Tonhauser 2012; Syrett & Koev 2014). In particular, a frequently used diagnostic for at-issueness crucially relies on propositional anaphora. I argue that two different QUD-based diagnostics from Tonhauser 2012—which do not rely on anaphora—more reliably identify at-issueness. I use these diagnostics to show that neither at-issueness nor availability for anaphora reliably determine one another.