Neg-raising, accessibility and propositional anaphora

Abstract

Neg-raising predicates show a special behavior with respect to propositional anaphora. When negated, a neg-raising predicate makes a discourse referent available for the negation of the proposition denoted by its embedded clause. Non-neg-raising predicates do not allow such anaphora. The behavior is puzzling since no constituent of the sentence denotes the negation of the embedded clause. I suggest that an excluded middle presupposition-based approach, cf. Bartsch 1973, to neg-raising offers a solution. I propose that one disjunct of the excluded middle presupposition introduces a discourse referent for the negation of the embedded clause. This discourse referent is accessible conditionally on the negation of the other disjunct. Such an interaction between disjunction an anaphora is observed by Rothschild 2017.