Talk by Brendan S. Gillon
Donkey Anaphora and a Puzzle Due to C.S.~Peirce
The paper shows that an observation of C. S. Peirce is problematic
for a variety of theories of anaphora, including DRT, DPL, E-Type
pronouns. Peirce observed that while classical quantificational
logic treats the following formulae as logically equivalent,
- (1.1) \forall x Fx \rightarrow \exists y Gy
- (1.2) $\exists x (Fx \rightarrow Gx)$.
their {\it prima facie} instances in English are not, intuitively
speaking, equivalent, as borne out by this pair of sentences.
- (2.1) Someone will win \$1,000, if everyone takes part. \\
- (2.2) Someone will win \$1,000, if he takes part.
The paper proposes an E-Type Pronoun solution.
Paul Dekker, November 2, 1995