Presuppositions and Pronouns - Nijmegen Centre for Semantics

Modals 197
bound and is therefore accommodated' accommodated. 7 Then p', which represents the
if-clause //-clause of the second conditional, is bound to q, as a result of which
x becomes accessible to z, and the presupposition triggered by Jack's children
can be resolved. The outcome is (48b), which is equivalent to (48c).
If if-clauses //"-clauses are presupposed, as I suggest, we also obtain an explanation
for examples like (49a):
(49) If we get a taxi, and if we aren't held up in a traffic jam, and if there
isn't an air strike, then we'll be in Timbuktu before teatime.
Observe that the second and the third if in (49) are redundant; they can be
eliminated salva veritate. The presuppositional analysis of //-clauses if-clauses explains
why this should be so: the first if-clause //-clause sets up a propositional reference
marker which is passed on to the consequent by the subsequent //-clauses, if-clauses,
and whose range of possible values is narrowed down in the process.
This presuppositional analysis of if-clauses //"-clauses accords with Haiman's (1978,
1986) proposal that if-clauses //-clauses are topics. Haiman notes that there are several
parallels between topic phrases and if-clauses. //-clauses. For example, the antecedent
of a conditional normally precedes the consequent,8 8 and in many languages
if-clauses //-clauses carry topic markers. Another parallel, which Haiman does not
mention, is that if-clauses //-clauses can be topicalized: 9
(50) a. If the accused is guilty then I suppose everybody hopes he will
be hanged.
b. I suppose everybody hopes the accused will be hanged if he is
guilty.
(50a) can be construed in such a way that it is synonymous with (SOb), (50b), and on
this reading the if-clause //-clause has presumably been fronted from a position within
the scope of the quantifier. These observations lend support to Haiman's
claim that if-clauses //-clauses are topics, and given the family ties between topics and
presuppositions they indirectly support the presuppositional analysis, too.
A further piece of evidence in favour of this analysis is the well-known fact
that, if people are arguing about whether 'if