Context updates in head-final languages: linear order or hierarchy?

Abstract

This paper argues that extant approaches to presupposition projection that either
rely on strict linear order (Schlenker, 2009) or hierarchy (Romoli and Mandelkern, 2017) cannot
provide a uniform account of data drawn from head-final languages. While building on
Schlenker’s theory, this paper resolves the issues by restricting the calculation of local contexts
to specific points in the parsing process. The consequence is that the theory makes a prediction
robust to the head directionality parameter.
Keywords: presupposition projection, local context, parsing, linear order, hierarchy.