Protagonist Projection

Abstract

This paper provides a semantic analysis of Protagonist Projection, the phenomenon by which things are described from a point of view different from that of the speaker. Against what has been argued by some, the account vindicates the intuitive idea that Protagonist Projection does not give rise to counterexamples to factivity, and similar plausible principles. A pragmatics is sketched that explains the attitude attributions generated by Protagonist Projection. Further, the phenomenon is compared to Free Indirect Discourse, and the proposed account is seen to preserve the relation between them. IntroductionIn 1977 1 For example in (2a), things are described from the point of view of the voters who falsely believed that John was telling the truth, and it is this reorientation that licenses the wh-construction.Protagonist Projection, Holton observed, is quite widespread. Here are some of his further examples: 2 (3) a. He gave her a ring studded with diamonds, but they turned out to be glass. b. She knew that he would never let her down, but, like all the others, he did. c. I saw a shooting star last night. I wished on it, but it was just a satellite. d. She sold him a pig in a bag. When he got home he discovered it was really a cat.All of these sentences are perfectly acceptable, although they too have a 'literary' feel to them. According to Holton, they are just more examples of Protagonist Projection, and hence if one endorses Tsohatzidis's argument, then one should also endorse the analogous arguments with respect to all of these cases. For example, one should conclude from (3a) that some diamonds are made of glass, and from (3b) that know is not factive, etc. But since this is clearly an undesirable strategy, Holton's line looks more attractive. Many have thought that Holton's observation was a good one. But recently Hazlett (2010) has claimed that, although valid for cases like (3a), the argument does not work for examples involving factive verbs, such as (3b). This claim is a key premise in Hazlett's case for the controversial conclusion that there are no factive verbs.Neither Holton nor Hazlett is explicit about what is going on in the examples, however. So, to evaluate these arguments, we need an understanding of the relevant aspects of the style of discourse they involve. This paper tries to provide the basics of such an understanding.I begin in Section 2 by responding to Hazlett's arguments. I then go on in Sections 3 and 4 to present an analysis of Protagonist Projection, which maintains Holton's overall strategy.1 Note that by the label 'Protagonist Projection' we are not alluding to other phenomena also sometimes referred to with the term 'projection', e.g., the way presuppositions of compound sentences are computed from those of their parts. I choose to retain the label to indicate continuity with Holton's project. 2 See Holton (1997) for sources. An anonymous reviewer points out that Protagonist Projection can also arise from relative clauses, as in 'He gave her a ring studded with diamond...

Defenestration: deconstructing the frame-in relation in Ungarinyin

“…Stokke, 2013;Buckwalter, 2014 26 Also see Verstraete (2000; on the interaction between modal source/authority and illocution, Bergqvist (2012) on the interaction between epistemic/evidential authority and declaratives/interrogatives.…”

Presupposition cancellation: explaining the ‘soft–hard’ trigger distinction

“…She knew that he would never let her down, but like all the others, he did (Holton 1997). b. Falsely believing that he had inflicted a fatal wound, Oedipus regretted killing the stranger on the road to Thebes(Klein 1975, quoted in Gazdar 1979 Arguably (see e.g Gazdar 1979, Abrusán 2011, Stokke 2013. what is happening in such examples is that the presuppositional clause is understood under some kind of perspectival shift, for example as a type of free indirect discourse or whatHolton (1997) calls 'protagonist projection', and its presupposition is accommodated in the internal context of the attitude holder.…”

Quotation and Unquotation in Free Indirect Discourse

“…However, I find her one crucial introspective data point (a free indirect discourse with a parenthetical frame quantifying over protagonists, in a mixed de re / de se scenario) inconclusive at best. More importantly, if Sharvit's data is correct, it could be easily accommodated in my own proposal, where, in line with Stokke () and Sharvit, I eventually introduce a (covert) indirect discourse operator, thus allowing any account of de se reporting in indirect discourse to carry over into free indirect discourse. I will briefly return to this in fn.…”

“…Cf. Stokke, , for a criticism of Schlenker's analysis based on it. As pointed out, Sharvit () likewise posits a covert attitude operator.…”