Cataphoric resolution of projective content The case of occasion verbs

Abstract

We present evidence from three rating experiments showing that what we call occasion verbs (e.g., thank, criticize, congratulate) allow for the cataphoric resolution of projective content more broadly than trigger types discussed in previous research. Experiments 1 and 2 used methods established by Tonhauser et al. (2018) to show that occasion verbs do indeed pattern with other well-known triggers with respect to projectivity and at-issueness. Furthermore, these experiments provide evidence that occasion verbs — as opposed to a number of other triggers — allow for the cataphoric resolution of projective content in a separate clause in subsequent discourse. Experiment 3 compared the filtering behavior of occasion verbs with that of factive and aspectual triggers for conjunctions in the antecedent of conditionals (if p and q, then r; Mandelkern et al. 2020). The results show that while factive and aspectual verbs show left-to-right filtering asymmetry, occasion verbs display symmetric filtering, that is, right-to-left and left-to-right. Taken together, these results provide evidence that occasion verbs constitute a species not yet observed within the “zoo” of triggers of projective content.

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