Demonstrative Descriptions and Anti-Uniqueness
Demonstrative expressions show a robust property: they are infelicitous when the noun they modify refers to something inherently unique, as in that sun or that author of Waverley. This phenomenon—known as the anti-uniqueness effect—raises the question of whether demonstratives are semantically constrained to signal contrast, or whether this pattern arises from broader pragmatic pressures.
This project argues that a pragmatic competition account cannot fully explain the strength and consistency of anti-uniqueness effects. Instead, it develops a presuppositional account that treats anti-uniqueness as a modalized restriction. This approach better captures when demonstratives are felicitous, addresses challenges to previous theories, and accounts for why certain definites in languages like Bangla and Akan pattern with demonstratives despite lacking deictic use. By separating the anti-uniqueness property from deixis, this work offers a more precise and cross-linguistically robust theory of definites and demonstratives.