An Intensional Version of Existential Disclosure

Abstract

In Dynamic Semantics, Existential Disclosure (ED) allows us to address an indefinite as though it denotes a property. Current definitions of this operation entail that ED will not yield the intended result in opaque contexts, as intensional expressions create inaccessible domains for dynamic anaphora. Focusing primarily on Propositional Attitude Verbs (PAVs), we will show this makes the wrong prediction for most PAVs. We will then argue that situation can be improved upon i) by assuming an intensional version of ED which involves a discourse marker ranging over functions from (state, world) pairs to Context Change Potentials (CCPs), and ii) by assuming that so-called volunteered-stance PAVs introduce the CCP denoted by their complement clause as a discourse referent. The remaining class of PAVs on the other hand presuppose that the proposition expressed by their complement clause is part of the common ground. Therefore, an intensional version of ED will not help for these PAVs, as desired.