Empirical pattern: Free choice permission.
"You may have coffee or tea" pragmatically implies: "You may have coffee AND you may have tea"
This is not a semantic entailment:
- Semantically: ◇(C∨T) ↔ ◇C ∨ ◇T
- Pragmatically: ◇(C∨T) → ◇C ∧ ◇T
- permission : String
The permission statement
- disjunctA : String
The disjuncts
- disjunctB : String
- inference : String
The inferred free choice reading
- isSemanticEntailment : Bool
Is this a semantic entailment?
- isPragmaticInference : Bool
Is this a pragmatic inference?
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Classic free choice example. Source: @cite{ross-1944}, @cite{kamp-1973}
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Free choice with activities. Source: @cite{kamp-1973}
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Free choice with locations.
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All basic free choice examples.
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Ross's Paradox: The puzzle that motivated free choice research.
From "Post the letter" we can infer "Post the letter or burn it" (by or-introduction). But intuitively, permission to post doesn't give permission to burn!
Source: @cite{ross-1944}
- original : String
The original imperative/permission
- derived : String
The derived statement (by or-intro)
- semanticallyValid : Bool
Is the derivation semantically valid?
- pragmaticallyFelicitous : Bool
Is the derivation pragmatically felicitous?
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Classic Ross's paradox example. Source: @cite{ross-1944}
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- Phenomena.FreeChoice.postOrBurn = { original := "Post the letter", derived := "Post the letter or burn it", semanticallyValid := true, pragmaticallyFelicitous := false }
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Ross's paradox with permission.
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- Phenomena.FreeChoice.mayPostOrBurn = { original := "You may post the letter", derived := "You may post the letter or burn it", semanticallyValid := true, pragmaticallyFelicitous := false }
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All Ross's paradox examples.
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Free choice occurs with various modal flavors.
- modalType : String
The modal type
- sentence : String
Example sentence
- inference : String
Free choice inference
- freeChoiceArises : Bool
Does free choice arise?
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Deontic permission (classic case). Source: @cite{kamp-1973}
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Epistemic possibility. Source: @cite{zimmermann-2000}
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Ability modal.
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All modal free choice examples.
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Free choice can be cancelled, showing it's pragmatic not semantic.
- original : String
Original sentence with free choice
- cancellation : String
Cancellation phrase
- combined : String
Combined result
- felicitous : Bool
Is the result felicitous?
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Explicit cancellation of free choice.
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Cancellation by context.
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All cancellation examples.
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Free Choice Any #
Universal free choice items (FCIs) like any exhibit similar inference patterns to disjunctive free choice but involve universal quantification.
"You may take any class" pragmatically implies:
- You may take Syntax (specifically)
- You may take Phonology (specifically)
- You may take Semantics (specifically) -... (for all classes)
This is the exclusiveness inference: permission applies to each individual alternative, not just to "some class or other".
Key difference from disjunction:
- Disjunction: ◇(a ∨ b) → ◇a ∧ ◇b
- Universal FCI: ◇(∃x.class(x)) → ∀x.class(x) → ◇take(x)
Empirical pattern: Free choice any (universal FCI).
"You may take any class" pragmatically implies permission for each specific class. This is the exclusiveness inference, distinct from simple existential permission.
- sentence : String
The sentence with any
- domain : String
The domain of quantification
- domainElements : List String
Example domain elements
- inference : String
The inferred reading
- exclusivenessArises : Bool
Does exclusiveness inference arise?
- robustToPriors : Bool
Is this inference robust to prior manipulation?
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Free choice any with classes. Source: @cite{alsop-2024}
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Free choice any with fruits (simplified domain). Source: Based on @cite{kadmon-landman-1993}
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Free choice any with locations.
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All FCI any examples.
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Comparison between disjunctive FC and universal any FC.
- aspect : String
Description of the contrast
- disjunctionFC : String
Disjunctive FC behavior
- universalFC : String
Universal any FC behavior
- analogous : Bool
Are they analogous?
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Both derive free choice/exclusiveness inferences.
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- Phenomena.FreeChoice.bothDeriveFC = { aspect := "Core inference", disjunctionFC := "◇(a ∨ b) → ◇a ∧ ◇b", universalFC := "◇(∃x.P(x)) → ∀x.P(x) → ◇x", analogous := true }
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Both are robust to prior manipulation.
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Different quantificational structure.
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All FC comparison data.
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FC with Anaphora: Bathroom Disjunctions #
@cite{elliott-sudo-2025} identify a novel FC pattern where cross-disjunct anaphora interacts with Free Choice:
"Either there's no bathroom or it's in a funny place"
Inference:
- ◇(there's no bathroom)
- ◇(there's a bathroom ∧ it's in a funny place)
The pronoun "it" in the second disjunct is bound by the existential in the negated first disjunct. This is puzzling because negation should block binding, yet the inference requires x to be accessible.
Bathroom disjunction: FC with cross-disjunct anaphora.
- sentence : String
The sentence
- disjunct1 : String
First disjunct (typically negated existential)
- disjunct2 : String
Second disjunct (with anaphoric element)
- anaphor : String
The anaphoric element
- antecedent : String
The antecedent (under negation)
- inference1 : String
First FC inference
- inference2 : String
Second FC inference (with anaphora resolved)
- hasCrossDisjunctAnaphora : Bool
Does cross-disjunct anaphora occur?
- source : String
Source
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Classic bathroom disjunction. Source: @cite{elliott-sudo-2025}
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Bathroom variant with "the bathroom".
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Similar pattern with different content.
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Negated universal variant.
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All bathroom disjunction examples.
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Standard FC without cross-disjunct anaphora (for comparison).
- sentence : String
The sentence
- disjuncts : List String
The disjuncts
- inferences : List String
FC inferences
- hasAnaphora : Bool
Any anaphora?
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Standard FC: no anaphora.
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Standard FC with independent disjuncts.
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All standard FC examples (contrast with bathroom).