On the cancellation of cessation inferences Andreas Haida The Hebrew University of Jerusalem andreas.haida@gmail.com Tue Trinh University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee tuetrinh@alum.mit.edu Abstract A past tense stative predicate usually licenses the inference that the state that predicate describes no longer obtains. However, this in- ference can be cancelled in certain types of questions. This squib pro- poses an account for this cancellation effect which is based on standard question semantics in conjunction with the assumption that interroga- tives contains a speech act operator and can be exhaustified. Keywords: Statives, Cessation, Tense, Interrogatives, Exhaustification 1 Data 1.1 CI cancellation Past tense in stative sentences triggers “cessation inferences,” henceforth CIs, which say that the described state does not hold at the present. This is evidenced by the deviance of (1-a) and (1-b). (1) a. #Zwei two war was eine a Primzahl prime number ‘Two was but no longer is a prime number’ b. #Die the Studenten students wussten, knew dass that zwei two eine a Primzahl prime number war was ‘The students knew that two was but no longer is a prime num- ber’ As indicated by the English paraphrase, (1-a) implies that two has been prime in the past and is non-prime at the present. Likewise, (1-b) implies that two has been prime in the past of the students’ belief and is non-prime 1