Seungtaek Lee

This paper identifies a class of expressions that have long remained on the margins of theoretical discussion, such as ‘Professor Russell’, ‘Stanford University’, ‘Mount Everest’, and ‘Iguazu Falls’. These expressions, which I call “complex names,” combine a simple proper name with a descriptor (e.g. ‘Professor’, ‘University’, ‘Mount’, ‘Falls’) to form a structured referential term. Complex names designate the same individual as the simple name they contain, while conveying a specific piece of information about that individual via the embedded descriptor. The aim of the paper is to draw attention to these underexplored names, highlight their unique semantic challenges, and develop a general framework for their analysis. First, I demonstrate that the information encoded in complex names is best understood as a presupposition, rather than as a conversational or conventional implicature. Next, I critically examine descriptivist accounts that treat complex names as a kind of definite description and argue that complex names pattern more closely with simple, standard names. Finally, I sketch an account on which complex names are analyzed as structured presupposition triggers, syntactically built up from simple names and presuppositional descriptors in a hierarchical, template-governed manner.