Correction-but: A relevance-theoretic reappraisal

• We analyze the ‘correction’ variety of but.
• We propose a relevance-theoretic analysis.
• We expose the problems connected to the traditional procedural approach.
• We argue for an alternative procedural treatment.
• We reconsider the pragmatic effects sustaining the procedural operation.

The current paper unveils the problems undermining the relevance-theoretic procedural view of correction-but, as it stands, in face of the fact that the specific application appears to defy inclusion in the procedural definition. On this view, the uniformity of a general account of but seems to be at risk. The paper aims to propose a more plausible relevance-driven account of correction that does not compromise the cause of a univocal treatment of but in procedural terms. To achieve this aim, it introduces a distinction in correction interpretation that has so far eluded attention in the relevant literature: descriptive and metarepresentational.