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.