Presupposition & Entailment in Pragmatics.pptx

A topic of Pragmatics.

1. Presupposition and Entailment

2. The kids have stolen some mangoes from my garden My brother’s cat is black My driver has gone on leave for two weeks

3. Presupposition is something the speaker assumes to be the case prior to make an utterance. (George Yule, 1996 ) The information that a speaker assumes to be already known. (The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language, 1987) What is Presupposition?

4. For example : Ex: Mary’s brother bought three horses The pressuposes: A person called Mary exists She has a brother Mary has only one brother He has a lot of money

5. PRESUPPOSITION Speakers, not sentences, have presuppositions, symbolized as >> to mean ‘presupposes’. Ex : a. Mary’s dog is cute. (= q ) b. Mary’s has a dog .( =p ) c. p >> q

6. Types of PRESUPPOSITION Presuppositions are associated with the use of a large number of words, phrases, and structures .

7. 1. The Existential presupposition Entities named by the speaker and assumed to be present . noun phrase and possessive constructions. Noun phrase Ex: The girl next door bought a new tv . presupposes that the existence of the entities it refers to, in this case the “girl next door ". Possessive constructions Ex : Henry’s car is new. We can presuppose that Henry exists and that he has a car.

8. 2 . Factive Presupposition This type involves verbs or expressions that imply the truth of the embedded clause. I dentified by the presence of some verbs such as “ know”, “ realize ” , “regret”, as well as phrases involving “be ” with “ be aware ”, “be glad”, “be sorry”, etc . Ex : She didn’t realize he was ill. (>> He was ill ) We regret telling him. (>> We told him ) I wasn’t aware that she was married . (>> She was married ) It isn’t odd that he left early. (>> He left early ) I’m glad that it’s over . (>> It’s over )

9. 3. Lexical Presupposition In using one word, the speaker can act as if another meaning will be understood. Ex : Shoumik stopped smoking . (>> He used to smoke .) You are late again. (>> You were late before.) They started complaining. (>> they weren’t complaining before. ) “ stop ” , “ again ”, “ started ” are taken to presuppose another ( unstated) concept.

10. 4. Structural Presupposition I t is the assumption associated with the use of certain structures . Specific syntactic structures imply certain information . wh-question constructions . Ex : When did he leave ? ( >> he left ) Where did you buy the b ike ? (>> you bought the b ike ) The listener perceives that the information presented is necessarily true, or intended as true by the speaker .

11. 5. Non- factive presupposition I t is an assumption referred to something that is not true. For example, verbs like "dream", " imagine ” and "pretend" are used with the presupposition that what follows is not true . Ex : I dreamed that I was rich . (>> I was not rich) We imagined that we were in Japan . (>> We were not in Japan ) He pretend to be ill. (>> He is not ill)

12. 6. Counterfactual presupposition I t is the assumption that what is presupposed is not only untrue , but is the opposite of what is true, or contrary to facts. Conditional structures Ex: If you were my sister , I would not allow you to do this . ( >> you are not my sister ) If I were rich I would buy a Ferrari . (>> I’m not rich ) If you were my friend, you would have helped me. (>> You are not my friend)

13. 7. Iterative Presupposition: This involves repetitions or actions done multiple times, implying prior occurrence . Example: "He went back to the store." Presupposition: He had been to the store before . The men in black came again. Presupposition: The men in black came before . You can’t get Mimi chocolate anymore . Presupposition: You once could get Mimi chocolate . Further iteratives: another time; to come back; restore; repeat; for the nth time.

14. ENTAILMENT Entailment is not a pragmatic concept. Rover chased three squirrels . This sentence has the entailments that Rover did something to three squirrels, which is chasing. Sentences, not speakers, have entailments.