presupposition and entailment

1. Presupposition and
Entailment
By Dr.Nareeman Jabbar
Rasheed

2. • 2. • Pragmatics is the study of
deixis, implicature,
presupposition, speech acts,
and aspects of discourse
structure. (Levinson, 1983).

3. • “Speakers usually design their
linguistic messages on the
basis of assumptions of what
their hearers already know”
PRESUPPOSITION AND
ENTAILMENT

4. • 3. Presuppositions and
entailments are two aspects of
what is communicated but not
said.

5. •4. Presupposition A is
something the speaker
assumes to be the case
prior to make an utterance.

6. •5. •Speakers, not
sentences, have
presuppositions,
symbolized as >>

7. Presupposition EXAMPLE
• 6.• if someone tells you:
• 1. “ your brother is waiting
outside for you”, • there is an
obvious supposition that you
have a brother.

8. • 7. The notion of
presupposition is generally
traced back to German
mathematician, logician and
philosopher, Gottlob Frege
(1848-1925)

9. • 8. English philosopher, Bertrand Russell (1872
– 1970) argued against this view in Russell
(1905). He was concerned with the fact that
(3) is meaningful, whether or not there
actually is a King of France. 3) The King of
France is wise. He proposed that this involves
three assertions. There exists an x such that a)
x is a King of France b) there is no other entity
that is a King of France c) x is wise.

10. • 9. Presupposition triggers • In any language,
there are some expressions or constructions
which can act as the sources of
presuppositions. This kind of expressions or
constructions is called “presupposition
triggers”

11. • 10. Examples with presupposition triggers (1)
Definitive descriptions • John saw the man with two
heads >> There exists a man with two heads. (2)
Factive verbs • John realized that he was in debt >>
John was in debt. (3) Change of state verbs • Joan
began to beat her husband >> Joan hadn’t been
beating her husband. (4) Iterative • The flying saucer
came again >> The flying saucer came before. (5)
Temporal clauses • while Chomsky was
revolutionizing linguistics, the rest of social science
asleep >> Chomsky was revolutionizing linguistics. (6)
Cleft sentences • It was Henry who killed Rose >>
Someone killed Rose. (7) Comparisons and contrasts
• Carol is a better linguist than Barbara >> Barbara is
a linguist. • The negative form of the above
sentences has the same presupposition.

12. •11. The relationship
between two propositions:
Mary’s cat is cute. (p) Mary
has a cat. (q) p >>q = p
presupposes q.

13. Types of Presupposition
• 13. Presuppositions are associated
with the use of a large number of
these linguistic forms are considered
as indicators of potential
presupposition, which can only
become actual presupposition in
contexts with speakers.

14. • 14. 1- Existential presupposition:
Entities named by the speaker
and assumed to be present -
noun phrase. - possessive
constructions.

15. • 15. noun phrase : quot ; The Cold
War has ended quot ;
presupposes that the existence of
the entities it refers to, in this
case the quot ; Cold War quote.

16. • 16. Possessive constructions : “Tony’s
car is new” we can presuppose that
Tony exists and that he has a car.

17. • 17. 2- Factive presupposition: identified
by the presence of some verbs such as
quot ; know“, quot ; realize“, “be glad”,
“be sorry”, etc. (>> He was ill) She didn’t
realize he was ill. (>> We told him) We
regret telling him. I wasn’t aware that she
was married. (>> She was married) (>>
He left early) It isn’t odd that he left
early. (>> It’s over) I’m glad that it’s over.

18. • 18. 3- Lexical presupposition: In using one
word, the speaker can act as if another
meaning will be understood. For instance:
Mary stopped running. (>>She used to run.)
You are late again. (>> You were late before.)
Are you still such a bad driver? (>> You were a
bad driver) quot; stop“, quot; again“ “still” are
taken to presuppose another ( ) concept.

19. • 19. 4- Structural presupposition: it is the
assumption associated with the use of certain
structures. - wh-question constructions. When
did she travel to the USA? ( >> she travelled)
Where did you buy the book? (>> you bought
the book) The listener perceives that the
information presented is necessarily true, or
intended as true by the speaker.

20. • 20. 5- Non- factive presupposition: it is an
assumption referred to something that is not
true. For example, verbs like quot; dream
quot;, quot; imagine quot; and quot; pretend
quot; are used with the presupposition that
what follows is not true. I dreamed that I was
rich. (>> I was not rich) We imagined that we
were in London. (>> We were not in London)

21. • 21. 6- Counterfactual presupposition: it is the
assumption that what is presupposed is not
only untrue, but is the opposite of what is
true, or contrary to facts. If you were my
daughter, I would not allow you to do this. ( >>
you are not my daughter) If I were rich I would
buy a Ferrari. (>> I’m not rich).

22. • 22. Entailment is not a pragmatic
concept. It is defined as what
logically follows from what is
asserted in the utterance,
symbolized by II-. Sentences, not
speakers, have entailments.

23. • 23. Speakers have presuppositions while
sentences have entailments. EXAMPLE: Susan’s
sister bought two houses. This sentence
presupposes that Susan exists and that she has a
sister. This sentence has the entailments that
Susan’s sister bought something; a house, and
other similar logical consequences, now she has 2
houses. The entailments are communicated
without being said and are not dependent on the
speaker’s intention.

24. • 24. 1) a. The King of France is bald. b. There is
a King of France. c. The King of France is not
bald. If X entails Y, the negative counterpart of
X does not entail Y. (2a) entails (2b), but (2c)
does not. The President of Polvenia is a
bachelor. ENTAILMENTS 2) a. b. The President
of Polvenia is unmarried. c. The President of
Polvenia is not a bachelor.

25. • 25. Ordered Entailments 1)Rover
chased three squirrels. a) Something
chased three squirrels. b) Rover did
something to three squirrels. c)
Rover chased of something.
d)Something happened.

26. • 26. The speaker will necessarily produce a
very large number of background entailments,
but the speaker will indicate how these
entailments are to be ordered. How? by stress
by using special structures So The hearer will
understand which entailment is assumed to
be more important for interpreting intended
meaning.

27. • 27. THE FOREGROUND ENTAILMENT BOB ate
three sandwiches. Bob ATE three sandwiches.
Bob ate THREE sandwiches. Bob ate three
SANDWICHES.

28. It-cleft construction/cleft sentences
• 28. a) It was Tom that did the work. b) It
wasn’t me who took your jacket.
• Cleft sentences are used to help us focus on a
particular part of the sentence and to
emphasis what we want to say … Because
there are two parts … they are called cleft
(from the verb cleave) which means divided
into two.

29. • 29. • Cleft sentences are particularly useful in
writing where we cannot use intonation for
purposes of focus or emphasis, but they are
also frequently used in speech.
• • Cleft structures include the reason why, the
thing that, the person/people who, the place
where, the day when and what-clauses which
are usually linked to the clause that we want
to focus on with is or was.

30. Presuppositions vs. entailments
• 30. Presuppositions are different from entailments:
• 1) She hasn’t stopped smoking.
• Still presupposes
• She used to smoke.
• While
• The emperor wasn’t assassinated.
• Does not entail any more
• XXXXXX 1)Someone was assassinated.
• XXXXXX2)The emperor died.