Pragmatics presupposition and entailnment

1. PragmaticsPresupposition & Entailment

2. Presupposition DefinitionTypes of Presupposition Some

commonPresupposition triggers

3. Entailment Definition CharacteristicBackground vs. Foreground entailment

Subtypes of entailment

4. Presupposition

5. ContextDefinition Types

6. 1.Definition:- Presuppositions are implications that are often felt to be in

the background to be assumed by the speaker to be already known to the
addressee

7. Presupposition For example: a. The king of France is bald. b. The king of

France is not bald. c. Is the king of France bald? d. If the king of France is
bald, he should wear a hat in the winter . There is a king of France.

8. Example : Marys brother bought three horses Presupposition:

Entailment:Mary exists, Mary has a Marys brother buy brother, Mary has
only something, bought three one brother, Marys animal, two horses, one
brother is rich. horse etc.= speakers subjective = the speakers beliefs are
presupposition, all can right or wrong be wrong.

9. 2.Types Existential Factive Lexical Structural Non-Factive Counterfactual

10. 2.1 Existential presupposition - Speaker is committed to the existence

of the entities named The King of France the cat the girl next door your car

11. 2.2 Factive presupposition Certain verbs/construction indicate that

something is a fact. Example- We REGRET telling him >>> we told him-
She didnt REALIZE he was ill >> he was ill- Im GLAD its over >> its over

12. 2.3. Lexical presuppositionis the assumption that, in using oneword, the
speaker can act as ifanother meaning (word) will beunderstood.

13. Examples She pretended that he had understood what she Andrew
stopped running. meant.4 He used to run. You are late again.4 You were late
before.

14. 2.4. Structural presuppositionis the assumption associated withthe use

of certain words andphrases.

15. Examples Wh-question in English are conventionally interpreted with

the presupposition that the information after the wh-form (e.g. when and
where) is already known to be the case.
16. Examples She pretended that he had understood what she When did she
travel to the USA? meant.4 >> she traveled Where did you buy the book?4
>> you bought the book

17. A non factive presupposition Is one that is assumed not to be true.

18. Examples She pretended that he had understood what she meant.4 He
did not understand what she meant. I imagined that Kelly was ill.4 Kelly was
not ill

19. A counter factual presupposition Meaning that what is presupposed is

notonly not true, but is the opposite of what istrue, or contrary to facts.

20. Counterfactual conditional 1 An If clause a complete statementEx :If I

had enough money, I would buy that house. I do not have enough moneyIf
he hadnt made such a terrible mistake, we would be very happy now. He
did make/made a terrible mistake.

21. 2 An embedded clause after wish a complete statementEx :They wish

they could go on vacation now. They cannot go on vacation now.I wish I
had studied medicine. I did not study medicine.

22. 3 A clause with a modal perfect verb form a complete

statementEx:You shouldnt have seen such a horror film. You did see/saw a
horror film.You could have talked to the dean. You did not talk to the dean.

23. Some common Presupposition triggersPresupposition

ExamplestriggersDefinite descriptions my son, the boss, MikeFactive
predicates count, make sense, matter, know, regret, realise, resent, find out,
discover, see, notice, be aware that, be proud that,Counter-factual If,
unless, without,conditionals

24. Change of state verbs begin, start, stop, finish, cease, continue, carry
on, cease, take, leave, enter, come, go, arriveTemporal clauses before,
while, since, after, during, whenever..Cleft sentences It is/was . which/
whom/ thatQuestions Who, what, when,

25. Definition of Entailment a relationship that applies between two

sentences/propositions, where the truth ofone implies the truth of the other
because of the meaning of the words involved

26. Characteristic logical consequences following from what is asserted in

the utterance Sentences, not speakers, have entailmentse.g. a) John beats
Tom. => b) John beats someone. c) Tom was beaten by someone. a) true =>
b) & c) true

27. 1.2 Characteristic Entailments depend on sentence meaning, not the

context in which the sentence is used. Entailment also happens when one
set of objects is included in another. It may be seen as a kind of hyponymic
relation.e.g. Mary loves her dog very much. => Mary loves an animal very
much.dog: hyponymyanimal: superordinate
28. Characteristic Entailments can also involves the use of determiners.
This is simply the relation of inclusion.e.g. Every student loves learning
English. => Most students love learning English.

29. Characteristic logical consequences following from what is asserted in

the utterance Sentences, not speakers, have entailmentse.g. a) John beats
Tom. => b) John beats someone. c) Tom was beaten by someone. a) true =>
b) & c) true

30. Background vs. Foreground entailment In one occasion, one sentence

can has a number of background entailments but one foreground
entailment. Foreground entailments which is defined by stress, is more
important for interpreting intended meaning.

31. e.g. Rover chased three squirrels.=>Rover chased a certain number

of squirrels. Rover chased three squirrels.=>Someone chased three
squirrels. Rover chased three squirrels.=>Rover chased something.

32. Subtypes of entailment EntailmentAssertion Presupposition

33. Assertion A declarative sentence typically asserts that a state of affair

exists.