Lesson2:
Presupposition
Instructor: Yosra Ouertani
Introduction
▪ Speakers assume that certain information is known by
►
their listeners.
▪ Because it’s assumed to be known, such information
will not be stated by the speaker- It is communicated
but not said.
The technical term ‘preseupposition’ describes this
kind of information.
(Yule, 1996)
Introduction
► A presupposition is what the speaker assumes to be the case before
making an utterance.
► It is a background belief assumed to be shared between the
speaker and the listener.
► A person presupposes something.
Introduction
► Example1:
Mary’s brother bought three horses
Presupposition
Mary has got a brother.
► Example2:
The present king of France is bald.
Presupposition?
Presupposition triggers
► Certain lexical items and grammatical structutes give rise to
presuppositions.
► They are called presupposition triggers.
Presupposition triggers
► Definite determiners
► Proper nouns
► Certain verb types
► Iteratives
► Temporal clauses
► Cleft sentences
► Contrastives
► Questions
► Counterfactual conditionals
Presupposition triggers:
Definite determiners
► Definite determiners presuppose existence and uniqueness.
► They include definite articles, demonstratives and possessives.
Examples:
1. The king of France is bald. >> presupposes the existence of the King of France.
2. John greeted that woman. >> There is a woman in the speaking context.
3. My sister likes her car. >> presupposes that I have a sister, and she has a car.
4. Mary’s cat is cute. >> Mary has a cat.
Presupposition triggers:
Proper nouns
► Proper nouns presuppose existence and uniqueness.
Example:
▪ Kepler died in misery. >> presupposes the existence of a person named
Kepler.
Presupposition triggers:
Proper nouns
► Proper nouns presuppose existence and uniqueness.
Example:
▪ Kepler died in misery. >> presupposes the existence of a person named
Kepler.
Certain verb types
► Factive verbs (know, regret, be aware, realize, …)
o John is aware of how proud Mary is. >> Mary is proud.
o John knows that Mary lost her keys. >> Mary lost her keys.
► Implicative verbs (manage, forget, happen, avoid,…)
o John forgot to lock the door. >> John should have locked the door / John intended to do so.
► Change-of-state verbs (stop, start, continue, leave, come, go, arrive,….)
o John stopped smoking. >> John used to smoke.
o John left the office. >> He was in the office.
Iteratives
► Iteratives are expressions denoting repetition, They presuppose that the
events happened before.
Examples
Again, anymore, another time, return, restore, repeat, for the 4th time, reappear, etc,.
▪ John doesn’t like Mary anymore. >> He liked Mary.
▪ The comet reappeared last night. >> The comet appeared before.
Temporal clauses
► Examples
before X, since X, after X, whenever X, as X, during X, …
► During the War of 1812, the British burned down the White House >> There
was a War of 1812. >> There was a war in 1812.
Cleft sentences
Cleft ( it was X
that Y)
Cleft
constructions
Pseudo-cleft
structure:
What X V is Y
Examples
▪ It’s chocolate that keeps me awake.>> Something keeps me awake.
▪ What keeps me awake is chocolate. >> Something keeps me awake.
Comparative clauses and contrastives
► Comparative clauses, as, too, back, in return, contrastive intonation
o I like Tunis, but Nabeul is a more relaxed city. >> Both Tunis and
Nabeul are cities.
o The dismissed minister hit back at critics. >> Critics attacked the
minister first ( metaphorically, i.e., they criticized him).
Questions
► Questions with alternatives
Did Mary have pizza or pasta for dinner? >> Mary had either pizza or
pasta for dinner.
► Questions with an interrogation word
Who bought you the guitar? >> Someone bought you the guitar.
Counterfactual conditionals
► Conditional or modal expressions stating facts contrary to how
things actually are.
Examples:
▪ If John had enetered the competition, he would have
won.>> John had not enetered the competition.
▪ If Kennedy had not been a president, he would not have
been assassinated.>> Presupposition?.
Presupposition tests*
► * We named them properties in class, but they are actually tests that help to identify a
presupposition, These tests were introduced by Strawson (1950).
► Constancy under negation
► Constancy under interrogation
► Constancy in conditionals
Presupposition tests:
Constancy under negation
Example
A. Mary’s cat is cute.
B. Mary’s cat is not cute.
Both A and B presuppose that Mary has a cat.
Presupposition is preserved under negation.
Presupposition tests:
Constancy under interrogation
► Example
A. Everybody knows John likes Mary.
B. Does everbody know that John likes Mary?
Both A and B presuppose that John likes Mary.
Presupposition survives questioning.
Presupposition tests:
Constancy in conditionals
► Example
A. John managed to finish on time.
B. If John had managed to finish on time, he would have passed
(succeeded) the exam.
Both A and B presuppose that John tried to finish on time.
Presupposition is preserved in counterfactual conditionals.
Defeasibility
► Context:
John didn’t get into doctoral school.
► Utterance: John did not regret doing a PhD.
>> presupposes that John did a PhD.
This presupposition does not arise/ is defeated because it is inconsistent
with the background assumption that John did not enrol in doctoral
school.
Defeasibility
► Utterance: John died before doing a PhD.
>> presupposes that John did a PhD.
This presupposition does not arise/ is defeated/is canceled because it is
inconsistent with the real-world knowledge that a person cannot finish
anything if dead.
Defeasibility
Utterance:
▪ If John hadn’t bought Mary a Valentine gift, she would have been angry.
>> John bought Mary a Valentine gift.
▪ Perhaps John bought Mary a Valentine gift, perhaps not.
/>> John bought Mary a Valentine gift.
This presupposition does not arise/ is defeated/is canceled because of the
inconsistent conversational implicature.
Defeasibility
Utterance:
▪ The king of France is wise.
Context
There is no King of France.
/>> the presupposition that there is a king of France is cancelled.
This presupposition does not arise/ is defeated/is canceled because it is
inconsistent with the context/ the historical context.
