《语用学Pragmatics》课件 第六周

1、Chapter 4 Presupposition and entailmentPresupposition and entailmentTypes of presuppositionKey points 1. Presupposition2. Types of presuppositionPresupposition and entailmentA presupposition is something the speaker assumes to be the case prior to making an utterance. Speakers, not sentences, have p

2、resuppositions. It is symbolized by . An entailment is something that logically follows from what is asserted in the utterance. Sentences, not speakers, have entailments.What is presupposition?It can be informally defined as an inference of proposition whose truth is taken for granted in the utteran

3、ce of a sentence. Its main function is to act as a precondition of some sort for the appropriate use of that sentence.It is usu.generated by the use of particular lexical items and linguistic constructions. Lexical items and linguistic constructions that engender presupposition are called presupposi

4、tion triggers.Triangular relationUtterer-linguistic forms-addressessSpeak language interpretePresuppostion entailment received information Convey meaning many possible the communicative with one sentence meaning meaning Triangular relation utterer linguistic forms addressess Triangular relation pres

5、upposition (speaker)Entailment received information(language) (addressess)Origin of presuppositon The German mathematician and logician Gottlob Frege is generally recongnized as the first scholar in lodern times who introduced the philosophical study of presupposition.The notion of presupposition ma

6、y go back at least as far as the medieval philosopher Petrus Hispanus.In the philosophy of lge, the study of presupposition has largely been confined to debates about the nature or reference and referring expression(the classic works by Frege1892, Russell 1905)6.2.4 PresuppositionA presupposition is

7、 something the speaker assumes to be the case prior to making an utterance, symbolized by . Speakers, not sentences, have presuppositions.Classic samples of presupposition:How often do you cheat in your examinations?When did you stop beating your wife?Examples1. The King of France is bald There is a

8、 King of France.2. John knows that Baired invented TV Baired invented TV.3. Mary has stopped beating her boyfriend Mary has been beating her boyfriend.4. John returned to Cambridge John was in Cambridge before.5. John regrets that he has said the unsayable John has said the unsayable.Properties of p

9、resupposition1. Constancy under negation2. Defeasibility3. The projection problemConstancy under negationIt is meant that a presupposition generated by the use of a lexical item of a syntactic structure is negated.(1)a. Marys dog is cute. b. Mary has a dog.(2)a Marys dog isnt cute. b. Mary has a dog

10、.Explaination (3) a. Marys dog is cute. (=p) b. Mary has a dog. (=q) c. p q(4) a. Marys dog isnt cute. (=p) b. Mary has a dog. (=q) c. NOT p q(5) a. Everybody knows that John is gay. (=p) b. Everybody doesnt know that John is gay. (=NOT p) c. John is a gay. (=q) d. p q & NOT p qAn utterance of a sen

11、tence p presupposes a proposition q if and only if1. if p is true, then q is true2. if p is false, then q is still trueTruth condition of presuppositionA句： (=P)B 句： (=q)Because: PT，qT; PF，qTTherefore: PqLogical semanticsAlso known as propositional calculus: is the study of the truth conditions for p

12、roposition. How the truth of a composite proposition is determined by the truth value of the constituent propositions and the connections between them. Logical connectives1. Logical connective negation:2. conjunction: (and)3. disjunction: V (or)4. implication: (ifthen) 5. equivalence: (iffthen) pq e

13、quals (pq) (qp)6. universal quantifier: 7.existential quantifier: p q p q p q p q p qT T T T T TT F F T F FF T F T T FF F F F T T1.fatherPARENT (x, y) MALE (x)2.mother PARENT (x, y) MALE (x)3.sonCHILD (x, y) MALE (x)4.daughterCHILD (x, y) MALE (x)5.takeCAUSE (x, (HAVE (x, y)6.giveCAUSE (x, ( HAVE (x

14、, y)7. dieBECOME (x, ( ALIVE (x)8.killCAUSE (x, (BECOME (y, ( ALIVE(y)1.All men are rational. Socrates is a man. Therefore, Socrates is rational.2.John loves Mary.3.John gave Mary a book.1.R (all men) M (S) R (S) (one-place) predicate2.L (j,m) (two-place) predicate3.G (j,m,b) (three-place) predicate

15、All men are rational.A x (M(x)R(x).Some men are clever.E x (M(x)C(x). Universal and existential quantifiers are related to each other in terms of negation.1.Ax (M(x)R(x) Ex (M(x)R(x).2.Ax (P(x) Ex(P(x) Ax (P(x)Ex (P(x) Ex (P(x)Ax (P(x) Ex (P(x)Ax (P(x)Translate the following logical forms into Engli

16、sh, where a=Ann, b=Bill,c=Carol,L=like,M=mother, x and y are variables which may be translated as “someone”, “anyone” or “everyone”1. M (a, b)2. Ex (L (x,b)3. L (b, c) L (c, b)4. Ax (L (x, c)5. L (a, b)L (a, c)6. Ex (Ay (L (y,x)4. Ax (L (x, c) (L (x, c)There are some X and X dont love C. 6.Ex (Ay (L

17、 (y,x)Ax (Ay (L (y, x)Ax (Ey (L (y, x)For all X, there are some Y and Y dont love X.前提的可撤销性(Cancelability)也就是说在一定的语境中，与句句子原来具有的会话含义会消失。一句话中虽存在着能产生前提的前提语，但由于某种语境因素的影响，圆滑的前提不复存在。导致前提消失的语境消失的语境因素有两种，一种是语境中的语言因素，另一种是语境中的非语言因素。导致前提消失的一种常见的语言因素是话语因素，也就是说如果把一句带有前提语的话置于一定的话语环境之中，或者说置于一定的话语环境之中，或者说置于一定的上下文中，

18、原话的前提便会消失 John didnt manage to pass the exam John tried to pass the exam.如果把这句话置于以下这样的话语中：John didnt manage to pass the exam. In fact he didnt even try to.那么原话的前提就消失了，因为它在下文中被否定了。(1) (John doesnt regret invition the dean to the party) (because in fact he never did so).(2) (He claims to be the empero

19、r of China) (but there is of course no emperor in China today).(3) (All Johns children are bald), (but John has no children).(4) (I bequeath my watch to you), (but I havent got a wath).Exercises Defeasibility 1. John doesnt regret inviting the dean to the party because in fact he never did so.2. Joh

20、n didnt manage to pass the exam because in fact he didnt even try to.The types of presuppositionType example presupositionExistential the X X existsFactive I regret leaving I leftNon-factive He pretended to be happy He wasnt happy Lexical He managed to escape. He tried to escape.Structural When did

21、she die? She died.Counterfactual If I werent ill, I am ill.The projection problem It is in general expected that the presuppositions of a simple sentence will ascend to become the presuppositions of the complex sentence of which the simple sentence is a part. Put in this way, the projection problem

22、can be seen as a special case of the Fregean principle of compostionality, which dictates that the meaning of a compound expression is a function of the meanings of its parts. The projection problem manifests itself in two opposite directions. On the one side of the projection coin, the presuppositi

23、ons of a component sentence may fail to be projected on to, and hence inherited by, the whole complex sentence. On the other side, the presuppositions of a component sentence may be preserved when that constituent sentence becomes part of a more complex sentence.The projection problem There is a bas

24、ic expectation that the presupposition of a simple sentence will continue to be true when that simple sentence becomes part of a more complex sentence. This is one version of the general idea that the meaning of the whole sentence is a combination of the meaning of its parts. However, the meaning of

25、 some presuppositions (aspart) doesnt survive to become the meaning of some complex sentences (as wholes). This is known as the projection problem. The projection problem 如果把一句句子嵌入到另一句句子中去，几把一句句子变成一句更大的句子的一个构成从句，原句的前提会发生什么变化呢？哲学家传统的人为一句句子的意义是它各个组成部分的意义的总和，如果句子S由S1和S2两个从句构成，那么S的意义就是S1的意义和S2 的意义之和。对于前

26、提，也有人以此类推，认为一句句子的前提是它各个组成从句的前提的总和，也就是说S1 和S2原有的前提，在它们被嵌入S后，都会成为S的前提。但只要对一些复合句作些观察，便可发现这种看法是过于简单化的。前提的这个组合问题被称为前提的映射问题。句子在被嵌入后，它的前提存在两种可能，一种是消失，即被撤销，另一种是继续存在。Three cases of projection problem where presuppositions diaspear by virtue of intrasentential context.1. the presuppositions are overtly denied

27、 by the adding of a co-ordinate clause.2. they are explicitly suspended by the adding of an IF clause.3. they are cancelled in saying and belief contextsexamples1. The president doesnt regret vetoing the bill because in fact he never did so!NOTThe president vetoed the bill2. Im sure Johns wife is be

28、autiful, if he has a wife NOTJohn has a wife3.John dreamed that he is the emperor of China NOT There is an emperor of China. Nobody realized that Kelly was ill. Complete by students themselvesI imagined that Kelly was ill. Complete by students themselvesI imagined that Kelly was ill and nobody reali

29、zed that she was ill. r&p NOT qKarttunen(1973): three types of presuppositon operators1.plugs: block off all the presuppositions of the lower clauses.2. holes: let all such presuppositions ascend to become presupposition the matrix sentence.3. filters: prevent some but not all such presuppositions f

30、rom being projected to the matrix sentence.Verbs of saying and verbs of propositional attitude as “plugs”John thought/said that Peter had started buying blue-chip shares NOT Peter hadnt been buying blue-chip shares.Factive verbs and modal operators as “holes”1.Its unlikely that John will play the pi

31、ano again John played the piano before.2. The president didnt die of SARSThere was a president.Two-place logical connectives are “filters”John has three children, and all his children are intelligent NOT John has children.Presupposition, Entailment, Assertion任何一个语用前提的界定都是把前提和说话人联系在一起，而语义前提则是把前提和句子或者

32、和句子的命题联系在一起的；换言之，从语用学的角度看，前提是说话人的预设，从语义学的角度看，前提是句子本生具有的一层意义。 Yule (1996) 说：前提和蕴含是没有被说话人通过话语直接表达但是在交际过程中得以传递的信息，两者均属于已知信息；不同的是，前提是一个依存于说话人的概念，蕴含是一个依存于句子的概念。 Explaination (3) a. Marys dog is cute. (=p) b. Mary has a dog. (=q) c. p q(4) a. Marys dog isnt cute. (=p) b. Mary has a dog. (=q) c. NOT p q(5)

33、 a. Everybody knows that John is gay. (=p) b. Everybody doesnt know that John is gay. (=NOT p) c. John is a gay. (=q) d. p q & NOT p qTruth condition of presuppositionA句： (=P)B 句： (=q)Because: PT，qT; PF，qTTherefore: PqExercises Please give the presupposition to the following sentences: (1) John is m

34、arried.(2) Everybody knows that John is gay.(3) John realized that he was in debt.(4) When did you stop beating your wife?(5) How often do you cheat in your exam? Comparison exerciseA:That person is a bachelor.B: That person is a man.Assignments 1. Definition: (1) presupposition(2) entailment2. Plea

35、se give the presupposition to the following sentences.(1) Im glad that its over.(2) Johns brother came back yesterday. (3) Youre late again.(4) He pretend to be ill.5.The burglar realized that he had been filmed on closed circuit telebision.6.John forgot to do the washing up.7.John hasnt driven acar since he had the accident.8.Professor Wang was glad that he had s