Handout 2 - Presupposition and entailment

What does reference in communication relate to?

The reference between humans and the world about which we communicate

What are presupposition in conversation?

Propositions the speaker takes for granted as part of the conversation’s background

What does reference in communication relate to?

The reference between humans and the world about which we communicate

What are presupposition in conversation?

Propositions the speaker takes for granted as part of the conversation’s background

What is “common ground” in communication?

Sum of information that people assume they share

What are the major types of presupposition triggers?

1. Definite descriptions (existential presupposition)

2. Factive predicates (factive presupposition)

3. Aspectual/change of state predicates

4. Iteratives (iterative verbs and adverbs)

5. Implicative predicates

6. Temporal clauses

7. Cleft sentences (clef and pseudo cleft)

8. Counterfactual conditionals

What is an existential presupposition?

It asserts the existence of something (“The king of france” is bald > there is a king of France)

What is a factive presupposition?

It assumes a fact is true

What is the relation between the following propositions?

(3a) The current king of France is bald

(b) The current king of France is not bald

(4) There is a king of France

If (3a) and (b) is uttered by two people, they agree on the fact that there is a king of France. If (4) is false, we cannot assert either (3a) or (b). (4) is the precondition of the utterance of (3), i.e. (3) presuposses (4)

What are the presuppositions triggers in “John saw the man with two heads”?

Trigger - “the man with two heads”

Presupposition - there is a man with two heads (what remains constat under negation)

What are the two approaches to presupposition?

1. Semantic - as a truth relation (along the line of an entailment)

2. Pragmatic - as one aspect of a speaker’s strategy of organizing information for maximum clarity for the listener

Is there inference involved in entailments?

There are fixed truth relations between sentences which hold regardless of the empirical truth of the sentences

Explain entailment defined by truth

A sentence P entails a sentence Q when the truth of the first (P) guarantees the truth of the second (Q), and the falstiy of the second (Q) guarantees the falsity of the first (P)

What is the informal definition of an entailment?

To say that proposition P entails proposition Q means (informally) that if P is true, Q must also be true and it is impossible for P to be true while Q is false

What is the semantic (truth-conditional) deifnition of an entailment?

A relation between sentences where the truth of one guarantees the truth of the other. A proposition P entails a proposition Q if and only if, in every possible situation where P is true, Q is also true. This mean there is no situation in which P is true and Q is false

What happens to an entailment under negation?

Entailments don’t survive negation

Can entailment be cancelled?

No, it leads to contradiction

What are sources of entailments?

1. Lexical (sparrow-bird example)

2. Syntractic (active-passive voice)

Which semantic relationships can be described by means of entailments?

Hyponymy, paraphrase, contradiction

Can presuppositions survive negation?

Yes

Can presuppositions be cancelled?

Yes, but it must be done in a special way (e.g. over cancellation of a negative sentence and/or special prosody)

Why does presupposition seem to lie at the borderline of semantics and pragmatics?

Because on one hand, presupposition seems like entailmnet, it seem free of contextual effects. But on the other hand, presupposition is influenced by context and the knowledge of speakers.

Are presuppositions context-dependent?

Yes, they are context-dependent because their meaning relies on what both people in a conversation already know or assume to be true.

What is meant by the “projection problem”?

It refers to the issue of how presupposition behave in a complex sentence. Some presupposition persist through more complext sentences, while others may dissapear.

What is a presupposition trigger?

A linguistic element that signals a presupposition, such as definite descriptions or factive predicates

What is the presupposition of the sentence “The king of France is bald”?

There is a king of France

Name two types of factive predicates and give an example

Epistemic factives: “John knows that Baird invented television”

Emotive factives: “John regrets that he said the unsayable”

How do temporal clauses function as presupposition triggers?

They presuppose the truth of the prior event, e.g., “After Janes shot to stardom, she married”, presupposes “Jane shot to stardom”

Do presuppositions surive negation?

Yes, they remain contat under negation

What defines entailment?

Sentence P entails sentence Q if P’s truth guarantees Q’s truth, and Q’s falsity guarantees P’s falsity

Give an example of entailment using “Peter killed the wasp”

P: “Peter killed the wasp” Q: “The wasp died”

Is the relationship between entailment and negation symmetric?

No, entailment is a one-way relationship

What is the key difference between presupposition and entailment?

Presuppositions surive negation; entailmens don’t

Are presuppositions context-dependent?

Yes, they rely on shared knowledge or assumptions between speakers

Analyze the sentence “John began to beat her husband”. What is the presupposition?

The presupposition is “Joan wasn’t beating her husband before”

What is the presupposition of “The flying saucer came again”?

“The flying saucer came before”

Explain the entailment relationship in “If it’s a sparrow, it must be a bird”

P: “It’s a sparrow” entails Q: “It’s a bird”. However, Q does not entail P