1. Pragmatics
Presupposition & Entailment

2. Presupposition
Definition
Types of Presupposition
Some common
Presupposition triggers

3. Entailment
Definition
Characteristic
Background vs. Foreground
entailment
Subtypes of entailment

4. Presupposition

5. Context
Definition
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 : Mary’s brother bought three horses
• Presupposition: • Entailment:
Mary exists, Mary has a Mary’s brother buy
brother, Mary has only something, bought three
one brother, Mary’s animal, two horses, one
brother is rich. horse etc.
= speaker’s subjective = the speaker’s 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 didn’t REALIZE he was ill >> he was ill
- I’m GLAD it’s over >> it’s over

12. 2.3. Lexical presupposition
is the assumption that, in using one
word, the speaker can act as if
another meaning (word) will be
understood.

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 presupposition
is the assumption associated with
the use of certain words and
phrases.

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 not
only not true, but is the opposite of what is
true, or “ contrary to facts.”

20. Counterfactual conditional
1 An If clause → a complete
statement
Ex :
If I had enough money, I would buy that house.
→ I do not have enough money
If he hadn’t 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 statement
Ex :
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 statement
Ex:
You shouldn’t 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
triggers
Presupposition Examples
triggers
Definite descriptions my son, the boss, Mike
Factive 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, arrive
Temporal clauses before, while, since,
after, during, whenever..
Cleft sentences It is/was …. which/
whom/ that…
Questions Who, what, when, …

25. Definition of Entailment
a relationship that applies
between two sentences/
propositions, where the truth of
one 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 entailments
e.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: hyponymy
animal: 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 entailments
e.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
Entailment
Assertion Presupposition

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