Lecture Three Presupposition 1.docx
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Lecture Three Presupposition 1.docx
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LectureThreePresupposition1
LectureThreePresupposition
Therobberywascommittedbyapairoftwins,botharesaidtobeabout18yearsold.
Soyouareahousewifeandamother.Doyouhaveanychildren?
Inourcommunication,wenormallydonotexpectpeopletotellussomethingwealreadyknow.Embeddedineveryutteranceisaconsiderableamountof'understood'informationwhichcomesfromourknowledgeofthelanguageitself.The'slips'inthisexercisegiveoraskforredundantinformation,informationwhichcanbeautomaticallyinferredfromthemeaningsofwordsthespeakerhasalreadyused.Ifyouknowthemeaningofyear,twins,ageandmother,thenyoualsoknowthat:
ayearis12monthslong;twinsarethesameage;yourageishowoldyouare;amotherhasaleastonechild.
Soitisreduntantifsomeonesaystheaboveutterancestoyou:
Peopleusuallydrawsomeinferencesfromthelinguisticformsordosomeguessworktoarriveatthespeaker’sintendedmeaning.
Inthislecture,weexaminepresupposition,onekindofinferencewhichiscloselylinkedtoanutterance.
Butbeforewedealwithpresupposition,weshouldknowsomethingaboutentailment,anotherkindofinferences.
1.Entailment
Whatisentailment?
(Yule’sboolP25)
Anentailmentissomethingthatlogicalllyfollowsfromwhatisassertedintheutterance.Sentence,notthespeaker,haveentailment.
Wecanidentifiysomeentailmentsinthissentence:
Mary‘sbrotherboughtanewhouseinSanya.
Takethesentence,
Thepaintersbrokethewindow.
ThissentencehasmanyentailmentsHerearesomeverybasic(one-way)entailments:
Entailment1:
'Someonebrokethewindow.'
Entailment2:
'Thepaintersdidsomethingtothewindow.'
Entailment3:
'Thepaintersbrokesomething.'
1.1Decidewhethereachofmyfollowingstatementsistrueorfalseandwhy.
(a)Mymotherisawoman
(b)Mymotherisadoctor.
(c)Thetigerisunhappy.
(d)Thetigerisananimal.
(e)Mymotherisaboy.
(f)Thetigerisareptile.
Withoutknowinganythingaboutmymotherorthetigerinquestion,youcanquiteeasilyanswer'true'to(a)and(d)becauseofyourknowledgeofEnglish.Thesesentencesarenecessarilytruebecauseofthemeaningrelationshipbetweenthewordsmotherandwomanandbetweentigerandanimal.Thesetypesofsentencesaresometimesreferredtoasanalyticsentence.Similarly,giventhatyouinterpreteverythingliterally,youcaneasilyanswer'false'to(e)and(f).Themeaningsofmotherandboyandtigerandreptilemakesuchsentencesnecessarilyfalse,orcontradictions.However,(b)and(c)presentyouwithaproblem.Theymayormaynotbetrue.Youcannotverifythetruthorfalsityofthosestatementsbylookinginyourdictionary.Youwouldneedother,non-linguistic,informationaboutmymotherandtheparticulartigerIamreferringto.Thesearesometimesreferredtoassyntheticsentences.Ifitturnsoutthatmymotheractuallyisadoctororthatthetigerisunhappy,wewouldsaythatthesestatementsaresyntheticallytrue.Thatis,theirtruthisbasedonwhatishappeningintheworld,notonwhatishappeninginthelanguage.Similarly,ifmymotherisanengineerratherthanadoctorandthetigerisquitehappy,wewouldsaythatthesestatementsaresyntheticallyfalse.
1.2Assumethatsentence(a)ineachpairissyntheticallytrue.Thenlookatsentence(b)anddecideifyoucanassumethatitisautomaticallytruegiventhetruthof(a).
l(a)Anniecaughtatrout.
l(b)Anniecaughtafish.
2(a)Annieisthin.
2(b)Annieisnotfat.
3(a)Anniebakedacake.
3(b)Anniebakedsomething.
4(a)MamaBearisinfrontofPapaBear.
4(b)PapaBearisbehindMamaBear.
Theansweris'yes'inallthreecases.Onceweestablishthetruthofsentence(a),sentence(b)becomesautomaticallytruebecauseofthemeaningrelationshipsbetweentrout/fish,thin/fat,andcake/something.Ineachcase,wecansaythatsentence(b)isanentailmantofsentence(a).Allsentenceshaveanumberofentailments.Thatis,othersentenceswhichareautomaticallytrueiftheoriginalsentenceistrue.Thethingaboutentailmentisthatthiskindofinferenceis'forfree'.Itrequiresonlyaknowledgeofthesemanticsystemofthelanguagebeingused.
Atthispoint,youmaybewonderingwhetheraparaphraseisthesamethingasanentailment.Insemantics,aparaphraseisaspecialkindofentailment.ThenextexercisewillshowyouwhatImean.
HYPONYMYandSUPER-ORDINATE
Thereisasemanticrelationshipbetweenwordscalledhyponymy.Herearesomeexamplesofhyponymy:
HyponymSuper-ordinate
Roseflower
salmonfish
hammertool
IntherelationofHYPONYMYthemeaningoftheSUPER-ORDINATE
termisincludedinthemeaningoftheHYPONYM.Thatis,themeaningofroseincludesthemeaningofflower.Wecanalsosaythatthehyponymis‘akindof’thesuper-ordinate.Forexample,aroseisakindofflower.Notealsothattheentailmentrelationshipbetweenhyponymsandtheirsuper-ordinatesisone-way(see
Exercise2.4).Forexample,IpickedaroseentailsIpickedaflower,butIpickedaflowerdoesnotnecessarilyentailZpickedarose.Discussthetypesofimplicaturesthatcanbedrawninthefollowingdialogueswhichexploittherelationofhyponymy.Wouldyouclasssomeoftheseasgeneralizedimplicatures?
(a)Mike:
Didyoubuyherarose?
Annie:
Iboughtheraflower.
(b)Jane:
There’ssalmononthemenu.
Steve:
Idon’tlikefish.
(c)Ed:
Becarefulofthatsofa.
Meridyth:
It’sapieceoffurniture,Dad.
(d)Mat:
Soyou’vetakenupteaching.
Chris:
It’sajob.
1.3Foreachpair,decidewhetheryoucanassumethatsentence(b)isautomaticallytruegiventhesynthetictruthofsentence(a).Thenreversetheprocess.Ifsentence(b)issyntheticallytrue,canyouassumethatsentence(a)isautomaticallytrue?
1(a)Tomsawabear.
1(b)Tomssawananimal.
2(a).Thisporridgeistoocold.
2(b)Thisporridgeisnottoohot.
3(a)BabyBearcried.
3(b)BabyBearwept.
4(a)MamaBearisinfrontofPapaBear.
4(b)PapaBearisbehindMamaBear.
EntailmentandParaphrase:
Asyoucansee,thingsgetabitmorecomplicatedwhenwelooktoseeiftheentailmentworksbothways.Insentencepairs1and2,theentailmentworksinonlyonedirection.IfTomsawabear,thenhenecessarilysawananimal.Butifhesawananimal,hecouldhaveseenabearbutnotnecessarily.Itcouldhavebeenabigtiger,forexample.Ifsomethingistoocold,bydefinitionitcannotbetoohot.Butiftheporridgeisnottoohot,isitnecessarilytoocold?
No.itcouldbejustright.WhenthereisonlyONE-WAYENTAILMENT,thesentencesarenottrueparaphrasesofeachother.
Sentencepairs3and4behavesomewhatdifferently.Becauseofthemeaningrelationshipbetweencried/weptandinfrontof/behind,wehaveasituationofTWO-WAYorMUTUALENTAILMENTbetweenthesentencesineachpair.Thesesentencesareparaphrasesofeachother.Thetermparaphraseisusedinsemanticswhenthereisarelationshipofmutualentailmentbetweentwosentences.
Generallyspeaking,'entailment','analyticsentence'and'contradiction'areconsideredtobepurelysemanticconcepts,havingtodowithsentencemeaningratherthanspeakermeaning.However,theseissuescanbequiterelevanttothestudyofpragmaticsasthenexttwoexerciseswillillustrate.
SummaryofEntailment:
Entailmentreferstothesemanticrelationbetweenpropositionsofwhichonelogicallyfollowsfromanother.Forinstance:
a.Ihaveabrother.
b.Ihaveasibling.
Here,(a)asanassertionentails(b),becausewecanderivethelatterfromtheformer.Thisisenabledbythehyponymicrelationorrelationofsemanticinclusionbetween"brother"and"sibling'."
Logically,twoconditionsarenecessaryforPropositionAtoentailPropositionB(writtenasA11-B):
ConditionOne:
IfAistrue,Bistrue.
ConditionTwo:
IfAisnottrue,Bmaybetrueorfalse.
ConditionThree:
IfBisnottrue,Aisfalse,too.
Summary:
Eachofthesedifferentmessagesillustrateshowmorecanbecommunicatedthansimply'whatissaid'.Theimportancegiventooneentailmentoveranotherbyaspeakerhasimportantconsequencesforthepragmaticanalysisofthatutterance.
Allsentenceshaveanumberofentailments-othersentenceswhichareautomaticallytrueiftheoriginalsentenceistrue.
Entailmentsareinferencesthatcanbedrawnsolelyfromourknowledgeaboutthesemanticrelationshipsinalanguage.Thisknowledgeallowsustocommunicatemuchmorethanweactually'say'.
IntheUSA,anaccusedmuggerratherfoolishlychosetodefendhimselfatthetrial.Thefollowingisoneofthequestionsheputtohisvictim:
DidyougetagoodlookatmyfacewhenItookyourpurse?
Thisgoessomewaytoexplainingwhyhewassentencedto10yearsinprison,butitalsohighlightsanothertypeofinferencethatwemakewheninterpretingutterancesandanalysingspeakermeaning.Whatpresuppositiondowegetfromhisutteranceatthecourt?
Itookyourpurse.
Fayehaslookedforthekeysdirectlyasserts‘Fayehaslookedforthekeys’
WherehasFayelookedforthekeys?
presupposes‘Fayehaslookedforthekeys’
Anniehasasofa.
Anniehasasofadirectlyasserts‘Anniehasasofa’
Don’tsitonAnnie’ssofa.
Don’tsitonAnnie’ssofapresupposes‘Anniehasasofa’
2.Presupposition
However,ithasprovedverydifficultforauthorsintheareatoagreeonadefinitionforit.Thisdefinitionproblemispartlyareflectionofthefuzzyboundarybetweenpragmaticsandsemantics.Somedefinitionsofpresuppositionareverybroadandspeakeroriented:
anythingthespeakerassumestobetruebeforemakingtheutterance.Othersaremuchmorenarrowandsentenceoriented:
ane
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