1、(推薦)pragmaticpresupposition英文版 pragmatic presuppositionpresuppositiondoes he lie?n boss: if you want to work here, young man, you must know we require cleanliness. did you remember to wipe your feet on the mat?n man: oh yes, sir!n boss: and another thing; we require truthfulness. there is no mat!1 d

2、efinetion 1.1 the philosophical tradition 1.2 the pragmatic definition 1.1.1 abroad studies 1.1.2 domestic studies2 properties of pragmatic presupposition 2.1mutual knowledge 2.2 appropriateness 2.3 defeasibility 2.4 additivity3 presupposition triggers 4 types of presuposition 4.1 potential presuppo

3、sition vs. existential presupposition 4.2 factive presupposition vs. non-factive presupposition 4.3 lexical presupposition vs. structural presupposition 5 function of pragmatic presupposition6 the projection probem7 conclusion8 bibliography1.1 the philosophical traditionn gottlob frege, the first ph

4、ilosopher who brought presupposition to the notice of the scholarly world, published an article on sense and reference in 1892. he went on to examine the sense and reference of sentences. if anything is asserted there is always an obvious presupposition that the simple or compound proper names used

5、have a reference.for example: john works very hard.it presupposes that there must be someone called john.1 definetionn frege thus sketches a theory of presupposition with the following presuppositions:n (i)referring phrases and temporal clauses carry presuppositions to the effeet that they do in fac

6、t refer;n (ii)a sentence and its negative counterpart share the same set of presuppositions;n (iii)in order for an assertion or a sentence to be either true or false,its presuppositions must be true or satisfied. (frege,1952:69)n stalnaker first proposed the concept of pragmatic presupposition.he be

7、lieves that pragmatic presupposition is not only related to the context, but also related to the propositional attitude of speaker.n a proposition p is a pragmatic presupposition of a speaker in a given context just in case the speaker assumes or believes that p, assumes or believes that his address

8、ee assumes or believes that p, and assumes or believes his addressee recognizes that he is making these assumptions, or has these beliefs.” (stalnaker,1974) n therefore, pragmatic presupposition is actually a judgment or assumption of the knowledge of the hearer from the speaker, which is the fact t

9、hat the speaker thinks right or the hearer ought to accept.1.2 the pragmatic definition1.1.1 abroad studies n pragmatic presupposition is like appropriate conditions that the effective implement of a speech act must satisfy or a sentence must satisfy for the purpose of the necessary social appropria

10、teness. it is a certain condition that is triggered by a sentence, whose responsibility is to effectively implement an illocutionary act. (fillmore ,1971) pragmatic presupposition is the relationship between a speaker and the appropriateness of a sentence in context. in his opinion, pragmatic presup

11、position is not studied on the sentence level, but on the communicational level of the speaker and the hearer. (keenan ,1971) n presupposition of the utterance is used to indicate the common knowledge of the speaker and the hearer. when the speaker makes an utterance and the hearer understands it in

12、 a certain context, they must own some common knowledge. (jackendoff,1972)n e.g. john has a sister.n the common knowledge of the communicators is that john exists. the speakers saying and the hearers understanding of the utterance are all based upon the common knowledge, which is viewed as pragmatic

13、 presupposition.n presupposition concerning the baekground assumption made in the proeess of communieation is a highly technieal subject. (leohickey&faweeff,1998:114)n presupposition is not only a potential complex object of study,but also one where explanatory theories have been supported and attac

14、ked by example and enounter-example,with the seeing most of the battle. (faweeff1998:114)pragmatic presupposition are assumptions made by the speaker on what the hearer may accept undoubtedly. (givon ,1979)levinson (1983) defines pragmatic presupposition as common knowledge, which is held by the two

15、 sides in the communication and is a necessary condition for successful communication. presupposition refers to the things that are accepted by communicative parties in communication. (chen zongming ,1984) there are three different understandings of presupposition: speakers assumption for the contex

16、t, the necessary condition of a speech act and the common knowledge or background knowledge. (he zhaoxiong ,1989) as the factual basis of the whole situation or fact that a sentence expresses, presupposition is the objective situation and condition that are reflected or implied in the semantics. (xu

17、 shenghuan ,1993) n presupposition is the proposition that speaker assumes and builds in his mind when speaking. (lan chun ,1999) n presupposition is a kind of pragmatic inference, which infers the prerequisite of the utterance from logical concept, semantics and context based on the actual meaning

18、of linguistic structures. presupposition is not expressed clearly by literal meaning of language. its implicit. even though presupposition does not directly appear in the topic, it is known by two participants in the conversation. (he ziran ,1988) hu zehong (1996) explains pragmatic presupposition f

19、rom three aspects:n pragmatic presupposition is a propositional attitude; n pragmatic presupposition is common knowledge shared by the two sides in specific communicative environment;n pragmatic presupposition is the condition that enables a statement to be appropriate in the process of communicatio

20、n.1.1.2 domestic studies all in all,linguists have different view on the definition of presupposition, but till today, they have not reached a consensus. here is a definition from longman dictionary oflanguage teaching and applied linguistics (2009:536):presupposition is what a speaker or writer ass

21、umes that the receiver of the message already knows. for example:speaker a: what about inviting john tonight?speaker b: what a good idea; then he can give mary a lift.2 properties of pragmatic presuppositionn since pragmatic presupposition rooted itself in linguistics, many linguists have been worki

22、ng to explain it thoroughly. as to the features of it, professor he ziran(1988) made his efforts to tell that there arefour major properties to pragmatic presupposition:n 2.1mutual knowledgen 2.2 appropriateness n 2.3 defeasibilityn 2.4 additivity2.1 mutual knowledgen mutual knowledge is a property

23、of pragmatic presupposition, which holds that presupposition refers to the information that both parties of communication know. there are three cases of mutual knowledge.n first, presupposition is the information mutually known by communicative parties or average people, which is closely connected w

24、ith the context.n second, mutual knowledge is implied in the speakers utterances and then can be understood by the hearer. n third, sometimes mutual knowledge only refers to the things mutually known by communicative parties, so the third party may not really understand the content of discourse if h

25、e or she doesnt know the presupposition and just relies on the context. (he ziran, 1988:138)n the following is an example which communicative parties lack the mutual knowledge of presupposition:n e.g. n priya: i want to catch up with all of you, but first i really must visit the loo.n leonard: im go

26、ing, too. ill show you where it is.n rajesh: all right, this goes without saying, but im just going to say it anyway. hands off my sister.n sheldon: why would i touch her? shes covered with air plane germs.(laughter) (episode 6, season 4, the big bang theory)n in this conversation, rajesh warns his

27、friends not to touch his sister for fear that they will fall in love with his sister. however, sheldon has a different presupposition of “hands off” with rajesh. he does not presuppose “hands off my sister” as “not to fall in love with rajeshs sister”. according to the plot, it is well-known that sh

28、eldon is a total clean freak and hasnt any interest in getting a girlfriend. for this reason, sheldon cant reach an agreement with rajesh on the exact meaning of “hands off my sister”. they lack the mutual knowledge of presupposition.n e.g.n (scene: when penny knew that sheldon got fired, she wants

29、to comfort him.)penny: well, maybe its all for the best. you know, i always say when one doorcloses, another one opens.sheldon: no, it doesnt. not unless the two doors are connected by relays or there are motion sensors involved. penny: no, no, i meant.sheldon: or if the first door closing creates a

30、 change of air pressure that acts upon the second door. (laughter)penny: never mind. (episode 4, season 1, the big bang theory)n here sheldon cancels the appropriateness of presupposition accidentally again. on his own side, sheldon falsely presupposes “when one door closes, anther one opens” as a p

31、hysical phenomenon. n according to the context and background knowledge, the audience can easily understand that what penny utters is not a physical phenomenon but a proverb. n sheldon does not take the contextual factors and background knowledge into account, and does not perceive that penny is com

32、forting him for his unemployment. sheldon is a physicist whose mind is full of physical theories. it is very natural for him to neglect the contextual factors and background knowledge and presuppose“when one door closes, anther one opens” as a physical phenomenon.2.2 appropriatenessn the appropriate

33、ness of presupposition means only when presupposition is appropriate can verbal communication go smoothly. presupposition can be objective facts or the things that the speaker views as facts in his mind or assumptions. (he ziran, 1988: 100)n in other words, presuppositions are communicative parties

34、attitudes and their understandings of a proposition or an utterance. therefore,presupposition itself does not have to be true or correct since it is subjective. (heziran, 1988: 126) n appropriateness also means that presupposition must be closely associated with context and it is the precondition of

35、 speech acts. 2.3 defeasibilityn the defeasibility of presupposition refers to the fact that presupposition will disappear with the change of the utterance or the context. n he zhaoxiong (1989) holds that defeasibility is the common feature of pragmatic inference since context is a significant facto

36、r in pragmatic studies. n certain language structures can generate presupposition, but the repulsion between background information, the specific context and speech contents will give rise to the disappearance of presupposition. n e.g.n leonard: well, ive dated plenty of women. there was joyce kim l

37、eslie winklen sheldon: notify the editors of the oxford english dictionary. the word “plenty” has been redefined to mean “two”. (laughter) (episode 2, season 2, the big bang theory)n in this scene, leonard considers that he has dated plenty of women and he is charming for women. but actually he has

38、dated only two women. his utterance presupposes that “plenty” means “two”. the reason why leonard said so is that he persistently thinks that he is popular with women. leonards intentional cancellation of the appropriateness of presuppositions is a way for him to cheat himself and achieve self-estee

39、m. on the other hand, sheldon knows what leonard means, but in order to refute the aggressive leonard, he pretends not to perceive the contradiction in leonards utterance and accepts the literal meaning of leonards utterance. sheldon cancels the appropriateness of presupposition intentionally out of

40、 certain purpose, i.e. satirizing leonards self-esteem.2.4 additivityn the additivity of presupposition means that presupposition can be added by the speaker through providing supplementary information in his or her following utterance. n as mentioned above, presupposition is common knowledge held b

41、y communicative parties and is also a necessary precondition that should be met so as to make the communication go smoothly. n when communicative parties lack of common knowledge, it is liable that the communication will break off. at this time, communicatiuhve parties can add presupposition to make

42、 up the front information gap through providing more supplementary information and tell the truth.n penny: okay, its done. look, guys, for the future. i dont mind killing the big spiders. but you have to at least try with the little ones.n sheldon: penny, please. were facing a far more serious probl

43、em than stray arachnids.n leonard: sheldon, its not that bad.n sheldon: not bad? its horrible. i mean, you hear stories about this sort of thing. but you never think itll happen to you.n leonard: so they steamed your dumplings. get over it. (laughter) (episode 19, season 2, the big bang theory)n in

44、this scene, penny helps sheldon and leonard kill the big spiders. penny tells these guys that she doesnt mind killing the big spiders but they should try to kill the little ones. sheldon utters that they are facing a more serious problem than the big spiders. n the presupposition of sheldons utteran

45、ce is that there is a more serious problem than the big spiders.sheldons friend leonard does not refute sheldons utterance immediately but gives him some hints that the problem is not that bad.n however, sheldon goes on exaggerating the seriousness of the problem. therefore, leonard adds some inform

46、ation to reveal the truth: the problem sheldon refers to is that his friends steamed his dumplings.through using the additivity of the presupposition, leonard achieves his aim, i.e. ridiculing and bantering sheldon. 3 presupposition triggersn in the analysis of how speakers assumptions are typically

47、 expressed, presupposition has been associated with the use of a large number of words, phrases, and structures, known as presupposition-triggers. n in his pragmatics , stephen c. levinson on the basis of karttunen (31 types) lists 13 types of them, which he regards as the set of core phenomena, rep

48、roduced here with simplification and some other modifications. stephen c. levinson is an influential social scientist,known for his studies of the relations between culture, language and cognition.levinson was one of the driving forces behind a re-evaluation of the notion of linguistic relativity in

49、 the early nineties.n mr. he classified presupposition into three group in his pragmatics and english study (1997),(the symbol “” means “presuppose” , the italicized words means presupposition triggers) . a:verbs (implicative verbs, factive verbs);b:commentary adjectives and adverbs, change-of-state

50、 verbs, verbs of judging,definitive verbs; c: phrases or clauses (conditional clauses, infinite clauses, questions). a:1. factive verbs (實情動詞) -sth. has happened.regret, realize, know, be odd, be strange, be proud/ pleased/ disappointed/ aware/ sorry/glad that etc. e.g. im sorry that your dog died.

51、your dog died.2.implicative verbs(含蓄動詞)-containing two meaningsmanage, forget,happen e.g. i forget to bring the book. i ought to have brought the book. (he ziran,1997)b:3. definite descriptionsthe,this/ that + np, the 3rd person pronoun, possessive + n etc. e.g. johns wife is a school teacher. john

52、has a wife.4. change of state verbs(表示狀態(tài)改變的動詞) finish, stop, begin, start, carry on, continue, cease, leave, arrive, enter, come, go, turn etc. e.g. the guests arrived at 6. the guests were not here before 6.5. iteratives (表反復(fù)的詞語)-repetition & continuity e.g. im visiting china for the third time. i

53、have visited china twice before.6. verbs of judging (判斷性動詞) e.g. peter accused smith of forgery. peter thinks forgery is bad. (he ziran,1997)c:7. temporal clauses (時間狀語從句時間狀語從句)e.g. after his father died he stepped into a large fortune. his father died.8.cleft sentence (斷裂句斷裂句)e.g. it was /wasnt her

54、ry that kissed rosie. someone kissed rosie.9. non-restrictive attributive clauses(非限定性定語從句非限定性定語從句)e.g. the island of japan, which are located to the east of china, have frequently been struck by earthquakes of varying forces. the island of japan are located to the east of china. (he ziran,1997) 10.

55、structures and expressions indicating comparison (表比較的結(jié)構(gòu)與表達(dá)表比較的結(jié)構(gòu)與表達(dá))e.g. your house resembles ours. we have a house.11. counterfactual conditionals(與事實相反的條件句與事實相反的條件句)e.g. if i had not burnt the cake, we would be having it for tea. i burnt the cake.12.questionse.g. does he speak english or french?

56、he speaks either english or french.13. phonological presuppositionthe phonological presupposition refers to shift the core of the tone of the sentence.e.g.this work was not done by nic.someone did this work. (he ziran,1997)n potential presupposition vs. existential presuppositionn factive presupposi

57、tion vs. non-factive presuppositionn lexical presupposition vs. structural presuppositiongeorge yule in 1996 held that pragmatic presupposition can be classified differently into three groups according to different criterion.4.types of presuposition4.1 potential presupposition vs. existential presup

58、positionn existential presupposition: an assumption that someone or something, identified by use of a noun phrase, does exist.n potential presupposition: an assumption typically associated with use of a linguistic form.n e.g. a) is mike giving annie that chocolate cake? is mike giving annie a chocol

59、ate cake? b) youll want domebegone, my revolutionary cure for baldness. there is a cure for baldness. the cure is revolutionary. i have this cure. (yule,1996:28) n the wife: you should have a look at what prof. yus doing, because when he is about to leave home, he always gives a kiss to his wife. so

60、 why dont you do this like him?n the husband: how can i do that?n the wife: why cant you do that?n the husband: i even dont know the wife of prof. yu and let alone have the courage to kiss her. (xiao jiu and lao le, 1991)n 妻子：你看看人家于教授，都多大歲數(shù)了，每天上班下班還都親媳婦兒一 口，你就不能親一口?n 丈夫：那我哪能親啊。n 妻子：為什么不能親呢?n 丈夫：于教授的