Presupposition - Revision history

NBlöcher: Edited the format, removed the block {{cats}}

2014-09-27T19:05:15Z

Edited the format, removed the block {{cats}}

NBlöcher: Added the section "other languages" and rearranged the order of the other sections

2014-06-01T09:56:42Z

Added the section "other languages" and rearranged the order of the other sections

Wohlgemuth: utrecht

2009-02-20T12:26:20Z

utrecht

New page

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The old information in a sentence that forms the background for the new information, that is usually called the [[focus]]. If we see a sentence as the answer to a question, then the presupposition is the information that was already part of the question.

=== Example ===
Q: Who is taking care of Mary?

A: John '''is taking care of Mary'''

The presupposition of sentence A is boldfaced in B. The focus is ''John''. The [[topic]], ''Mary'' in this case, is part of the presupposition.

=== Semantics ===

Condition that has to be fulfilled for a sentence to be either true or false. The sentence has no truth value if the presupposition fails to hold. Presuppositions can be triggered by specific words or constructions, like [[definite description]]s, [[factive predicate]]s and [[cleft]]s. The presupposition of a sentence A is entailed by both A and the negation of A.

=== Example ===
A: It is John who is taking care of Mary
-A: It isn't John who is taking care of Mary
P: Someone is taking care of Mary

P is the presupposition of both A and its negation -A, triggered by the cleft construction. Both A and -A are infelicitous if the presupposition is not satisfied.

=== Links ===

[http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Presupposition&lemmacode=1651 Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics]

=== References ===

* Levinson, Stephen C. 1983. ''Pragmatics.,'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

{{dc}}
[[Category:Syntax]]
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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{stub}}
 The old information in a sentence that forms the background for the new information, that is usually called the [[focus]]. If we see a sentence as the answer to a question, then the presupposition is the information that was already part of the question.
-=== Example ===
+== Example ==
   Q: Who is taking care of Mary?
   A: John '''is taking care of Mary'''
@@ Line 8: / Line 9: @@
 The presupposition of sentence A is boldfaced in B. The focus is ''John''. The [[topic]], ''Mary'' in this case, is part of the presupposition.
-=== Semantics ===
+== Semantics ==
 Condition that has to be fulfilled for a sentence to be either true or false. The sentence has no truth value if the presupposition fails to hold. Presuppositions can be triggered by specific words or constructions, like [[definite description]]s, [[factive predicate]]s and [[cleft]]s. The presupposition of a sentence A is entailed by both A and the negation of A.
-=== Example ===
+== Example ==
    A:  It is John who is taking care of Mary
   -A:  It isn't John who is taking care of Mary
@@ Line 18: / Line 19: @@
 P is the presupposition of both A and its negation -A, triggered by the cleft construction. Both A and -A are infelicitous if the presupposition is not satisfied.
-=== Links ===
+== Links ==
 [http://www2.let.uu.nl/UiL-OTS/Lexicon/zoek.pl?lemma=Presupposition&lemmacode=1651 Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics]
-=== References ===
+== References ==
 * Levinson, Stephen C. 1983. ''Pragmatics.,'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-===Other languages===
+==Other languages==
 German:[[Präsupposition]]
 {{dc}}
 [[Category:Pragmatics]]
 [[Category:Syntax]]