Lecture Three Presupposition 1

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1、LectureThreePresuppositionTherobberywascommittedbyapairoftwins,botharesaidtobeabout18yearsold.Soyouareahousewifeandamother.Doyouhaveanychildren?Inourcommunication,wenormallydonotexpectpeopletotellussomethingwealreadyknow.Embeddedineveryutteranceisacon

2、siderableamountof'understood'informationwhichcomesfromourknowledgeofthelanguageitself.The'slips'inthisexercisegiveoraskforredundantinformation,informationwhichcanbeautomaticallyinferredfromthemeaningsofwordsthespeakerhasalreadyused.Ifyouknowthemeaning

3、ofyear,twins,ageandmother,thenyoualsoknowthat:ayearis12monthslong;twinsarethesameage;yourageishowoldyouare;amotherhasaleastonechild.Soitisreduntantifsomeonesaystheaboveutterancestoyou:Peopleusuallydrawsomeinferencesfromthelinguisticformsordosomeguessw

4、orktoarriveatthespeaker’sintendedmeaning.Inthislecture,weexaminepresupposition,onekindofinferencewhichiscloselylinkedtoanutterance.Butbeforewedealwithpresupposition,weshouldknowsomethingaboutentailment,anotherkindofinferences.1.EntailmentWhatisentailm

5、ent?(Yule’sboolP25)Anentailmentissomethingthatlogicalllyfollowsfromwhatisassertedintheutterance.Sentence,notthespeaker,haveentailment.Wecanidentifiysomeentailmentsinthissentence:Mary‘sbrotherboughtanewhouseinSanya.Takethesentence,Thepaintersbrokethewi

6、ndow.ThissentencehasmanyentailmentsHerearesomeverybasic(one-way)entailments:Entailment1:'Someonebrokethewindow.'Entailment2:'Thepaintersdidsomethingtothewindow.'Entailment3:'Thepaintersbrokesomething.'1.1Decidewhethereachofmyfollowingstatementsistrue

7、orfalseandwhy.(a)Mymotherisawoman(b)Mymotherisadoctor.(c)Thetigerisunhappy.(d)Thetigerisananimal.(e)Mymotherisaboy.(f)Thetigerisareptile.40Withoutknowinganythingaboutmymotherorthetigerinquestion,youcanquiteeasilyanswer'true'to(a)and(d)becauseofyourkno

8、wledgeofEnglish.Thesesentencesarenecessarilytruebecauseofthemeaningrelationshipbetweenthewordsmotherandwomanandbetweentigerandanimal.Thesetypesofsentencesaresometimesreferredtoasanalyticsentence.Similarly,giventhatyouinterpreteverythinglitera