What is a Presupposition - Glossary of Linguistic Terms |

Presupposition · must be mutually known or assumed by the speaker and addressee for the utterance to be considered appropriate in context · generally will remain ... Skiptomaincontent GlossaryofLinguisticTerms Presupposition Definition: Apresuppositionisbackgroundbelief,relatingtoan utterance,that mustbemutuallyknownorassumedbythe speaker and addressee fortheutterancetobeconsideredappropriateincontext generallywillremainanecessaryassumptionwhethertheutteranceisplacedintheformofanassertion,denial,orquestion,and cangenerallybeassociatedwithaspecificlexicalitemorgrammaticalfeature(presuppositiontrigger)intheutterance. Kinds: ActualPresuppositionPotentialPresuppositionExamples: Theutterance JohnregretsthathestoppeddoinglinguisticsbeforeheleftCambridge hasthefollowingpresuppositions: Thereissomeoneuniquelyidentifiabletospeakerandaddresseeas John. JohnstoppeddoinglinguisticsbeforeheleftCambridge. JohnwasdoinglinguisticsbeforeheleftCambridge. JohnleftCambridge. JohnhadbeenatCambridge. SeeAlso: UtteranceSpeakerAddresseeSource:  Levinson1983179–181,204–205,216–217 Crystal1980283 Talmy198579–80 Caton198197–98 ThispageisanextractfromtheLinguaLinksLibrary.Version5.0publishedonCD-ROMbySILInternational,2003. LinguaLinksOrderingInformation GlossaryHierarchyPresupposition ActualPresupposition PotentialPresupposition