A.

Definition
Presupposition is a subject in pragmatics, which is in the analysis, more
related to the semantics study. Although presupposition is correlated with meaning,
the pragmatics analysis to the presupposition can be seen through the concern of
speaker and his/her preceding assumption in exchange with adressee, or in other
words looking at relation between speaker’s assumption or implication before
producing utterences.
Presupposition is defined by Oxford Learner’s Dictionary as “something that
you believe to be true and use as the beginning of an argument even though it has not
been proved; the act of believing it is true.”
In Pragmatics, George Yule stated that “presupposition is something the
speaker assumes to be the case prior to making an utterance.” (2003:25) Meanwhile,
David Crystal in A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, explained that
presupposition is “a condition which must be satisfied if a particular state of affairs is
to obtain, or (in relation to language) what a speaker assumes in saying a particular
sentence, as opposed to what is actually asserted.” (2008:384)
From the definitions above, it can be concluded that presupposition is
implication that are often felt to be in the background of conversation; it is assumed
by the speaker to be already known to the adresse.

ASSUMPTIONS

S UTTERANCES A
B. Presupposition Concept
The concept of presupposition fell under a relationship between two
propositions. Proposition is part of the meaning of the utterance of a declarative
sentence which describes some state of affairs. Proposition distinction involves the
notion of truth. In these two sentences, sentence a and b have propositions. Sentence
a carries proposition p and sentence b carries proposition q, and the symbol >>
contains meaning “presuppose”. The relationship of presupposition can be seen in
example [1] below.

a. Santi’s cat is cute. (=p)

b. Santi has a cat. (=q)
c. p >> q

Before speaker produce the utterance of sentene a, “Santi’s cat is cute”, he/she
logically will already has the preceding assumption that we can find in sentence b,
which is “Mary has a cat”, and might share it with the adressee. However, when we
negate the sentence, the relationship of presupposition remains the same as in
example [2].

a. Santi’s cute isn’t cute. (= NOT p)

b. Mary has a dog. (=q)
c. NOT p >> q

This concept is called constancy under negation. Basically, it means that

presupposition of a statement will remain constant even when that statement is
negated. Further example, in a situation of two speakers debating about recent car
crash of one of their friends.

a. Dave is angry because Jim crashed the car. (=p)

b. Dave isn’t angry because Jim crashed the car. (=NOT p)
c. Jim crashed the car. (=q)
d. p >> q & NOT p >> q

Although speaker a and b have different opinions about whether Dave is angry
about the car crash caused by Jim, they both share the same knowledge about the car
crash. The sentence p and NOT p presuppose q, and remain constant under negation.
C. Types of Presupposition
1. Existential presupposition
It is the assumptions of the existence of the entities named by speaker. Not
usually indicated by possesive constructions, but also more generally by any
definite noun phrase.

Example:
Possesive constructions:
 Your book is in your bag.
(He/she has a book. So, the existential presupposition is “ your book”).
 Sally’s motorcycle was dirty.
(We can pressuppose that Sally exist and she has a motorcycle. So, the
existential presuppotion is “Sally’s motorcycle”).

Noun Phrase:
 The boy that reads a book.
(The boy exists and he reads a book. So, the existential pressupposition is “the
boy”).
 The President of America was paralyzed.
(The President of America exist and he is paralyzed. So, the existential
presupposition is “ The President of America”).

2. Factive Presupposition
It is the assumption that something is true due to what words carry that due to
presupposed informations that makes a fact such as verbs “know”,”realize” and
“regret”, also the involving of phrases such as “glad”,”aware”, and “odd” have
factive presupposition. What must be known about these factives is that they
work as “fact” within the parameter of presupposition.
 Example:
 I know that he was pretending (>>He was pretending)
 She finally realizes that he is a bad guy (>>He is a bad guy)
 She regrets knowing him (>>She knew him)
 I’m glad he’s gone (>>He’s gone)
 I wasn’t aware that he was a liar (>>He’s a liar)
 It isn’t odd that she left him (>>She left him)

3. Structural Presupposition
Structural presupposition is certain sentence associated with the use of certain
construction which have been analyzed as conventionally and regularly
presupposing that part of the structure is already assumed to be true.

Example:
 When did she travel to Bali? (>>She travelled)
 Where did you find my handphone? (>>You found my handohone)
 How did you steal the money? (>>You stole the money)

Structural presupposition can lead listeners to believe that the information

presented is necessarily true, rather than just the presupposition of the person who
asks the question.

4. Lexical Presupposition

Lexical presupposition is the use of one word to convey another meaning of a

word. Accordingly, each of one word that is used (in lexical presupposition) is the
word that is conventionally understood as having meaning. In the other words,
instead of carrying its conventional meaning, the word presupposes another
meaning that is certain and apart from the conventional or asserted one.

Words, as the lexical items, that present the presupposition are:

Stop; start; again; still; etc.

 Example:

 Michelle stopped dancing. (She used to dance.)

 Is Dave still such a playboy? (Dave was a playboy.)
 Caroline has lost her wallet again. (Caroline had lost her
wallet before.)

5. Non-Factive Presupposition
A non factive presupposition is one that assumed not to be true. Some verbs
like ‘dream’, ‘imagine’, and ‘pretend’ are used with presupposition that what
follows is not true.

Example:
 She pretended that he had understood
(>>He did not understand what she meant).
 I imagined that Maharani was ill.
(>>Maharani was not ill.

6. Counterfactual Presupposition
The counterfactual presupposition implies that what is presupposed is not only
‘untrue’, but also the opposite of what is true, or ‘contrary to facts’.

Example:
 If she were my sister, I would not allow her to do that.
(She is not my sister).
 If Andy had played with Chris, he would have made him happy.
(Andy is not playing with Chris).
 If I were hungry, I would ate all the foods.
(I am not hungry).
 If he were my boyfriend, I would broke up with him.
(He is not my boyfriend).
 The presuppositions of the informations in the ‘if-clause’ above are not true at
the time of utterances.

D. Presupposition Triggers
A presupposition trigger is a construction or item that signals the existence of
a presupposition in an utterance. Some common presupposition triggers can be seen on
the table below.

Presupposition Triggers Examples

Definite descriptions my son, the boss, Mike
Factive predicates count, make sense, matter, know, regret, realise,
resent, find out, discover, see, notice, be aware
that, be proud that...
Counter-factual if, unless, without...
Charge of state verbs begin, start, stop, finish, cease, continue, carry on,
cease, take leave, enter, come, go, arrive...
Temporal clauses before, while, since, after, during, whenever...
Cleft sentences it is/was ... which/whom/that...
Questions who, what, when...

E. Projection Problem
There is something base hope that presupposition in simple sentence will be in
right way when the simple sentence become a part in a complex sentence. This is one
of the version from the common concept that the meaning from the whole sentence is
combination from the part of each that part sentence, but, a part meaning from the
presupposition is unable become the meaning from some complex sentence, and this
is called projection problem.

Example

a. Nobody realized that Putra was hungry. (=p)

b. Putra was hungry. (=q)
c. p >> q
(At this point, the speaker uttering (a) presupposes (b)
d. I imagined that Putra was hungry. (=r)
e. Putra was not hungry. (=NOT q)
f. r>> NOT q
(At this point, the speaker uttering (d) presupposes (e),
the opposite of (b)
g. I imagined that Putra was hungry and nobody
realized that he was hungry.
h. r & p >> NOT q
(At this point, after combining r & p, the presupposition q
can no longer be assumed to be true.)
 Presupposition Entailment

Definition

Presupposition’s Type

Potential Presupposition
Counterfactual

Presupposition

Non-factive

Presuppositiom

Structural
Lexical
Presupposition
Presupposition

Existential Factive Structural

Presupposition Presupposition Presupposition

n

Projection Problem
 References

Anonym. “Presupposition: Definition of presupposition in English by Oxford Dictionaries”.

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com// (accessed on Sunday, October 8, 2017 at 12.30
PM)
______. “Presupposition (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)”. https://plato.stanford.edu//
(accessed on Sunday, October 8, 2017 at 12.31 PM)
______. “What is a Presupposition Trigger: SIL Glossary of Linguistics Terms”.
http://www.glossary.sil.org// (accessed on Sunday, October 8, 2017 at 5.39 PM).
Crystal, David. 2008. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Oxford: Blackwell
Publishing.
Yule, George. 1996. Pragmatics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 PRESUPPOSITION

A GROUP PAPER ASSIGNMENT OF PRAGMATICS COURSE

BY:

MAHARANI SASKIA PUTRI NIM. 1514025032

RIKE WULANDARI NIM. 1514025036
VITHA WINANTO NIM. 1514025048
DELLA AMELYA INDAH LESTARI NIM. 1514025052
CHANDRA LUKITA NIM. 1514025053
SANIATANG NIM. 1514025064
EVERLY FARLISA ARMAJI NIM. 1514025072
MUHAMMAD IMRAN NIM. 1514025076
PUTRA SATRIA SANJAYA NIM. 1514025181

ENGLISH LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

CULTURAL SCIENCE FACULTY
MULAWARMAN UNIVERSITY
OCTOBER 2017