PRESUPPOSITIONS AND

ENTAILMENTS
BY
FAMALA EKA SANHADI RAHAYU
 There was an appeal to the idea that speakers
assume certain information is already known by
their listeners. Since it is treated as known, such
information will generally not be stated and
consequently will count as part of what is
communicated but not said.
A presupposition is something the speaker
assumes to be the case prior to making an
utterance. Speakers, not sentences, have
presuppositions.
An entailment is something that logically follows
from what is asserted in the utterance. Sentences,
not speakers, have entailments.
(1) Mary’s brother bought three horses.

In producing (1), the speaker will normally be

expected to have presuppositions that a person
called Mary exists and has a brother and her
brother has a lot of money. All of these
presuppositions are the speaker’s and all of them
can be wrong.
 Presupposition
Presupposition is treated as a relationship
between two propositions.

(2) Mary’s dog is cute (=p)

(3) Mary has a dog (=q)
(4) p >> q (p presuppose q)
 Presupposition
When we produce the opposite of the sentence (2)
the relationship of presuppositions doesn’t change.

(2) Mary’s dog isn’t cute (=NOT p)

(3) Mary has a dog (=q)
(4) NOT p >> q (p presuppose q)

This property of presupposition is called constancy

under negation.
 Types of Presupposition
1. Existensial Presupposition
2. Factive Presupposition
3. Lexical Presupposition
4. Structural Presupposition
5. Non-factive Presupposition
6. Counter-factual presuppostion.
 Existensial Presupposition
It is a speaker’s assumption that the thing being
communicate does exist. It can reflect from the
use of possessive constructions and definite noun
phrase.
(5) Anisa’s bag, Elis’s mother.
(6) The King of Sweden, the girl, the cat.
 Factive Presupposition
The assumption that information stated after
certain words is true.
(7) Everybody knows that John is gay.

In the example above, ‘Everybody knows that’

with John is gay is presupposition q. The
presupposed information following the verb like
‘know’ can be treated as a fact. Other verbs=
realize, regret, glad, odd
 Lexical Presupposition
The assumption that, in using one word, the
speaker can act as if another meaning will be
understood.

(8) He stopped smoking (>> he used to smoke)

(9) You’re kate again (>> You were late before)
 Lexical vs Factive Presupposition
In lexical presupposition, the speaker’s use of
particular expresssion is taken to presuppose
another (unstated) concept, whereas in factive
presupposition, the particular expression is taken
to presuppose the truth of the information stated
after it.
 Structural Presupposition
The assumption that part of a structure contains
information being treated as already known.
(10) When did he leave? (>> He left)

It leads listeners to believe that the information

presented is necessaily true.
 Non-factive Presupposition
The assumption that certain information, as
presented, is not true.

(11) I dreamed that I was rich (>> I was not rich)

Verbs like ‘dream’, ‘imagine’, and ‘pretend’ are

used with the presupposition that what follows is
not true.
 Counter-factual presuppostion.
The assumption that certain information is the
opposite of true.

(12) If I were rich, I would go to New Zealand.

(>> I am poor)

A conditional structure of (12) generally called a

counterfactual conditional, presupposes that the
information in the if clause is not true of the time of
utterance.
The Projection Problem
Ordered Entailments