HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2

FACULTY OF ENGLISH

MID-TERM ASSIGNMENT

PRAGMATICS
TOPIC 5
Full Name: Nguyễn Diệu Thuý

Student Code: 195D140231091

Class: K45A ELT

Hà Nội
 TOPIC 5:
In the following text:
1. Identify the presuppositions, then classify them.
2. Identify the cases of discourse reference, then classify them into: cataphoric &
anaphoric references. Comment on the use of cataphoric reference.

I used to think the whole purpose of life was pursuing happiness. Everyone said
the path to happiness was success, so I searched for that ideal job, that perfect
boyfriend, that beautiful apartment.
But instead of ever feeling fulfilled, I felt anxious and adrift. And I wasn’t alone;
my friends — they struggled with this, too. Eventually, I decided to go to graduate
school for positive psychology to learn what truly makes people happy. But what I
discovered there changed my life. The data showed that chasing happiness can
make people unhappy.
And what really struck me was this: the suicide rate has been rising around the
world, and it recently reached a 30-year high in America. Even though life is
getting objectively better by nearly every conceivable standard, more people feel
hopeless, depressed and alone. There’s an emptiness gnawing away at people,
and you don’t have to be clinically depressed to feel it. Sooner or later, I think we
all wonder: Is this all there is?
(There’s More to Life than Being Happy, Emily Esfahani
Smith, TED talk)
.
Question 1: Identify the presuppositions, then classify them.
1. “I used to think the whole purpose of life was pursuing happiness.” Lexical
presupposition.
I no longer think the purpose of life is to pursue happiness.

2. “Everyone said the path to happiness was success, so I searched for that ideal
job, that perfect boyfriend, that beautiful apartment.”
Existential presuppositions.
The way to happiness is successful.
The author has an ideal job, a boyfriend, and a beautiful apartment.

3. “But what I discovered there changed my life.”

Lexical presuppositions.
 The term discovered refers to something that has been discovered, and it has a
specific meaning for the speaker.
4. “And what really struck me was this: the suicide rate has been rising around the
world, and it recently reached a 30-year high in America.”
Factivel presupposition.
The speaker was taken aback by the suicide rate.
In the United States, the suicide rate has never reached a 30-year high.

5. “There’s an emptiness gnawing away at people, and you don’t have to be

clinically depressed to feel it.”
Existential presupposition.
There is an emptiness in each person.
You do not need to be depressed.

6. Sooner or later, I think we all wonder: Is this all there is?

Structure presupposition.
Happiness is not everything.

Question 2: Identify the cases of discourse reference, then classify them into: cataphoric
& anaphoric references. Comment on the use of cataphoric reference.

The anaphoric reference occurs when a word or phrase refers to something

mentioned earlier in the discourse.
The cataphoric reference occurs when a word or phrase refers to something
mentioned later in the discourse.

1. “And I wasn’t alone; my friends — they struggled with this, too.”

Anaphoric reference with the word “they”. This word refers to “my friends”.

2. “But instead of ever feeling fulfilled, I felt anxious and adrift. And I wasn’t alone;
my friends — they struggled with this, too.”
This is an anaphoric reference. It refers to anxious and adrift.

3. Eventually, I decided to go to graduate school for positive psychology to learn

what truly makes people happy. But what I discovered there changed my life.
There is an anaphoric reference. There refers to graduate school for positive
psychology.
4. “But what I discovered there changed my life. The data showed that chasing
happiness can make people unhappy.”
Cataphoric reference is the word what. This refers to the data.

5. “And what really struck me was this: the suicide rate has been rising around the
world, and it recently reached a 30-year high in America.”
This is a cataphoric reference. This refers to the suicide rate has been rising
around the world, and it recently reached a 30-year high in America.

6. “… the suicide rate has been rising around the world, and it recently reached a
30-year high in America.”
It is an anaphoric reference. It refers to the suicide rate.

7. “There’s an emptiness gnawing away at people, and you don’t have to be

clinically depressed to feel it.”
It is an anaphoric reference. It refers to an emptiness.

8. “I used to think the whole purpose of life was pursuing happiness… Sooner or
later, I think we all wonder: Is this all there is?”
This is an anaphoric reference. This refers to pursuing happiness.

The use of cataphoric reference:

To minimize redundancy, cataphoric allusions are frequently utilized. In this

paragraph, cataphoric is used in this article to anticipate occurrences that the
author wishes to stress in order to pique listeners’ interest.
With cataphoric references in the paragraph, I have a few comments on each
example.

“But what I discovered there changed my life. The data showed that chasing
happiness can make people unhappy.”

In the first sentence, instead of using the term data, the speaker used to use the
word what to pique the hearer’s interest in what she has uncovered. This
reinforces what she discovered in her research: the pursuit of pleasure can make
individuals miserable.

“And what really struck me was this: the suicide rate has been rising around the
world, and it recently reached a 30-year high in America.”
The speaker doesn’t just wish to stress the latter for the listener in this sentence.
what really struck me and this were used sequentially by the speaker to highlight
what she was about to say. This is meant to emphasize the importance of the latter:
Suicide rates are on the rise all across the world.