Exercise Presupposition or entailment: Difference between revisions
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| presupposition | entailment | | presupposition | entailment | ||
+- '''A''': Where is the man with the megaphone? '''B''': There is a man with a megaphone. | +- '''A''': Where is the man with the megaphone? '''B''': There is a man with a megaphone. | ||
|| | || Questions never have entailments, only assertions do. Also: A definite NP presupposes the existence (and uniqueness) of an individual with the described property. | ||
+- '''A''': The Queen of England attended a cooking workshop. '''B''': There is a queen of England. | |||
+- Queen of England attended a cooking workshop. | || Negation test: The '''B''' sentence can also be inferred from the negation of the '''A''' sentence (''The Queen of England did not attend a cooking workshop.''). Also: A definite NP has an existential presupposition. | ||
|| | |||
-+ My dog Richard was killed in a car accident. | -+ My dog Richard was killed in a car accident. | ||
|| The reason why we have an entailment here is the fact that we have can think of a second sentence that indicates the truth of the sentence you just read. <br/> My dog Richard was killed in a car accident (A) (entails) My dog is dead (B) <br/> The consequence of A is B. In order to find out whether you deal with an entailment or a presupposition you may negate the sentence A. If sentence B remains true then you are confronted with a presupposition, if not you most certainly deal with an entailment: <br/> My dog Richard was not killed in a car accident (A) My dog is dead (B)= WRONG!!!!=> Entailment | || The reason why we have an entailment here is the fact that we have can think of a second sentence that indicates the truth of the sentence you just read. <br/> My dog Richard was killed in a car accident (A) (entails) My dog is dead (B) <br/> The consequence of A is B. In order to find out whether you deal with an entailment or a presupposition you may negate the sentence A. If sentence B remains true then you are confronted with a presupposition, if not you most certainly deal with an entailment: <br/> My dog Richard was not killed in a car accident (A) My dog is dead (B)= WRONG!!!!=> Entailment | ||
Revision as of 23:04, 8 September 2013
The following material is an adapted form of material created by student participants of the project e-Learning Resources for Semantics (e-LRS).
Involved participants: Katharina, Caterina, Daniela, Eva
Presupposition or entailment?