Exercise Presuppositions: Difference between revisions

From Lexical Resource Semantics
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
No edit summary
 
(12 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 3: Line 3:
===Presuppositions===
===Presuppositions===


The following sentences make certain presuppositions. What are they? Think about possible presuppositions and check "Done" if you're done.
 
The following sentences make certain presuppositions. Indicate which of the given candidate inferences are presuppositions?


<quiz display=simple>
<quiz display=simple>


{ Would you mind washing up the dishes this time?
{ Would you mind washing up the dishes this time?
|type="[]"}
+ There are dishes that need to be washed up.
- I do not have time to do the dishes.
|| This inference would be an implicature.
+ The dishes needed to be washed up before.
||''this time'' triggers a presupposition, just as ''again'' does.
- Someone didn't wash up the dishes the last time they needed to be washed up.
|| If this can be inferred at all, it would be an implicature.
{ I want more milk for my tea!
|type="[]"}
- I hate tea with milk.
|| This is not an inference of the given sentence at all.
+ I am having tea.
|| A presupposition because it follows from the negation of the sentence as well: (''I don't want more milk for my tea'' +> ''I am having tea.'')
+ Someone has already put milk in his/her tea.
|| This presupposition is triggered by ''more''.
- I do not like my tea with the amount of milk that is currently in the tea.
|| This is an implicature.
{ Alex's wife has called.
|type = "[]"}
+ Alex is married.
|| Negation test: The inference also holds for ''Alex's wife hasn't called.''
- Alex is male.
|| This is an implicature based on heuristic world knowledge that in most cases, the spouse of a woman is a man.
- Alex's wife has called the speaker.
|| This is an implicature, as we can only guess who was called from the context.
+ There exists a married woman.
</quiz>
===Presupposition or entailment?===
<quiz display=simple>
{Is the '''B''' sentence a presupposition or an entailment of the '''A''' sentence?
|type="()"}
|type="()"}
+ Done
| presupposition | entailment
|| The utterance "Would you mind washing up the dishes this time?" has the following presuppostions:
+- '''A''': Where is the man with the megaphone? '''B''': There is a man with a megaphone.
|| # There are dishes that need to be washed up.
|| Questions never have entailments, only assertions do. Also: A definite NP presupposes the existence (and uniqueness) of an individual with the described property.
|| # They were dishes that need to be washed up before.
-+ '''A''': At least three students solved the problem. '''B''': At least two students solved the problem.
|| # Someone didn't wash up the dishes the last time they needed to be washed up.
|| The inference disappears if we negate '''A''', i.e., ''It is not true that at least three students solved the problem.'' does not allow us to infer '''B'''.
|| # Someone else did wash up the dishes the last time they needed to be washed up.
+- '''A''': The Queen of England attended a cooking workshop. '''B''': There is a queen of England.
|| As you can see one sentence can have far more than just '''''one''''' presupposition!!!
|| 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.
-+ '''A''': My dog Richard was killed in a car accident. '''B''': My dog Richard is dead.
|| The negation test does not work here: The negation of '''A''' (''My dog Richard was not killed in a car accident.'') does not allow us to infer '''B'''. However, '''B''' is not cancellable: We cannot, without creating a contradiction, continue '''A''' by ''but, in fact, Richard isn't dead.''
</quiz>
 
===Types of presuppositions===




{ I want more milk for my tea!
<quiz display=simple>
|type="()"}
 
+ Done
{The sentences in '''A''' presuppose the sentence '''B'''. Determine the type of presupposition.
|| The utterance "I want more milk for my tea!" has the following presuppostions:
|type="[]"}
|| # Someone is having tea.
| existential | factive | lexical | structural | non-factive | counterfactual
|| # Someone has already put milk in his/her tea.
+----- '''A''': The fair boy shook his head. '''B''': There is a boy who is fair.
|| # This person doesn't like his/her tea with the amount of milk that is currently in the tea.
|| Definite NPs make an existential presupposition.
|| # He/She prefers more milk in his/her tea.
--+--- '''A''': I stopped eating meat. '''B''': I used to eat meat
|| The presupposition trigger is the word ''stop''.
---+-- '''A''': What movie did you end up watching last friday? '''B''': The addressee watched a movie last friday.
|| Wh-questions presuppose that there is an instance of what is being asked for.
--+-+- '''A''': I wish I wouldn't have eaten these delicious fries with extra ketchup, now I have to get changed. '''B''': The speaker has eaten these delicious fries with extra ketchup.
|| ''wish'' presupposes the non-factivity of its complement.
---+-+ '''A''': If I would not have eaten so much over the holidays I would still fit my favorite jeans. '''B''': The speaker has eaten so much over the holidays.
|| The counterfactual ''if'' clause structurally triggers that the negation of the proposition in the ''if'' clause is presupposed.
-++--- '''A''': Alex knew that Chris didn't call. '''B''': Chris didn't call.
|| ''know'' is a factive verb, i.e., the truth of its complement is presupposed.
---+-- '''A''': It was in the opera that I have lost my glasses. '''B''': I have lost my glasses somewhere.
|| In an''it''-cleft the truth of the ''that''-clause is structurally presupposed.


</quiz>
</quiz>

Latest revision as of 14:47, 14 November 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

Presuppositions

The following sentences make certain presuppositions. Indicate which of the given candidate inferences are presuppositions?

1 Would you mind washing up the dishes this time?

There are dishes that need to be washed up.
I do not have time to do the dishes.
The dishes needed to be washed up before.
Someone didn't wash up the dishes the last time they needed to be washed up.

2 I want more milk for my tea!

I hate tea with milk.
I am having tea.
Someone has already put milk in his/her tea.
I do not like my tea with the amount of milk that is currently in the tea.

3 Alex's wife has called.

Alex is married.
Alex is male.
Alex's wife has called the speaker.
There exists a married woman.


Presupposition or entailment?

Is the B sentence a presupposition or an entailment of the A sentence?

presupposition entailment
A: Where is the man with the megaphone? B: There is a man with a megaphone.
A: At least three students solved the problem. B: At least two students solved the problem.
A: The Queen of England attended a cooking workshop. B: There is a queen of England.
A: My dog Richard was killed in a car accident. B: My dog Richard is dead.


Types of presuppositions

The sentences in A presuppose the sentence B. Determine the type of presupposition.

existential factive lexical structural non-factive counterfactual
A: The fair boy shook his head. B: There is a boy who is fair.
A: I stopped eating meat. B: I used to eat meat
A: What movie did you end up watching last friday? B: The addressee watched a movie last friday.
A: I wish I wouldn't have eaten these delicious fries with extra ketchup, now I have to get changed. B: The speaker has eaten these delicious fries with extra ketchup.
A: If I would not have eaten so much over the holidays I would still fit my favorite jeans. B: The speaker has eaten so much over the holidays.
A: Alex knew that Chris didn't call. B: Chris didn't call.
A: It was in the opera that I have lost my glasses. B: I have lost my glasses somewhere.


Navigation

Retrieved from "http:///wiki/index.php?title=Exercise_Presuppositions&oldid=5063"