Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

A-Z 937present perfect perfect 2prespecifying vs postspecifyingorderwordpresuppositionSelf-evident (implicit) assumption about the sense of a linguistic expression or utterance.The term, taken from the analytical philosophy of language (Frege, Russell, Strawson),has been the subject of intensive debate in linguistics since 1970 and has led to some verydistinct definitions. On the one hand, the term is unclear because the transfer of logicalconcepts to natural languages is not governed by an algorithmic set of transfer rules and,on the other hand, because the relationship between logic and linguistics and the role ofboth in the analysis of natural languages is, at best, unclear (see Garner 1971).The following definition is fundamental to the concept of presupposition in logic: S 1 ,presupposes S 2 exactly if S 1 , implies S 2 and if not-S 1 also entails S 2 . For example, Thepresent king of France is bald or is not bald presupposes There is presently a king ofFrance (Russell’s example). Various characteristics of or ideas about presupposition canbe derived from this definition: (a) presuppositions are conditions that must be fulfilledso that a statement can be assigned a truth value (see Strawson 1952); (b)presuppositions remain constant under negation; (c) presuppositions refer to assertions(=declarative sentences). Investigations in this area dealt at first with the conditions ofexistence or individuality of particular expressions functioning as subjects (in the aboveexample: the king of France); thus, the analysis concentrated primarily on proper nounsand (definite) descriptions. Since the phenomenon of presupposition is covered by aseries of long-known problems in grammatical investigations (such as emphatic structure,subordination, topic vs comment, emotive vs connotative meaning ( connotation),the term was used partly synonymously with these corresponding linguistic concepts: cf.‘quasiimplication’ in Bellert (1969), ‘covert categories’ in Fillmore (1969),‘subordination’ in McCawley (1968), ‘selectional restrictions’ in Chomsky (1965).The transfer of the concept of presupposition from logic to linguistics was influencedboth by Strawson (1950) and by Austin’s and Searle’s speech act theory and has broughtabout various controversies. (a) Are presuppositions relations between sentences,utterances, or attitudes of the speaker/hearer? (b) Are they logico-semantic, functionalrelations of truth values and therefore context-independent elements of meaning specificto the level of langue ( langue vs parole) or are they contextdependent, pragmaticconditions of the use of linguistic expressions, dependent upon linguistic behavior andconventions on the level of parole (Searle, Seuren, Fillmore, Wilson)? All these attemptsat delineating and ordering are, in the last analysis, aimed at modeling the concept of