Presuppositions in Spoken Discourse

Chapter 4
same as the last reference, i.e. the grandmother having to go into the hospital. A
new topic has been pushed on top of the stack, placing the main topic lower in the
stack. When reference is again made to this context, the reference markers in the
subtopic are popped, and we then get access to the information in the previous
topic. There is one example of a ‘return pop’ among the bound presuppositions.
Let’s take a look.
(26) factive verb, triggered p: Americans have a wonderful standard of living for
some things (1-3 324)
Speaker a well - I don‘t know whether she‘s prosperous or not - **~|
Speaker B *oh no# not by American* standards + .# +~|
Speaker a +but remember that+ as I said . America - must have a cost of living
about the same as here and the standard is about twice as high~|
(326)
Speaker B Yes.
Speaker a So they do have far more of . the world‘s goods than we do - pro rata -
- -~
Speaker B yes - I mean Eileen writes back# and says the [p] the price of petrol is
rocketing, it really is unbearable# and out at twenty-five
pence a gallon.
Speaker ? ( . giggles) [m]#|
Speaker B and when I tell her how much it costs# cos I always think that nobody
else . in the family‘s writing .# I don‘t think she really thinks
we‘re paying what# seventy-five pence for a {gallon} I think she thinks
I‘m exaggerating#|
Speaker C Just unbelievable, yes#|
Speaker a Yeah - - .~|
92
(49 lines later)
Speaker B Laurie, aren‘t you [?]ever intrigued, by this so-called [ing] -
improvement in the standard of living#
I mean I know that Americans have wonderful standard of living
for some -# but frankly# [a] our standard of living# {I} reckon#
has never been as high as it was# when [@] - when I was [jungg] .#
The induced presupposition refers to the earlier mention of the standard of living
in America in order for the speaker to contrast it with her own view that the
standard of living in England is actually now quite high. The first mention of the
standard of living in America is made, and then a long discussion (53 lines) about
the differences in prices between England and America, and whether Eileen, a
relative living in America, really believes what they tell her. The return to the topic
of standard of living could be considered a kind of return ‘pop’ to the earlier
context where the idea was introduced. It is also clear from the way Speaker B
begins her statement that she is beginning a new topic, and then it is made clear
that she is actually reintroducing a topic that was not closed in the earlier
discussion. The reason this should be considered binding is that the wording in the