Presuppositions in Spoken Discourse

Chapter 5
The following example is more complicated because there are actually two factive
presuppositions originating in the complement.
(15) factive, triggered p: 1) I understood, and 2) Speaker A was pitching his
language with deliberate homely (2-2a 633)
Speaker A but it‘s a very difficult time at the moment .#|
Speaker a is your ability to verbalize so very accurately and and clearly to a
layman about your particular mystery .*. [@m] .* an advantage in
getting the job . **in becoming a stockbroker**~|
Speaker A (laughs - *-*)~ **you mean you** {understand what I‘m} saying#| (a)
Speaker a Yes, yes~| (b)
Speaker A [@m] .~|
Speaker a and I imagine you knew that I I understood and that you were you were
so to say pitching your language with deliberate homely [@m]~|
Speaker A Well no I don‘t think so# no# ©
The first presupposition, that Speaker a has understood, has already been
confirmed in the previous statement and will need to somehow be bound to the
information contributed when Speaker a answers “yes, yes” to Speaker A’s question
in (a). The second presupposition is that Speaker A was “pitching his language with
deliberate homely.” The reason why we should consider this part of the factive
complement is the use of the complement marker that. The other alternative is to
treat it as a complement to imagine, but this seems unlikely because in such a case
imagine would have to be in past tense to fit naturally with the potential complement
which is also in simple past. Speaker a’s second presupposition refers to Speaker
A’s own state of mind but seems to be questioning if it is a correct impression,
which Speaker A then denies. Therefore it is hard to consider it a known and
accepted fact because Speaker a seems unsure about the status of the 2nd presupposition. Therefore the 2nd presupposition is considered hearer-new.
How do these examples differ from cases where the speaker seems to
believe the information must have been known to the hearer. In the next example,
the information offered by Speaker A about Yoolat and the fact that he has already
arrived makes it quite clear that Speaker A knows that it was earlier decided that
Yoolat was coming so Speaker B cannot believe his presupposition is new. Only
the asserted information regarding his own knowledge about the arrival can be new
here.
(16) factive, triggered p: he was coming (1-1 563)
Speaker A have you met our man Yoolet yet -# ** diploma#|
Speaker B *[@] no# *# no#|
Speaker A [mhm]#|
Speaker B I knew that he was coming# I‘ve heard Stan Carter mention him# and *.
*~|
Speaker A * .#
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