CAS LX 502 buCAS LX 502埠.ppt

CAS LX 502Semantics 9b. Presupposition, entailments, and implicatures 10.2, 11 Truth and falsity Pat is hungry. True under some possible circumstances, false under others. True if the “actual world” is in the “Pat is hungry” half. Truth and falsity Pat is hungry. Pat is sleepy. If we know the truth value of each of these sentences, we know in which “quadrant” of the space of possible worlds we can find the “actual world.” Entailment I dropped a yellow pencil. I dropped a pencil. The first sentence entails the second. p?q. Any circumstance under which the first sentence is true, the second sentence is also true. We can draw this pictorially by representing the first sentence as a subset of the second. Possible worlds where the first sentence are true are always be possible worlds where the second sentence is true. Presuppositions vs. entailments Some utterances have a presupposition. He had stopped stealing office supplies. He used to steal office supplies. My dog ate my homework. I have a dog, and I have (er, had) homework. This similar, but distinct from, entailment. The emperor was assassinated. Someone was assassinated. The emperor died. In both cases if the first is true, the other(s) is/are true. Presuppositions vs. entailments Presuppositions have a different status from entailments. Consider: He hasn’t stopped stealing office supplies. He used to steal office supplies. My dog didn’t eat my homework. I have a dog, and I (still, it seems) have homework. The emperor wasn’t assassinated. ? Someone was assassinated. ? The emperor died. Presuppositions vs. entailments If p entails q, q does not follow from ?p. If p presupposes q, q still follows from ?p. That is, the presupposition of an utterance is taken as part of an “assumed background” that is not affected by the truth/falsity of the asserted proposition. Have you stopped stealing office supplies? Presupposition failure So, what happens if the presupposition isn’t met? My great-granddaughter is boisterous.