CAS LX 502 Brandeis University布兰代斯大学的CAS LX 502.ppt

Presupposition and Entailment 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.” Knowledge/belief We can use this kind of diagram to characterize what we know, our “knowledge state.” If we know the following two things (to be true)… Pat is not hungry. Pat is sleepy. …then we have narrowed down the possible worlds in which the actual world must lie. Assertion We can think of assertion of a proposition as being the communication of an aspect of the speaker’s knowledge state to the hearer. Here, both believe that Pat is not sleepy, and the speaker is asserting that Pat is hungry (about which the hearer has no prior belief). 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. 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? M