Questions tagged [presupposition]

a proposition that must be true in order for another statement to make sense, or is taken for granted as a background assumption in another statement. E.g. the sentence "I find it great that John propsed to Mary" comes with the presupposition that "John proposed to Mary".

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presupposition and trigger in emphatic sentences

It was Jenny who stole the cake from the bakery. I'm learning presuppositions & trigger words in my linguistics class. In an emphatic sentence like above am I correct in my understanding that... ...
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What is the difference between an implicature and a presupposition

I have been reading on pragmatics from Levinson, Yule, Cadzar etc. English is not my native language, though i can understand basic concepts such as maxims, implicatures and its types(generalized, ...
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What counts as a factive verb in terms of presupposition triggers?

Though words like knew or realised are commonly know factive verbs that trigger presupposition. Does verbs like enjoyed, paid, looking forward, commended and delighted also count as factive verbs ...
2 votes
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Quantifier clause in Heim's presupposition theory

there is a point in a paper by Irene Heim related to problems with presuppositions in complex sentences that I do not properly get. The article is the following: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10....
1 vote
1 answer
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Know and Factivity

Consider the following sentence: (1) I don't know that John kissed Mary. When I assert this sentence, am I contradicting myself? The reason is as follows: following Stalnaker's view on the factivity ...
3 votes
2 answers
356 views

What triggers the presuppositions in these sentences?

I am working with these two sentences: Alex stopped playing the piano. What I concluded is that the sentence presupposes that Alex had previously played the piano. But why does the ...
1 vote
2 answers
312 views

Can an indefinite article trigger a presupposition?

One presupposition trigger is the definite article. Can an indefinite article trigger a presupposition?