The Role of Presuppositions in Communication

Join us as we explore the concept of presuppositions in linguistics. Learn about the hidden assumptions that make communication flow smoothly, the different types of presuppositions, and how being aware of them can improve your communication skills. In this article we shall be looking more at how presupposition is based on shared assumption between speaker and hearer and how some clauses (especially introduced by when) give rise to presupposition. We shall also be looking at how to differentiate between semantic presupposition and pragmatic presupposition.

 Speakers or writers usually design their message on the assumption that the hearer or reader already has a degree of the knowledge of what is being communicated. What the writer assumes the reader already knows about the subject and the context of the information is known as a presupposition. Inference as we saw in the last post is actually based on presupposition because whether inference is right or wrong, the reader is acting upon some relevant information about the subject. Take the headline “Who killed Dele Giwa?” for example. 

This question presupposes that 

(a) the writer and reader know whom Dele Giwa was 

(b) both know that Dele Giwa actually got killed and that his killers are unknown 

(c) the unknown assassins might be discovered 

(d) the reader has the right to know and may do something about the information he gets.

Pragmatic Presupposition

When we speak with people, we generally make valid assumptions about the background of what we say, which we presume to be mutually known. If someone tells you:

(i)       Registration for the workshop ends tomorrow

For you to respond appropriately it is assumed that you know something about “the workshop” in question. If you do not know, we conclude that the speaker made a wrong assumption about your knowledge of the workshop. This results in a failure of presupposition in which case you ask to know what he is talking about. There would not be any point in saying: registration for the workshop ends tomorrow unless the speaker knew that the hearer is properly informed about the upcoming workshop and the process of registration. 

In fact, this condition must be met before making the utterance. The speaker must presuppose that the hearer is conversant with the workshop and perhaps eager to be registered. This background knowledge can be called pragmatic presupposition because they are not linguistic in nature, they are the felicity condition which must be met for the utterance to be appropriate otherwise, the speaker will have to go all the way to explain the upcoming workshop, the aims, the expected particular, registration procedure, the date etc.

What do you think is pragmatically presupposed in the following statement?

(ii)             Thank you for not smoking

In English certain clauses trigger off presuppositions, especially those that express change of state predicates (e.g. begin, continue, stop, etc) introduced by “after” and “before” (Grundy, 2000). Look at the following examples:

(i)                I began drinking 8 glasses of water daily after I read the medical book

(ii)             I continued studying after I obtained my first degree at the age of 60

(iii)           She stopped smoking after she suffered lung cancer

(iii)     presupposes that (a) I was drinking less than 8 glasses of water before (b) I read a medical book.

(iv)     presupposes that (a) I was studying before (b) I obtained a degree at the age of 60

(v)      presupposes that (a) she was smoking before (b) she suffered lung cancer (c) smoking could have caused the lung cancer.

Implicative verbs such as forget, happen and manage do also prompt presuppositions (Grundy, 2000). Consider the following examples:

(iv)            The lecturer forgot to give a summary of his lecture and left everyone guessing what he said at the beginning

presupposes that he should have given a summary of his lecture

(v)              A similar thing happened to my parents when they travel to Libya

presupposes that what happened was a matter of chance

(vi)            Tope managed to pass the examination

presupposes that (a) the examination was not easy (b) she lacked the necessary skills to pass the examination (c) her passing the examination was a surprise

From the above examples we can argue that presuppositions are conventionally associated with grammatical constructions.

Semantic Presupposition

So far, we have established that pragmatic presupposition is related to the context. The other type of presupposition that does not rely on context for its interpretation is known as semantic presupposition. Take (viii) above as an example, i.e. “Tope managed to pass the examination.” Whenever a personal name like “Tope” is used, there is usually the existence of a referent that we can easily identify the name with. In other words, there is a referent that matches the description. This kind of presupposition is known as semantic presupposition.

Unlike pragmatic presupposition, semantic presupposition always takes place when a definite description occurs, especially when a proper name is used or when an expression is used as the title of a book and so on.

Presupposition in the Real World

In our daily interactions with people, we often rely on a number of presuppositions in order to communicate effectively with them. In some specialized settings such as the courts, between lawyers and their clients, the hospital between doctors and their patients, the media during interviews or the police stations between policemen and crime suspects? Very often during interviews, questionings or cross-examinations, people are not often very conscious of the answers and responses they give and before they realise it, they’ve already accepted the presuppositions contain thereby implicating themselves. Take the example of the policeman and a robbery suspect we saw in unit 6 for example.

Policeman: Did you say you often met at x?

Suspect: We kept ourweapons there?

The policeman’s question presupposes that the suspect had actually told him that the robbery gang met at x? The suspect’s answer now confirms that they actually met at x since we can easily conclude that ‘there’ points to x.

The next example is a dialogue between a doctor and her patient.

Doctor: The last time you came, who did you bring?

Patient: Who did I bring?

Doctor: Yes

Patient: She

Doctor:      So how come you have another card?

Patient:      I don’t know

Notice “another card” and the patient’s response. The obvious presupposition is that the card the patient presents is not the right one. Having been at the hospital before, it is assumed that she must have obtained a card which presently has been substituted for a new one.

Another example is an interview of a former Flying Eagles Defender,

his views about the team’s performance in one of their intercontinental tournaments and what the Coach should do. Study how presuppositions enable the interviewer and the interviewees to interpret meanings.

Journalist:        What is your impression about the performances of the Flying Eagles…?

Player:             I believe the team has not performed too badly. (Notice

“performed too badly” presupposing the team has performed badly).

Journalist:        Are you saying the team has played as well as you expected?

Player:             The most important thing is that they have qualified for

the world youth championship…. instead of criticizing the coach, other coaches should give him advice on how to strengthen the squad.

Journalist:        Are you backing (the present) coach because you once

played under him?

Player:             I’ve played under many coaches before and every coach

has his bad side. I’d tell him to reduce the training sessions of the players.

Journalist:        Obviously, you are also admitting that they have not played

as well as you would have wanted.

Read the dialogue again and with your knowledge of presupposition, explain how the journalist was able to conclude that the player supports both the players and the coach.

CONCLUSION

Presupposition is a feature of a normal everyday discourse/conversation. When we communicate, our knowledge of the language system enables us to make valid assumptions and conclusions in order to interpret utterances correctly. Very often we don’t always express all we have in mind in words, much of the meanings we convey are rooted in the context we find ourselves.

We deliberately allow ourselves to mean more than we express in words. And because we rely on some background knowledge and information we have and what we take for granted that the hearer knows about us, we expect them to make the right interpretations of what we say. So we can rightly conclude that the knowledge of presuppositions will help us communicate effectively and probably keep us from unnecessary embarrassments and troubles.