Entailment

Entailment is a relation between sentence meanings, or propositions. (Sometimes, speaking loosely, we talk as though it were a relation between sentences.) Presupposition can also be seen as a relation between propositions, although many linguists (including George Yule) prefer to see presupposition as strictly pragmatic, and a relation between a speaker and a proposition. n any case it is important to see that these are two independent kinds of relations. ! proposition which is presupposed in a particular utterance may or may not also be entailed. " a relationship that applies between two sentences#prepositions, where the truth of one implies the truth of the other because of the meanung of the words in$ol$ed. " Sentences, not speakers, ha$e entailments. " %ogical conse&uences following from what is asserted in the utterance " Entailments depends on sentence meaning, not the conte't in which the sentence is used. Example : (. John beats Tom. a) )ohm beats someone. b) *om was beaten by someone. 2. Mary loves her dog very much " +ary lo$es an animal $ery much. 3. Rover chased three squirrels. a) ,o$er chased a certain number of s&uirells. b) Someone chased three s&uirells. c) ,o$er chased something. . Mary bro!e the "indo" " *he window broke #. $ue and %red "ent to the party " Sue went to the party -. )ohn is a bachelor. a) )ohn is unmarried. b) )ohn is male. c) )ohn is adult.