Seminar Tasks

Presupposition.
Presupposition (or PSP) is an implicit assumption about the world or background
belief relating to an utterance whose truth is taken for granted in discourse.

Examples of presuppositions include:

- Jane no longer writes fiction.
Presupposition: Jane once wrote fiction.
- Have you stopped eating meat?
Presupposition: you had once eaten meat.
- Have you talked to Hans?
Presupposition: Hans exists.
Reference.
Reference, as the act of the speaker/writer using a linguistic form to enable a
listener/reader to identify something, depends on the speaker's intentions (e.g. to
refer to sth.) and on the speaker's beliefs (e.g. so the listener can identify the
speaker's intention).

Inference.
Since successful reference does not only depend on the speaker but also on the
listener, we have to include the notion of inference, which denotes the process of
decoding the pragmatic meaning of an utterance. In order to do so, the listener uses
additional knowledge to make sense of what has not been explicitly said.

Practical task. Make an inference about the following statements. The first two are
done for you.

I wouldn't eat after that two-year-old if I were you.

Inference: The two-year-old probably did something gross to the food you were
about to eat or has a cold and you could catch it. Something bad will happen to you
if you eat it!

For Valentine’s Day, my fantastic neighbour gave his wife a poem that took him
about two seconds to write. Sheesh.
Inference: My neighbour is not very considerate since he didn't take his time
writing the poem.

A man ran after a retreating bus, waving his briefcase frantically.

Inference: As the man was late for the bus, he waved threw this briefcase to the
ground frantically.

If she died, I wouldn’t go to her funeral.

Inference: I hatefully assume that her death is not worth attending for me.
Jake almost wished that he hadn’t listened to the radio. He went to the closet and
grabbed his umbrella even though he would feel silly carrying it to the bus stop on
such a sunny morning.
Inference: Jake regretted listening useless weather forecast on the radio since he
took an umbrella and didn’t use it in a sunny day.

Hey! What happened to all the school construction money taken from the
taxpayers? It paid for this toilet the money was flushed down.
Inference: The school construction money was embezzled by unknown thing who
devastatingly frittered them away.

As you give a speech in front of a large audience, you realize that people are
laughing behind their hands and pointing to the region below your waist.
Inference: You could be bitterly disappointed if you found your fly opened,
therefore you must be accurately cautious whether to make it visible or hide by the
edge of your upper cloth.

No, Honey, I don’t want you to spend a lot of money on my birthday present. Just
having you for a husband is the only gift I need. In fact, I’ll just drive my old rusty
bucket of bolts down to the mall and buy myself a little present. And if the poor
old car doesn't break down, I’ll be back soon.
Inference: On the occasion of my willing birthday I would not make you
overthink. The thing is that my car is in an utter need to be serviced, replaced or
sold, that’s why there is the only options for you: from now on we save for my new
carriage.
A woman walks into a hospital clutching her abdomen and cursing out her
husband, who trails behind her carrying a large bag.
Inference: An extreme recurring stomach ache outburst of complaints were the
polylogue of the anthem of their hospital trip.

You're driving on the highway, listening to the radio, and a police officer pulls
you over.
Inference: You are stopped by the law-abiding police officer to pass the licence
and other checking procedures.

DEIXIS

Read the following excerpts from the speech and distinguish personal-, temporal-
and special-marked deictic items in it. Define the type of speech acts in the
following speech.

I HAVE A DREAM
Five score years ago (temporal), a great American, in whose (special-marked)
symbolic shadow we (personal) stand today (temporal), signed the Emancipation
Proclamation. This (special-marked) momentous decree came as a great beacon
light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who (special-marked) had been seared in
the flames of withering injustice.

When (temproral) the architects of our (personal) republic wrote the magnificent
words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they (personal)
were signing a promissory note to which (specian-marked) every American was to
fall heir.

It (personal) is obvious today (temporal) that America has defaulted on this

(special-marked) promissory note insofar as her (personal) citizens of color are
concerned.

Now (temporal) is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now
(temporal) is the time to rise from (special-marked) the dark and desolate valley of
segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. 

And as we (personal) walk, we (personal) must make the pledge that (special-
marked) we (personal) shall march ahead. We (personal) cannot turn back.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to

Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our (personal)
northern cities, knowing that somehow this (special-marked) situation can and will
be changed. Let us (personal) not wallow in the valley of despair.

I (personal) have a dream that (special-marked) one day this (special-marked)

nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We (personal) hold
these (special-marked) truths to be self-evident; that (special-marked) all men are
created equal."