PRESUPPOSITION ANALYSIS IN THE SHORT STORY

THE LOTTERY BY SHIRLEY JACKSON

1
Marsyagita Amiluddin, 2 Alya Nur Safitri

Faculty of Cultural Science

Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Surabaya

Abstract

This research will discuss the types of presuppositions in the short story “The Lottery” by
Shirley Jackson, and how they are applied in the story. The purpose of this research is to find
out the types of presupposition in the short story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, and how
to apply presupposition in the short story. This study uses a qualitative approach with the
theory of presuppositional triggers from Yule (1996). The data of this research were obtained
from the results of reading and writing the types of presupposition in the story text “The
Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. Then the data is grouped based on their respective types to be
described in order to find out the application of presuppositions in the story “The Lottery” by
Shirley Jackson. The results of this study indicate that there are types of presuppositions,
namely 7 existential presupposition data, 4 lexical presupposition data, 15 factive
presupposition data, 5 non-factive presupposition data, 9 structural presupposition data, and 5
counterfactual presupposition data.

A. INTRODUCTION
Language is a symbol system that is used as a means of communication and
social interaction within a community group. Through language, individuals can
convey messages and reveal their identities. Language is a medium that uses mutually
agreed symbols to form sentences with meanings bound by grammatical rules. By
arranging the right word order, a sentence can express the intended meaning.
Language is also dynamic and humane because it continues to develop along with
changes and communication needs in society.
 Pragmatics is a field in linguistics that studies the structure of language as a
means of communication between speakers and listeners. Pragmatics involves
interpreting what someone means when they speak in a particular context, and how
that context influences what is said. In pragmatic studies, it is necessary to consider
how speakers structure their utterances by considering the interlocutor, place, time,
and situation when the utterance occurs. When compared to other fields of linguistics,
pragmatics is the only field that allows speakers of languages to be part of its analysis.
Language acts as a communication tool that enables the expression of ideas,
thoughts and feelings, conveys information, transfers knowledge, science and
technology, both orally and in writing. There are various aspects of language, both
internally and externally. Internally, there are morphology, phonology, syntax,
semantics, and grammar. These aspects are often referred to as micro linguistic
elements. In this research, the focus is micro-linguistic studies, especially grammar,
with an emphasis on prepositions which are important elements in English sentences.
Presuppositions refer to assumptions or beliefs that are implicitly contained in
a person's statement or speech. Presupposition is information that the speaker assumes
that the listener already knows or understands. In every sentence stated, there is a
presupposition that accompanies the statement. Yule (1996) defines presupposition as
an assumption that is assumed by the speaker that the listener already understands or
knows the truth of what he states. While Levinson (1983) defines a presupposition as
an assumption that is taken by speakers and is considered true, so it does not need to
be explicitly conveyed in a sentence.
The relationship between language, presuppositions, and speech can be
understood as follows. Language provides tools and resources for expressing
presuppositions in speech. Through the use of linguistic structures, such as words,
phrases, or certain grammatical constructions, speakers can convey information that is
supposed. Speech, in turn, can trigger presuppositions in listeners, who infer the
intended meaning based on their shared linguistic and contextual knowledge.
Presupposition plays an important role in interpreting speech and understanding the
intended message behind it. They can shape the meaning and implications of a
statement, as well as influence listeners' interpretation. In this way, presuppositions
contribute to the effectiveness and clarity of communication, because presuppositions
depend on shared assumptions and background knowledge between the speaker and
listener.
 Short story is a short and dense form of fictional narrative. It presents a
complete story in a relatively short span of time, usually only a few pages or a few
thousand words. Short stories usually have one or several main characters, limited
background, and focus on one important conflict or event.
Shirley Jackson's “The Lottery” is a short story that describes the small
community's annual tradition held on June 27, known as the lottery. In this tradition,
one member of the community is chosen by lot to be sacrificed. On the morning of
June 27, villagers gathered in the town square to take part in a lottery. Each family is
represented by a member who takes a piece of paper from the black box. In the
particular year described in the story, the Hutchinsons are selected, and Hutchinson's
wife, Tessie Hutchinson, receives a marked slip. Feeling the process was unfair and
expressing her dissatisfaction, Tessie becomes targeted by the entire community, and
they mercilessly stone her to death. Through this story, Shirley Jackson criticizes
blindly followed customs and traditions, highlighting the ease with which individuals
can be swept up in the mob and commit atrocities without moral reflection. “The
Lottery” is a thought-provoking story that stimulates discussion of social conformity,
violence in society, and the importance of independent thinking in the face of unjust
customs and norms.
Research on pragmatic presupposition analysis has previously been carried out
a lot. Some of these studies have previously been carried out by Levinson, Stephen C.
(1983) whose findings indicate that presuppositions can be activated by a pragmatic
context and can produce implicatures. Meanwhile Stalnaker, Robert C (1974), his
findings show that presuppositions can affect the way we understand a statement.
This research will discuss the types of presuppositions in the short story “The
Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, and how they are applied in the story. The purpose of
this research is to find out the types of presupposition in the short story “The Lottery”
by Shirley Jackson, and how to apply presupposition in the short story.

B. RESEARCH METHOD
This research uses a qualitative approach. This research aims to find an in-
depth understanding of the use of presupposition in the story “The Lottery” by Shirley
Jackson. This research uses Yule's (1996) theory of presupposition triggers. According
to Yule (1996), presupposition triggers are divided into six: existential presupposition,
 factual presupposition, lexical presupposition, structural presupposition, non-factual
presupposition, and counterfactual presupposition.
The data for this study were obtained by collecting the text of the story “The
Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. The text of this story is the main source of data to be
analyzed in this study. The data collection is done by; (a) reading the whole text of
The Lottery story, (b) collecting the text of the conversation between characters, and
(c) then the data will be analyzed based on Yule's theory of presupposition (1996).
Data analysis is carried out in several stages as follows: (a) The text of the
story “The Lottery” is analyzed to identify the use of presupposition. The researcher
will look for linguistic clues such as keywords, syntactic constructions, or specific
word choices that reveal presuppositions. (b) The identified data will be grouped and
categorized based on the type of presupposition revealed. (c) The data will be
analyzed using the principles of pragmatic discourse analysis to understand the
communicative purposes underlying the use of presuppositions in the stories.
The results of the data analysis will be interpreted to identify the patterns of
presupposition triggers usage in the story “The Lottery”. These findings will be used
to discuss and conclude how the use of presupposition triggers in the story.

C. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson is a chilling and thought-provoking short story
that investigates the dark aspects of human nature and the dangers of blindly
following tradition. Set in a beautiful-looking small town, the story revolves around
an annual event known as the “lottery”. Lottery is a long tradition. This story posits
that the lottery was a familiar practice in the town, indicating its deep-rooted nature.
The townspeople accept the lottery as an integral part of their lives, showing the lack
of societal resistance.
Based on the short story "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, the writer found
six types of presupposition triggers by Yule (1996): 7 data existential presuppositions,
4 lexical presuppositions, 15 factive presuppositions, 5 non-factive presuppositions, 9
structural presuppositions, and 5 counterfactual presuppositions.

1. Existential Presupposition
Some data of existential presuppositions in the short story “The Lottery.”
 a. “Some of you fellows want to give me a hand?” >> someone wants to help
him
The existential presupposition is shown through the words “some of” which
indicates that there is a part of the intended group of listeners. By using the
word “some”, the sentence assumes that there is an individual or group of
people in the group of listeners present.

b. “Anybody ain’t here?” >> someone is not present

Existential presupposition is shown through the use of the word “anybody”
which assumes the existence of at least one person in the context of the
conversation.

c. “There goes my old man” >> his father are here

Existential presupposition is shown through the words “my old man” which
assumes the presence or movement of the speaker's father.

d. “Pack of crazy fools,” >> a bunch of crazy people

In the sentence, the word “pack” refers to a certain group of people or group.

e. “Glad to see your mother’s got a man to do it.” >> there’s a man
The existential presupposition is contained in the phrase “a man.” which
assumes the existence of a man in the mother's life.

f. “That over in the north village they're talking of giving up the lottery.” >>
lottery has been stopped in the north village
The existential presupposition contained in the phrase “the north village”. The
use of the phrase “the north village” assumes that the village in the north
actually exists.

2. Lexical Presupposition
Some data of lexical presuppositions in the short story “The Lottery”.

a. “You’re in time, though.” >> she’s not late

The lexical presupposition is shown in the use of the word “though.” The use
of the word “though” indicates a doubt or preconceived notion about the
possibility of someone arriving late.
 b. “Seems like there’s no time at all between lotteries any more,” >> there is no
time
The lexical presupposition is shown in the word “between”. The use of the
word “between” implies that there is a period of time that separates one lottery
from the next.
c. “Seems like we got through with the last one only last week.” >> there was a
lottery last week
The lexical presupposition is shown in the sentence “the last one” which
assumes the existence of the previous lottery in the context of the sentence.
d. "Clean forgot what day it was," >> she forgot the day
The word "forgot" triggers a lexical presupposition that implies that there is
information that was previously known or remembered by the speaker, but is
now forgotten or not remembered anymore.

3. Factive Presupposition
Some data of factive presuppositions in the short story “The Lottery”.
a. “and then I looked out the window and the kids was gone,” >> the children
are gone
The factive presupposition is shown in the word “gone”. The use of the phrase
“the kids were gone” assumes that previously there were children present and
then they were gone from the speaker's sight.
b. “Here comes your Mrs., Hutchinson,” >> she has come
Lexical presupposition is shown in the word “Here comes”. The use of the
phrase “Here comes” assumes that the speaker has prior knowledge or
awareness that Mrs. Hutchinson is coming.
c. “Bill, she made it after all” >> she succeeded
The use of the phrase “she made it” assumes that the speaker has prior
knowledge or awareness that “she” has achieved or succeeded in something.
d. “He’s broke his leg, hasn’t he? >> his leg was broken
The factive presupposition is shown in the word “broke”. The use of the
phrase “he's broken his leg” assumes that the speaker has prior knowledge or
awareness that the person had an accident or injury that caused a fracture to
his leg.
e. “Some places have already quit lotteries,” >> lottery has been discontinued
 The use of the phrase “have already quit lotteries” assumes that the speaker
has prior knowledge or awareness that some places have stopped the practice
of lotteries.
f. “You get ready to run tell Dad,” >> he's being quiet
The use of the phrase “run tell” assumes that the speaker has prior knowledge
or awareness that there is information that needs to be conveyed.

4. Non-factive Presupposition
Some data of non-factive presuppositions in the short story “The Lottery”.

a. "The people of the village began to gather in the square." >> not all village
people gathered.
The non-factive presupposition in this sentence is shown in the word “began”
where it assumes that the gathering of all the villagers may not occur.
b. "In some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days." >>
In some cities it doesn't always take two days.
The non-factive presupposition in this sentence is shown by the word "were,"
which assumes that there may be cities where the lottery takes more than one
day, but not in all cities.
c. "The whole lottery took only about two hours." >> Lottery takes more than
two hours.
The non-factive presupposition in this sentence is shown by the word "only,"
which assumes the expectation that the lottery should be completed in a short
time, but there is a possibility of a delay or overtime.

5. Strructural Presupposition
Some data of structural presuppositions in the short story “The Lottery”.

a. “Clean forgot what day it was” >> There is a day to remember or know.
The structural presupposition in this sentence is shown in the word “What”
where this assumes that there is a day that one wants to know or remember.
b. “Who had time and energy to devote to civic activities” >> There are some
who have the time and energy to contribute to civic cause.
 Structural presupposition is shown in the word “Who” where it assumes that
there are people who have the time and energy to dedicate themselves to civic
activities.
c. “Who stood next to her.” >> There was someone standing beside him.
Structural presupposition is shown in the word “Who” where it assumes that
there is another person standing beside him.
d. “When he arrived in the square.”>> There was someone who arrived at the
plaza.
The structural presupposition is shown in the word “When” where it assumes
that there was a time when someone arrived at the square.
e. “When Mr. Summers said.” >> There is a moment where Mr. Summers said
something.
The structural presupposition is shown in the word “When” which assumes
that Mr. Summers said something had said something.
f. "when the first people settled down to make a village here.” >> there was a
point in time when people first settled to create a village in the place
The structural presupposition is shown in the word “When” where it assumes
that there was a time when people first settled to make a village in that place.
g. “When the village was tiny…” >> There was a time when this village was
still small
The structural preposition is shown in the word “When” which it assumes that
there was a time when the village was still small.
h. “When he said or sang it.” >> There are moments where someone says it or
sings it
Structural presupposition is shown in the word “When” which it assumes that
there was a time when someone said or sang something.
i. “Which the official of the lottery had had to use in addressing each person
who came up to draw from the box.” >> There are several people who come
and have to be contacted by lottery officials
A structural presupposition is shown in the word “Which” where it assumes
that there is an object (a box) that the lottery officials use to contact everyone
who comes to pick up something.

6. Counterfactual Presupposition
 Some data of counterfactual presuppositions in the short story “The Lottery”.

a. “If there were more people in the village, the lottery would have taken
longer.” >> The village does not have a large population.
The counterfactual presupposition is shown in the word “if” where it assumes
that the actual situation is the opposite of reality, namely the village does not
have many inhabitants.
b. “If the lottery had been conducted differently, the outcome would have been
different.” >> The lottery was conducted in a specific way.
The counterfactual presupposition is shown in the word “if” which assumes
that the scenario is contrary to fact, where the lottery is not held according to
the description given.
c. “If the villagers had refused to participate, the lottery would not have taken
place." >> The villagers participated in the lottery.
The counterfactual presupposition is shown in the word “if” where it assumes
that the villagers did participate in the lottery.
d. "If the lottery were considered unjust, the villagers would not continue the
tradition." >> The villagers consider the lottery just.
The counterfactual presupposition is shown in the word "if" which assumes
that the villagers really think the lottery is fair.

D. CONCLUSION
Based on the analysis of the journal on presupposition analysis in the short
story “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, the author found 6 types of presupposition
proposed by Yule (1996), which are 7 existential presupposition, 4 lexical
presupposition, 15 factive presupposition, 5 non-factive presupposition, 9 structural
presupposition, and 5 counterfactual presupposition.
Existential presuppositions appear through the use of words such as "some,"
“anybody,” “my old man,” “a man,” “Horace,” and “the north village” which assume
the existence or presence of certain individuals or groups. Lexical presuppositions are
seen in the use of words such as “though,” “between,” “last one,” and “forgot” which
invoke assumptions about doubt, time intervals, previous lotteries, and forgotten
knowledge. Factive presuppositions occur through the use of words like “gone,” “here
comes,” “she made it,” “broke,” “quit lotteries,” and “run tell” which assume prior
knowledge or awareness of certain events, actions, or conditions. Non-active
presuppositions appear through the use of words like “began,” “were,” “only,”
“could,” and “story” which imply expectations, possibilities, or legends that are not
necessarily factually correct. Structural presuppositions are seen in the use of words
like “What,” “Who,” “When,” and “Which” that assume the existence of certain
objects, individuals, moments, or events. Counterfactual presuppositions appear
through the use of words such as “if” that assume hypothetical scenarios or situations
that are contrary to reality.
Overall, the use of these presuppositions helps strengthen the reader's
understanding of the story's setting, characters, traditions and events. The story
depicts the existence of a lottery tradition that has its roots in the community, as well
as the unopposed acceptance of the tradition by the villagers. The analysis of
presuppositions in this story provides a deeper insight into the darker aspects of
human nature and the dangers of following traditions without critical thinking.
REFERENCE

Levinson, S. C. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press.

Capone, A. (2017, December 20). Conversational presuppositions: Presupposition as

defeasible inference. Intercultural Pragmatics. De Gruyter Mouton.
https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2017-0025

Stalnaker, Robert C. 1973. Presupposition. Journal Logika Filosofis 2: 77-96

Yule, G. (1996). Pragmatic. Oxford University Press