hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2018-08-20

■ #3402. presupposition trigger のタイプ [presupposition][pragmatics]

　語用論の主要なトピックである presupposition （前提）とは，簡単にいえば，ある文を発したときに当然のように真として受け入れられる推論や命題のことである．例えば，「私の兄は独身です」では私に兄がいることが前提とされるし，「雨が降る前に洗濯物を取り込んだ」では雨が降ったことが前提とされる．これらの文において件の前提を生み出す言語項を presupposition trigger と呼ぶ．上の例では，「私の兄」という名詞句や「雨が降る前に」という統語構造が presupposition trigger となっている．
　Huang (67--68) は，英語の presupposition trigger としていくつかの種類を挙げている．以下で ">>" の記号は "presuppose" の意である．

(1) Definite descriptions

     The king of France is/isn't bald.
     >> There is a king of France

(2) Factive predicates

     a. Epistemic or cognitive factives

          John knows/doesn't know that Baird invented television.
          >> Baird invented television

     b. Emotive factives

          John regrets/doesn't regret that he has said the unsayable.
          >> John has said the unsayable

(3) Aspectual/change of state predicates

     Mary has/hasn't stopped beating her boyfriend.
     >> Mary has been beating her boyfriend

(4) Iteratives

     a. Iterative verbs

          John returned/didn't return to Cambridge.
          >> John was in Cambridge before

     b. Iterative adverbs

          The boy cried/didn't cry wolf again.
          >> The boy cried wolf before

(5) Implicative predicates

     John managed/didn't manage to give up smoking.
     >> John tried to give up smoking

(6) Temporal clauses

     After she shot to stardom in a romance film, Jane married/didn't marry a millionaire entrepreneur.
     >> Jane shot to stardom in a romance film.

(7) Cleft sentences

     a. Cleft

          It was/wasn't Baird who invented television.
          >> Someone invented television

     b. Pseudo-cleft
     
          What Baird invented/didn't invent was television
          >> Baird invented something

(8) Counterfactual conditionals

     If an ant were as big as a human being, it could/couldn't run five times faster than an Olympic sprinter.
     >> An ant is not as big as a human being

　(1)--(5) は語句を利用した lexical triggers，(6)--(8) は構文を利用した constructional/structural triggers の例である．

　・ Huang, Yan. Pragmatics. Oxford: OUP, 2007.

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