Semantic And Pragmatic Analysis Of Presupposition

Presupposition is an important part of Natural Language Logic. Freg, Rusell and Strawson made first researches into it, which caused many people have interests in it. Later, linguists and logicians begin to expound presupposition occurring in natural language from a semantic or pragmatic view on the basis of Freg's and Strawson's idea.Semantic analysis of presupposition (semantic presupposition) means that presupposition is elaborated according to the meaning of sentences or truth-value of presupposition. Although Linguists and logicians give different definitions of presupposition, they are the same in essence. It has such features as three-value, no-truth function, etc. Semantic presupposition that is different from implication is a special kind of entailment. There are some modes to analyze it. But there are some limits of three-valued logic in the semantic analysis of presupposition, that is, the semantic analysis can't deal with the presupposition of some complex sentences, which has to be replenished by pragmatic analysis.Pragmatic analysis of presupposition (pragmatic presupposition) refers to define presupposition by exploiting prepositions or sentences. The rules and definition of pragmatic presupposition proposed by Professor Zhou Li-quan are regarded perfect, which are also used as the means to analyze the presupposition of the speeches. There are some features of pragmatic presupposition, such as, it is known to all, it can be cleared up, and it is a prerequisite to make a sentence proper. Difference exists between pragmatic presupposition and implicature.Semantic presupposition is different from pragmatic presupposition, but one does not go against the other, instead, there is a close relation between them. The former is the foundation of the latter, and the latter is the deepening and expending of the former.Two kinds of presupposition signify much in the daily life and in the research of Natural Language Logic. Resorting to the theory on presupposition, not only can people resolve some problems occurring in Natural Language Logic, but also improve the ability to understand and apply the language in everyday life.