On Pragmatic Presupposition And Its Functions In Verbal Communication

Originating from philosophy, presupposition aroused semanticists' interest with the development of semantics in the 60s and 70s of the twentieth century. Later, the thriving of pragmatics provided a new perspective for the study of this concept. Different studies given by different schools benefit the understanding of this concept, making the studies of this topic complicated as well. The understanding and definitions of presupposition vary from philosophers to pragmatists. Here in this paper what interest us most are the studies of presupposition in the pragmatic perspective.Relevance Theory (RT), one of the latest achievements in the field of cognitive pragmatics offers a brand-new perspective for the study of presupposition. Based on some achievements in cognitive science, psychology and behavioristic science, RT provides us with much knowledge of the psychological mechanism of inference. Having a multi-faceted theoretic nature, RT is regarded as much more explanatorily powerful than some prior communication theories are. Guided by RT, this thesis aims at analyzing the essence of pragmatic presupposition and investigating its functions in verbal communication, attempting to provide some theoretic knowledge of presupposition for successful communication.This paper comprises six parts:A brief review of presupposition studies is given in the Introduction. In our view, the study of pragmatic presupposition within the framework of RT can provide a more powerful explanatory force than the existing studies of this topic can.Chapter One briefly introduces some viewpoints in RT, including communication, inferential model, cognitive context, relevance principles,and analyzes the feasibility of the presupposition study within this framework.In Chapter Two, the advantages and disadvantages of some prior studies of presupposition and the necessity of presupposition study within the pragmatic scope, especially under the guidance of RT are discussed.Chapter Three discusses the defining properties of pragmatic presupposition, including mutuality, felicity, dynamicity, subjectivity and defeasibility, and the concept of pragmatic presupposition is re-defined in this part. We hold that pragmatic presupposition is the speaker's appropriate dynamic assumption of the hearer's cognitive state.Chapter Four deals with the functions of pragmatic presupposition in verbal communication. Pragmatic presupposition is believed to have the restrictive function and guiding function on the participants in verbal communication.A conclusion is drawn in the last part. It is believed that presupposition study within the framework of RT has some theoretic and practical significance.