Presuppozíciók

Presuppozíciók are assumptions that are taken for granted or implied within a statement or question. They are background beliefs that must be true for the statement to make sense or be felicitous. For example, the statement "John has stopped smoking" presupposes that John used to smoke. If John never smoked, the statement would be nonsensical, not false, but rather presuppositionally infelicitous.

Presuppositions are often triggered by specific words or grammatical structures. Common triggers include definite descriptions ("the King of France"), presuppositional verbs ("regret," "know"), and certain adverbs ("already," "still"). For instance, the question "Have you stopped beating your wife?" presupposes that you have been beating your wife. The answer to this question, whether yes or no, implicitly accepts the presupposition.

Understanding presuppositions is crucial in linguistics, philosophy of language, and pragmatics. They play a significant role in how meaning is conveyed and interpreted beyond the literal words spoken. They highlight the implicit understandings that form the foundation of communication. In logic, presuppositions are often treated as conditions for the truth of a statement; if the presupposition is false, the statement itself is considered neither true nor false. Identifying and analyzing presuppositions helps to uncover hidden assumptions and understand the deeper communicative intent behind utterances.