12 Linguistic Presupposition 2014

12 Linguistic Presupposition
Definition
In language, a presupposition is a pre-existing belief present in the background of a sentence.
A sentence that uses a presupposition is one which relies on a certain belief to be taken for
granted first, in order for the remainder of the sentence is held to understood or held as true.
Another word that may be used is assumption.
A presupposition may be based on a commonly held belief. Or (and this is where presuppositions
can become dangerous) the presupposition may not be true at all.
Presuppositions with little basis in fact are peppered thoughout language all the time. However,
because of the "quiet" nature in which they are presented, they are not often oberserved by the
listener and therefore are taken for granted as being true. In fact, you can get someone to believe
a presupposition (which under any other circumstances they might question), simply by
distracting them by other facts in your sentence.
For example:
I went to that cool new bar called Leroys Place in Juno Street last week.
The presupposition? That there is a street called Juno Street.
Chances are, you were so engaged by the existence of the bar called Leroys Place, you didnt
question the existence of Juno Street.
Heres another:
Whenever my brother has a coldsore, he uses SoreGo and it works every time.
Presupposition: That the writer has a brother.

Heres another:
Before I went into drug rehab, I found it hard to keep down a full-time job.
The presupposition: The writer used to be a drug addict.
It's important at this point to distguish between presupposition and implication. For example, in
this sentence, there is a strong implication that drugs are bad for you by implying a causal
relationship between drug use and loss of work.
The writer cleverly paints a picture in your mind of the entire "back story" of his life. The story
that flashed into your mind when reading the sentence may vary depending on what your
experience of a drug addict's life would be, but chances are it went something like this:
He got into drugs. It messed him up so much that he wasn't turning up to work, and when he did
turn up, he was high all the time, so they fired him. This continued to happened with every job he
had until he eventually hit rock bottom, and checked himself into rehab. Through months of
intensive therapy (withdrawal symptoms, the works), he came out clean. He's since got a new job
which he's now able to keep hold of, so his life has improved. Conclusion: Drugs are bad for
you.
Bearing in mind that all this would have happened in nano-seconds, and was processed through
your sub-conscious.
Whenever your brain has to fill in a blank for something else, it is more powerful and more
likely to create a belief in your mind, because it's not someone stating it directly for you; it's your
brain creating a reality out of implication, and the brain never mistrusts itself! A certain amount
of "blank-filling" is necessary in order to function in everyday life (otherwise a simple
conversation would take days to finish). However, the danger arises when we fill the blanks
ourselves and then regard those formations as proven fact. We then start to form new beliefs and
make decisions based on the faulty beliefs.
Media:
Presuppositions can also be used subtley by the media to convey a certain picture of a situation -
for example:
Following the suspicious death of Margaret Grey in her apartment last night, police are
interviewing her neighbor, John Brown. Mr Brown is described as a loner in his late 30's, has
tattoos, and alledgedly ran over his neighbour's dog last year following a dispute.
The presupposition?
That John Brown isn't a very nice person. And the implication from that is that he is guilty. We
might not have had the same kind of reaction to the story if the writer had described John as, a
quiet man, who was voted best employee last month, and who attends church on Sundays. Even
if it were equally true. The power of this presupposition depends upon common misconceptions,
fears or assumptions about people who "keep to themselves", have tattoos, and the kind of
person who would deliberately run over an animal (note that the claim is simply alledged and
never stated as proven fact).
In this example, the presupposition has enforced a particular Frame by which we now view the
suspect.
This use of presupposition in media is, of course, very dangerous, because a perfectly innocent
person can get caught up in the hype and condemned by the public before trial, irrespective of
actual evidence.
Use in Marketing:
In Asia, one of the most popular beauty products on the market are those with whitening
properties. Everywhere, girls and woman want to become flawless white. Marketing for such
products is based on the presupposition that whiteness is desirable and being brown or tanned is
not. If you don't believe that being white is more desirable, the marketing is lost on you.
On the other hand, in many the other parts of the world, people flock to tanning beds and stock
up on bronzing lotion, in the belief that being pasty-white is undesirable, and one should look
sun-kissed. Advertisements for bronzing however would hold no value for anyone that
believes that being white is preferrable to being brown.
Summary:
Presuppositions can be very subtle, but they are used all the time by the media, by advertising, by
politicians, by writers, by teachers, even by religious leaders. Not all presuppositions are bad per
se or are deliberately intended to deceive, but its good to recognize when they are present!

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12 Linguistic Presupposition

The presupposition? That there is a street called Juno Street.

Presupposition: That the writer has a brother.

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