19: Sentences with baggage - Presuppositions (Patreon)

What’s so weird if I say, “the present King of France is bald” or “I  need to pick up my pet unicorn from the vet”? It seems like those  sentences should be false: at least, they certainly can’t be true.  But if you reply, “No, he isn’t” or “No, you don’t” it still feels  unsatisfying: aren’t we still both assuming that France has a king and  that I have a pet unicorn? 

In this episode of Lingthusiasm,  your hosts Lauren Gawne and Gretchen McCulloch explore different kinds  of meanings: sometimes sentences wear their meaning on their sleeves,  but sometimes they instead smuggle it in as baggage. These assumptions  are known as presuppositions. Presuppositions are incredibly useful (we  couldn’t manage conversations at a normal pace without them), but in the  wrong hands (such as when you’re trying to influence an eyewitness)  they can also be very dangerous. 

We also announced a new round of Lingthusiasm merch: you can now get  scarves with a subtle tree diagram print suitable for all your language  family tree/syntax tree and other structural needs, and t-shirts, mugs,  totes, and pouches with Heck Yeah Descriptivism or Heck Yeah Language  Change on them, as well as the existing IPA scarves and NOT JUDGING YOUR  GRAMMAR, JUST ANALYSING IT items in more colours! [And remember, that as patrons, you can order custom colour merch by messaging us through Patreon with the Hex code of the colour you want!]

To see this episode's shownotes, go to https://lingthusiasm.com/post/173106183816/lingthusiasm-episode-19-sentences-with-baggage