Drawing of a bald king of France with the sentence 'The king of France is bald' written underneath
Description:
“The king of France is bald.” This sentence presupposes, “France has a king (and only one),” and asserts, “He’s bald.” The common ground includes “France has exactly one king,” and “The speaker believes that the one king of France is bald.” Learn more from lecture note 9 in the lecture notes. (Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.)
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Drawing of a bald king of France with the sentence 'The king of France is bald' written underneath
Alt text:
Drawing of a bald king of France with the sentence 'The king of France is bald' written underneath. This is a simple sentence that can illustrate presupposition, assertion, and common ground.
Caption:
“The king of France is bald.” This sentence presupposes, “France has a king (and only one),” and asserts, “He’s bald.” The common ground includes “France has exactly one king,” and “The speaker believes that the one king of France is bald.” Learn more from lecture note 9 in the lecture notes. (Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.)
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Spring
2009
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