Discourse Communicative Function Of Pragmatic Presupposition

Presupposition originally advanced by Frege and developed by Strawson has long been the concern of linguists and philosophers. Its significance and value of research on presupposition from multiple perspectives have been acknowledged by many scholars in the academic field. But for many reasons presupposition research is far from satisfaction. It has still been a controversy over its conception and theories. And many scholars explore its application in sentential and supra-sentential aspects, but few in oral English. This thesis tries to conclude that presupposition is a pragmatic conception, and semantic presupposition can be included into pragmatic presupposition, and thus pragmatic presupposition is redefined based on the review of the previous contribution and the comparison of semantic and pragmatic presupposition. Pragmatic presupposition fulfils its functions of delivering and understanding information. It is the starting point of information delivery, and it constructs context, decides the appropriateness of the following utterances, and thereby ensures the smooth flow of information. Pragmatic presupposition also contributes to the inference of conversational implicature and produces humorous and ambiguous effects.