A Critical Analysis Of Presupposition Triggers In Press Conference Discourse

The author of this thesis adopts Levinson’s classification of the13types of presupposition triggers and puts them in the frame of Faiclough’s general classification of presupposition. With this as a frame, the thesis aims to make a critical analysis of the frequency of presupposition triggers used in press conference (PC) discourses.PC discourse, is regarded as an important means for countries or organization to communicate with mass media and public. While critical discourse analysis (CDA), was developed as a theoretical framework of discourse analysis by critical linguists to expose the bias, inequality and unfairness behind the texts. Presupposition is an implicit assumption which is about the background of an utterance whose truth is accepted naturally in the discourse.The author randomly chooses60samples of PC discourses from official websites. Through the detail analysis, the author gets some major findings. First, presupposition triggers are widely used in PC discourses, among which existential presupposition triggers enjoy the highest frequency, because journalists and spokespersons need to take the existence of some events, some notions, and some entities for granted, based on which they can start their argument. Second, spokesperson and journalists stand for different interest group, they need to use specific presupposition triggers to hit their targets and make their words more tactful. So both sides would make use of several types of presupposition triggers at the same time in order to make their contributions more powerful. Third, most of these presupposition triggers carry obvious ideological sense, and each type has some specific functions. For example, the journalists always use questions to get the confirmation of presupposed information, such presupposition triggers have the functions of introducing topic and attracting the hearer’s interest of the topic. Spokespersons use definite descriptions and judging verbs to increase the credibility among the public and express the spokespersons’positive or negative attitude towards issues. The author also explores the pragmatic functions of different types of presupposition triggers.It is significant to give a critical analysis of presupposition triggers in PC discourses. It is hoped that this thesis will make valuable contribution to the future study in PC discourses.