An Analysis Of Pragmatic Presupposition Of Inquiry Discourse Of Courtroom From The Perspective Of Figure-Ground Theory

The presupposition theory which was proposed by Frege and developed by Strawson and other scholars is one of the focal points in linguistics and philosophy.Its multilevel and multifaceted significance and value have gradually become a consensus in academic circles.In recent years,with the rise of cognitive linguistics,some cognitive linguists began to conduct reinterpretation and restudy on presupposition with application of theories in cognitive linguistics,with the expectation that new ideas could be proposed and new perspectives could be developed.Cognitive linguistics considers that presupposition is the common ground shared by both parties in communication.With idealized cognition of presupposition triggers,cognitive linguists tend to divide a sentence into two parts: presupposition and assertion.Presupposition is given information which functions as ground,while assertion is new information which functions as figure.The emergence of forensic linguistics attracts many scholars' attention.However,most of relevant studies are conducted from static perspective.By exploring the historical and theoretical background of pragmatic presupposition and figure-ground theory,combing the underlying correlative mechanism between presupposition and figure-ground,this thesis analyzes the application of presupposition in the inquiry discourse of courtroom(primarily courtroom inquiry of prosecutors and lawyers)from dynamic perspective.This thesis focuses on explaining the application of such presupposition triggers as factive verbs,implicative verbs,change of state verbs,temporal adverbial clauses and questions.In the courtroom,presupposition is generally processed as ground because of its covertness for the purpose of making external focus prominent.According to the analysis of presupposition from the perspective of figure-ground theory,methods of identifying and breaking presupposition traps are put forward and functions of presupposition in the courtroom are explored.Through the deep analysis,the following findings have been obtained.First,one of the obvious features of presupposition in the inquiry discourse of courtroom is covertness.Second,in the inquiry discourse of courtroom,figure and ground represent the degree of prominence for the information.It is necessary for the participants to identify figure information and ground information.Third,the assertion part in a sentence with presupposition is equal to figure,while the presupposition part is equal to ground.Presupposition and ground are covert,and they are also the intended purposes of lawyers in the courtroom,while assertion and figure are just tools to cover up the implied information(presupposition and ground).The author argues that sufficient understanding of the relationship between presupposition and figure-ground may be conducive to more effective analysis of the inquiry discourse of courtroom,with the hope that it could have some enlightenment to courtroom participants and promote the efficiency of the judicial procedure.