Presupposition

A presupposition is an assumption related to an utterance. The truth of the utterance is taken for granted in discourse. The presupposition must be assumed by the speaker and hearer for the utterance to be appropriate. The word presupposition is often used in the branch of linguistics known as pragmatics.

The following are examples of presuppositions:

(1) Have you stopped smoking?

(2) Can I borrow your guitar?

(3) Have you seen Jack?

(4) My son no longer plays the guitar.

(5) My wife is sick.

In (1) the presupposition is that the subject has smoked. In (2) the presupposition is that the hearer has a guitar. The third question presupposes that Jack exists. In (4) the presupposition is that the subject's son once played the guitar and in the fifth utterance, the presupposition is that the subject has a wife.

Negation of the utterance does not change the presupposition. We can change (1) to Haven't you stopped smoking? Nevertheless, the presupposition is that the subject has smoked. The question Have you stopped smoking? can be considered a neutral question whereas Haven't you stopped smoking? expresses that the speaker believes the hearer has stopped smoking but is not entirely certain.

However, this is not always the case with entailment. The sentence He was assassinated entails He is dead, but the negative He wasn't assassinated does not necessarily entail He is dead. From the sentence He wasn't assassinated it isn't clear whether or not the subject is dead.

In discourse the truth of the utterance is assumed. This is known as presupposition. Unlike in the case of entailment, negation of the utterance never changes the presupposition.

Poem (Under The Stars of Heaven)

 Here is a poem that I wrote in 2016. I wrote it for my wife.

Under The Stars of Heaven

I look into your eyes

And you smile at me.

In front of us our future lies.

What will it be?

You smile so sweetly

And take my hand.

You are now clearly

Part of my dream land.

Under the stars of heaven

You and I are now one.

Two hearts fill with passion

Under the moon and sun.

We enter our dream land

Full of new adventure.

We walk hand in hand

Exploring together.

Under the stars of heaven

We are on our way.

Our love will deepen

Day after day.

Poem (Love Surrounds Us)

 Love Surrounds Us is one of my favourite poems. I hope you enjoy it!

Love Surrounds Us

As night falls, stars sparkle and silence comes.

I want to have you near me.

I hear your voice and see your face.

No one else knows me like you know me.

Love surrounds us, love is eternal.

Take my hand and become my future.

Even when we are apart,

Memories of you fill my mind and heart.

Now the moon glows by my window,

The whole sky is completely black.

But I know the same moon and sky

Watch over you on this starry night.

Love surrounds us, love is eternal.

Take my hand and become my future.

Even when we are apart

Memories of you fill my mind and heart.

In you I place my trust, joy and love

And in you my trust, joy and love grow.

I never forget that love surrounds us, love is eternal.

Take my hand and become my future.

Vowel Alternations in English

English has many related words which exhibit vowel alternations. They are common in many nouns and verbs. Here are examples:

foot feet

goose geese

tooth teeth

drive drove driven

see saw

cycle cyclical

grateful gratitude

line linear

long length

nation national

pronounce pronunciation

school scholar

south southern

study student

wide width

The pairs grateful/gratitude and pronounce/pronunciation illustrate a phenomenon known as trisyllabic laxing. The stressed vowel becomes lax in trisyllabic words.

Vowel alternations are common in irregular plurals.  They once had the plural marker -s, but it was lost over time.

In many verbs vowel alternations occur. The verbs drive/drove/driven contain three different stressed vowels.

Forms such as cycle/cyclical long/length are derivational. The pair cycle/cyclical contains a noun and adjective while the pair long/length contains an adjective and noun. The pair school/scholar contains two nouns, but the relationship is derivational because school refers to a place and scholar refers to a person.

The list of words illustrates a few of the vowel alternations that occur in English. Such vowel alternations are common not only in English but in many languages. Vowels are more likely to change than consonants because they involve greater airflow through the oral cavity and do not have fixed points of articulation.

Regional Differences in French of France

The French of France exhibits regional differences in pronunciation. Many of the regional differences are between the French of the north and that of the south. Here are examples:

ananas (pineapple) The final consonant is pronounced in the south, but not in the north.

brin (brine)/brun (brown) The two words are pronounced the same in the north, but differently in the south.

cent euros (hundred euros) In the north the final consonant of cent is pronounced, but not in the south.

détritus (garbage) The final consonant is pronounced in the south, but not in the north.

encens (incense) The final consonant is pronounced in the south, but not in the north.

moins (less) In the south the final consonant is pronounced, but not in the north.

pneu (tire) In the south a mid front unrounded vowel is inserted between the first two consonants.

poulet (chicken) In the south the final vowel is closed, but in the north it is open.

rose (rose) In the south the mid front vowel is open, but in the north it is closed.

vingt (twenty) In the northeast the final consonant is pronounced.

From the examples, it is clear that the French of France has pronunciations which vary from one region to another. The north and south often use different vowel qualities. The result is that regional differences in pronunciation often reveal where speakers are from.

Phonetic Value of English Letters

English spelling is very irregular. As a result, many English letters represent a number of different sounds. Here are examples:

a at, fall, radio, sofa

c cake, cent, indict

e bike, end, karate, latte, talent

f if of

g gate, genre, giraffe, gnat

i hill, kind, rabbit, studio

o carrot, cold, do, of, on, only, woman, women

s his, so, sugar

u lettuce, push, student, universe, up

y city, sky, you

Number of Phonetic Values

a (4)

c (3)

e (5)

f (2)

g (4)

i (4)

o (8)

s (3)

u (5)

y (3)

The letter o has many phonetic values. In certain cases letters have no phonetic value. This is often the case with word-final e in words such as cake. The list illustrates that English letters often have many phonetic values.

Icelandic Surnames

Icelanders don't use family names. Instead of one name for the family, Icelanders have names with a patryonymic reference. The result is that the father and mother have different surnames, and the children have different surnames from those of their parents.

We can illustrate with a few examples. Imagine a husband and wife whose names are Jón Gunnarsson and Selma Jakobsdóttir. The first name of Jón Gunnarson's father is Gunnar and the first name of Selma's father is Jakob.

If Jón Gunnarsson and Selma Jakobsdóttir have a son and name him Ólafur, his name becomes Ólafur Jónsson. But if they have a daughter and name her Helga, her name becomes Helga Jónsdóttir. The relationships are clear: Ólafur is Jón's son and Helga is Jón's daughter.

Let us illustrate with another example. Imagine that Ólafur Jónsson marries Auður Magnúsdóttir. They have a daughter and name her Ragna. Her name then becomes Ragna Ólafursdottir.

Icelanders use the traditional system of names that was once common in Scandinavia. Women do not take the husband's name when they marry, and sons and daughters use different last names. The last name of women ends with -dóttir (daughter) and the last name of men ends with -son (son).

Letter Correspondence Between Danish and Norwegian

Danish and Norwegian are closely related languages. However, they also have a number of differences. One is that the letter æ in Danish often corresponds to the letter e in Norwegian. Both languages have the letter æ, but it is more frequent in Danish. Here is a list of ten words to illustrate:

knæ kne (knee)

mælk melk (milk)

næse nese (nose)

præst prest (priest)

skæg skjegg (beard)

sjæl sjel (soul)

træ tre (tree)

vægt vekt (weight)

æble eple (apple)

æg egg (egg)

Both Danish and Norwegian share the letter æ. They also share the letters ø and å. Though Danish and Norwegian share the letter æ, it is used more in Danish. The letter æ of many Danish words corresponds to the letter e in Norwegian.