Pragmatics Analysis of Presupposition As Found in the Tagline of Horror
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Vivid: Journal of Language and Literature - Vol. 9 No. 2 (2020) Online version available in : http://jurnalvivid.fib.unand.ac.id Vivid: Journal of Language and Literature | ISSN (Online) 2502-146X | Linguistics Pragmatics Analysis of Presupposition as Found in The Tagline of Horror Movie Posters Yelmi Roza1, Ayumi2 1,2 English Department, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Andalas, Padang, Indonesia SUBMISSION TRACK A B S T R A C T Recieved: August 16, 2020 This research is about pragmatics analysis of presupposition as found Final Revision: November 21, 2020 in the tagline of horror movie posters. This research aimed to discover Available Online: December 10, 2020 presupposition triggers and type of presupposition in the tagline of horror KEYWORD movie posters. In this research, the data were collected by downloading 14 Movie, presupposition, presupposition triggers, tagline, taglines in horror movie posters. Then, the data downloaded were divided type of presupposition according to the presupposition triggers and the types of presuppositions. CORRESPONDENCE The data were analyzed using two theories, presupposition triggers by Phone: 082283454966 Kartunnen (1973) and Yule’s presupposition types (1996). The result of E-mail: [email protected] the analysis shows an argument and a table. The results show that from 42 presupposition triggers found in the tagline of horror movie posters, definite descriptions are the most dominant presupposition triggers. Other presupposition triggers are the change of state verbs, factive verb, and counterfactual conditional. Meanwhile, out of 6 types of presuppositions, there are only four types of presuppositions found in the tagline of horror movie posters: existential presupposition, lexical presupposition, factive presupposition, and counterfactual presupposition. I. INTRODUCTION tagline, people will be curious about the movie and interested in watching that movie. Presupposition is something the speaker assumes to be the case before making an utterance (Yule,1996). Pragmatics is one of the branches of linguistics that It means the speaker has an assumption before the study meaning of an utterance as communicated by statement is uttered, and the listener can directly a speaker (or writer and interpreted by a listener (or understand what the speaker said. Presupposition reader)(Yule,1996). We can infer that in pragmatics, only in the speaker, not sentence. Presupposition we focus on the meaning of the speaker’s utterance. is interesting to analyze because we should know As a listener, we should interpret the speaker’s exact an assumption of the statement. Those assumptions meaning. Sometimes, the meaning of the speaker’s can be correct based on the utterance of the speaker. utterance, not literal meaning but contextual. For Presupposition is not only found in an utterance, instance: “He got a chair in the government,” the but we can also found it in the advertisement, the meaning of chair in the sentence, not the real chair. slogan, and the tagline. We understand from the context that he got a chair in government because he got a position in the A tagline is usually used in an advertisement by government. We can sum up that pragmatics study a company to promote their product. They design the meaning from the speaker’s utterance depends taglines using a short phrase and unique phrase that on the context. is easy to remember. Taglines are found not only in a product such as food, drink, and electronics but Presupposition also in movie posters. Usually, a movie company Presupposition is something the speaker assumes to designs a poster and they add a tagline to get be the case before making an utterance (Yule,1996). attention from the viewer. If the poster has a good It means the speaker has an assumption before DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25077/vj.9.2.99-104.2020 Under Liscense of Creative Commons Attributioni-NonCommercial 4.0 International. 99 Vivid: Journal of Language and Literature - Vol. 9 No. 2 (2020) the speaker says something so that the listener >> You once could get gobstoppers can get the intended message. Yule stated that c) Carter returned to power presupposition is the speaker’s assumption about >> Carter held power before something already known by the listener or reader. It is something the speaker assumes already known Verbs of judging by the listener before the speaker uttered something. Verbs of judging are implications. This presupposition Presupposition Triggers triggers, unlike other presuppositions, because there is not associated with the speaker or subject Presupposition triggers are construction or item of the verb of judging. For instance Wilson and D. that show the existence of presupposition in the Sperber (1979): utterance. As stated by Karttunen in Levinson (1983), there is 31 types of triggers but only thirteen a) Agatha accused Ian of plagiarism kinds of triggers in this explanation as following: >> Agatha think plagiarism is bad Definite descriptions b) Ian criticized Agatha for running way >> Ian thinks) Agatha ran away Definite descriptions are associated with the proper noun and possessive construction, Keenan (1972). Temporal clauses For instance: The presupposition is triggered by temporal John saw the man with two heads clauses such as: before, while, since, after, during, >> There exists a man with two heads. whenever. Frege (in Heinamaki, 1972): Factive verbs a) Before Strawson was even born, Frege noticed presupposition Factive verbs are telling the truth of the proportional complement, usually using a verb like: regret, >> Strawson was born aware, realize, odd, know, be sorry that, be proud b) Since Churchill died, we have lacked a that, be indifferent that, be glad that, and be sad leader (Kiparsky and Kiparsky, 1971). For instance: >> Churchill died Martha regrets drinking john’s homebrew Cleft sentences >> Martha drank john’s homebrew Cleft sentences are the speaker and the listener has Implicative verbs the same presupposition, and its presupposition has Implicative verbs that triggered by using a verb like been claimed (Halvorsen, 1978). For example: manage, forget, happen, and avoid. For instance a) It was henry that kissed Rosie (Karttunen, 1971): >> Someone kissed Rosie John managed to open the door b) What john lost was his wallet >> John tried to open the door >> John lost something Change of state verbs Implicit cleft with stressed constituents Change of state verbs is presupposition triggers Certain presupposition occurs by the two cleft using a verb like stop, begin, continue, start, finish, construction and also triggered by the heavy stress carry on, cease, take, leave, enter, come, go, arrive, on a component (Chomsky, 1972; Sperber and etc,. For instance (Levinson, (1983): Wilson, 2001). For instance: John stopped beating his wife John did compete in the Olympics >> John had been beating his wife >> John did compete somewhere (cf, it was /was not in the Iterative Olympics that john competed. a) The flying saucer came >> The flying saucer came before Comparisons and contrasts b) You cannot get gobstoppers anymore The sentence is marked by stress (or by other 100 Vivid: Journal of Language and Literature - Vol. 9 No. 2 (2020) prosodic means), by particles like too, back, in Factive Presupposition return, or by comparative constructions (Lakoff, Factive Presupposition is the presupposition that 1971). For example: shows the fact of assumption using a verb like Carol is better linguist than Barbara know, realize, regret, aware, odd, and glad. >> Barbara is linguist Example: Non- restrictive relative clauses a. She did not realize he was tired There are two primary relative clauses in English; (>> he was tired) they are restrict or delimit noun phrases (restrictive) b. l regret leaving him and provide additional parenthetical information (>> l left him) (non- restrictive). c. I was not aware that he died For instance: (>> he died) The Proto Harrappans flourished 2800- d. It is not odd that he left early 2650 B.C. were great temple builders. (>> he left early) >> The Proto Harrappans flourished 2800- e. I am glad that it is over 2650 B.C. (>> it is over) Counterfactual conditionals Lexical Presupposition Counterfactual conditionals are presupposition Lexical presupposition, where the information triggers where the word ‘If’ indicates conditional asserted in one form conventionally, then contrary to the fact. For instance: interpreted, and it has another meaning. If Hannibal had only had twelve more Example: elephants, the Romance languages would a. She stops writing a poem this day exist (>> she was writing a poem before) >> Hannibal did not have twelve more elephants. b. You are late again (>> you were late before) Questions Structural Presupposition WH-questions indicate a presupposition that obtained by replacing the WH-word by appropriate Structural Presupposition is the presupposition variable., like whereby somewhere, how by associated with the use of certain words and phrases somehow. For example: that have analyzed conventionally and regularly and already assumed to be true. Who is the professor of linguistics at MIT Example: >> Someone is the professor of linguistics at MIT a. When did he leave (>> he left) Type of Presupposition b. Where did you buy the bag There are six types of presupposition, according to (>> you bought the bag) Yule (1996) as follows: Non- Factive Presupposition Existential Presupposition Non- Factive Presupposition is a presupposition Existential presupposition is the presupposition that assumed not to be true, using verbs like a that describes the existence of something, and it dream, imagine, and pretend. is not only supposed to be presented in possessive construction but also presented a definite noun Example: phrase. a. I dreamed that I went to the moon a. Your mother (>> you have a mother) (>> I was not to go to the moon) b. John bought an apartment (>> there is b. We imagined we were in Dubai John and apartment) (>> we were not in Dubai) 101 Vivid: Journal of Language and Literature - Vol. 9 No. 2 (2020) c. She pretends to be happy because the tagline of horror movies poster can be (>> she is not happy) analyzed pragmatics theory.