pragmatics

This essay is going to analyze two aspects of presuppositions: Semantic presuppositions which mean A is presupposed by B if B can not have a truth value unless A is true and pragmatic pr

Högskolan Dalarna

English Linguistics

MAEL 3: PRAGMATICS

Presuppositions in President Sworn-In to Second Term by George Bush

Spring 2008

Do Thi Vinh Ha

790825T080 h07ihido@du.se

Table of Contents

1 Introduction ………1

1.1 Introduction ……… 1

1.2 Aim ……… 1

1.3 Methodology and Data ……….2

2 Data analysis ……… 2

3 Conclusion ……… 9

4 References ………11

1 Introduction

1.1 Introduction

Pragmatic is very difficult for a nonnative speaker of English to understand It is a new field of language use which studies language use in context Pragmatics is divided into many parts such as: presupposition, politeness, implicature, etc Each part carries its own difficult level It requires the readers to have large knowledge

to be able to understand and use it One of many aspects of language studies in

pragmatics is the notion of presuppositions which according to Thomas et al are

“background assumptions embedded within a sentence or phrase He assumptions are taken for granted to be true regardless of whether the whole sentence is true” (2005:42) The presuppositions are divided into two fields: semantic

presuppositions and pragmatic presuppositions

Presuppositions can be seen as one of the effective language tools for the presenters to persuade the listeners Politicians are the successful presenters in this field George W Bush, the United States President is one of many politicians who use presuppositions deliberately to obtain theirs goals

1.2 Aim

The main purpose of the essay is to analyze the presuppositions which are used in

Mr Gorge Bush in the 55th inaugural ceremony address announced on Thursday,

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January 20, 2005 The essay wants to show the presuppositions use which makes him economical in what he proclaims so that his audiences get his announcement the most efficiently The essay aims at finding out how presuppositions are

employed by Mr Gorge Bush to show his friend with his audiences

1.3 Methodology and Data

This essay will analyze the 55th inaugural ceremony address is announced by US President George Bush on Thursday, January 20, 2005, which is collected through the webpage http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/01/250120-1.html,

on Tuesday, May 20, 2008

This essay is going to analyze two aspects of presuppositions: Semantic

presuppositions which mean A is presupposed by B if B can not have a truth value unless A is true and pragmatic presuppositions which mean A is pragmatic

presupposition of a speaker B if B simply takes A for granted

2 Data analysis

In the first sentence:

On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country

With the first presupposition triggers “law” and “ceremony”, Mr Bush

presupposes that there is law and a ceremony The noun phrases” durable wisdom” and “our Constitution” trigger presupposed information that there is durable

wisdom, that the United States has its own Constitution, and that the Constitution has durable wisdom These are semantic and uncounterfeit presuppositions that are employed tactfully in the beginning of a speech by the president He also

presupposes pragmatically that his audiences know what the ceremony that they are attending; they know the time, place and purpose of this ceremony; and these audiences are people who vote for him so they will support his ideals in this

ceremony

I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which

we live, and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

This utterance presupposes several things that (1) the honor exists, that (2) there is consequential times and that (3) there is an oath In this sentence there are some existential pragmatic presuppositions such as: the audiences know that he has been re-elected as the US President for the second term; they are gathering here, at West Lawn on the West Front of the United State Capitol to listen to him He

asserts that he will strong- minded to accomplish his task and promises that he will

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lead the Unites States to complete the “essential” but “unfinished work of

American freedom”

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together.

The word “second” triggers the presupposition that there was one earlier gathering before The possessive “our duties” gives rise to the presupposition that

Mr Bush and other people have duties to fulfill The noun trigger “history”

presupposes that the US and the world experienced the important and noticeable historical events President Bush also gives the pragmatic presuppositions that the audiences know what these duties are, and that they will be ready to support him to fulfill them Hence, he implies that it is time for him and the US to act to fulfill the oath

For a half century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders.

Some existential presuppositions can be identified here The definite noun

“America” triggers the presupposition that America exists; the possessive “our own freedom” gives rise to the presupposition that the US has their own freedom; the noun “borders’ triggers the presupposition that distant borders exist The two

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noun phrases: “for a half century” and “distant borders” trigger the presupposition

that America has always guarded its own independence and freedom by watching over the sovereignty, self-government of liberty in other countries or territories in all over the world in struggle for a long time

After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical - and then there came a day of fire.

The noun “communism” triggers the presupposition that the communism exists The noun “quiet”, “repose”, “sabbatical” and “fire” carry the presupposition

that there were years of quiet, repose, sabbatical and fire These are surely

semantic presuppositions The temporal phrase “after the shipwreck of

communism” triggers the presupposition that the communism shipwrecked before

Through this utterance, an implied meaning can be identified that President Bush wants to convince the audience that the international situation of security of the world is bad, and the peace in the world is threaten by hostile forces

We have seen our vulnerability - and we have seen its deepest source For as long

as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny - prone to

ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder - violence will gather, and multiply

in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal

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The compound sentence “We have seen our vulnerability - and we have seen its deepest source” creates a semantic presupposition that there are

vulnerability of mankind or countries and its source And in the utterance “For as long as whole regions of the world simmer in resentment and tyranny - prone to ideologies that feed hatred and excuse murder - violence will gather, and multiply

in destructive power, and cross the most defended borders, and raise a mortal threat”, the presuppositions can be regarded as both semantic and pragmatic First

Bush semantically presupposes that the world and the regions of the world exist; that the resentment and tyranny exist; and that resentment and tyranny has existed

in all over the world before Second, Mr George Bush presupposes pragmatically that the audiences realize the confused political situation in the world; and that they will be aware of how unsafely this situation of the world affects the US and

themselves

There is only one force of history that can break the reign of hatred and

resentment, and expose the pretensions of tyrants, and reward the hopes of the decent and tolerant, and that is the force of human freedom.

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The semantic presupposition inferred is that the reign of hatred and

resentment exists; that there are pretensions of tyrants and hopes of decent and tolerant Bush also wants to assert the fact that only the force of human freedom that can save mankind from the vicious circle of resentment and fighting and offer mankind happiness Therefore, he implies that people and concretely the US

people have to use this force as efficient weapon to defeat the crime of tyranny and resentment to save peace of the world The presupposition can be regarded as pragmatic

America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has

rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the

Maker of Heaven and earth.

In this sentence, some semantic presuppositions can be identified Bush presupposes that there are interests and belief; that the US has been founded; that man and woman exist; that mankind has rights; that Maker of Heaven and the earth exist He implies that it is vital need for American as well as other people to fight for their rights, dignity and matchless value This is a pragmatic and counterfeit presupposition

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Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation It is the honorable achievement of our fathers Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's

security, and the calling of our time.

In these sentences, the existence of some definite descriptions such as:

“these ideals”, “the mission”, “Nation”, “achievement”, “fathers”, “requirement”

and “nation’s security” are semantically presupposed There is also a pragmatic

presupposition that the audiences know when the historical periods he referred and they will respect attainments, success the older generations achieved As a result,

he implies that it is great responsibility for the progeny, Bush and the people in Bush’s time to fight to preserve the achievements gained by their fathers at any cost

So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of

democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the

ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

There are two presuppositions here The semantic presupposition is that there is a policy; that the United States exists; that there are democratic movements and institutions; and that nation, culture and the world exist It is also presupposed pragmatically that the US is going to step up democratic movements to save

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mankind from the specter of tyrant and from the puddle of hatred and resentment Bush wants to persuade the US people to support for his political policy that the

US will completely destroy tyranny in all over the world

3 Conclusion

The US President George Bush successfully in employing both pragmatic and semantic presuppositions in his speech: the 55th inaugural ceremony address These presuppositions make his statements short but persuasive He makes his audiences easy to understand his intention He puts his audiences into his position to look at the problem therefore he makes the relationship between him and his audiences closer Moreover, by using presuppositions, he makes his audiences be aware of the fact that the world and the US have faced the dangerous enemies, the tyranny, the hatred and the resentment which threat the self-government of every country and the peace of the world He also persuades the US people that they have to fight

to protect and maintain their own sovereignty Due to the limitation of the

analyzer’s knowledge and the limited scale of a short essay, many other

presuppositions in the speech have been left behind A deeper analysis of

presuppositions would be ideal for a further study of pragmatics

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4 References

1 George Yule (1996) Pragmatics, Oxford University Press.

2 Thomas L, Wareing, I Singh, J Peccei, J Thornborrow, J Jones (2005)

Language, Society and Power 2 nd end London Routledge

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3 President Sworn-In to Second Term." Office of the Press Secretary The White House January 20, 2005

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/01/250120-1.html

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