Abstract

A LINGUISTIC STUDY OF PRESUPPOSITION IN RATTIGAN’S PLAY “WHILE THE SUN SHINES” DERIVED RESEARCH

Zainab Fa’iz Jasim, Asst. Prof. Nadya Khairy Muhamed Said

Volume: 8 Issue: 4 2018

Abstract:

As a kind of linguistic study, the study of presupposition in drama is one of captivating topic to explore, because of the capability of this topic to make people perceive the presupposition differently.Presupposition is one of the most important concepts in linguistics. It refers to the implicit inferences made in communication between people. These inferences are necessary to understand the utterances correctly. The research particularly endeavors to focus on the linguistic constructions that activate presupposition. To this stage, it aims at: analyzing and identifying the types of presupposition, and the forms of presupposition triggers employed in the British Play “While The Sun Shines” according to an eclectic model based uponYule (1996) and Karttunen, (n.d.) (cited in Levinson, 1983:181-184), and Van Der Sandt (1988). The main results of the analysis have evidently shown that ‘Structural Presupposition’ is the outstanding types in the language of the British play, whereas ‘Counterfactual’ is the unremarkable presupposition in the play under study. Further, most of the conversation and utterances in the British comedy play “While The Sun Shines” are stated by ‘WH- questions’ form of presupposition triggers.

Back Download