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Linguistic entailments are entailments which arise in natural language. If a sentence A entails a sentence B, sentence A cannot be true without B being true as well. For instance, the English sentence "Pat is a fluffy cat" entails the sentence "Pat is a cat" since one cannot be a fluffy cat without being a cat. On the other hand, this sentence does not entail "Pat chases mice" since it is possible (if unlikely) for a cat to not chase mice.
Entailments arise from the semantics of linguistic expressions. Entailment contrasts with the pragmatic notion of implicature. While implicatures are fallible inferences, entailments are enforced by lexical meanings plus the laws of logic. Entailments also differ from presuppositions, whose truth is taken for granted. The classic example of a presupposition is the existence presupposition which arises from definite descriptions. For example, the sentence "The king of France is bald" presupposes that there is a king of France. Unlike an entailment, presuppositions survive when the sentence is negated. The negation test can be used to determine the difference between entailment and presupposition. For instance, "The king of France is not bald" likewise presupposes that there is a king of France.
See also
- Downward entailing
- Formal semantics (linguistics)
- Implicature
- Loaded question
- Logical consequence
- Presupposition
References
- Beth, Evert Willem (1955). Semantic Entailment and Formal Derivability.
- Murphy, M. Lynne (2010). Lexical Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge Textbooks in Semantics. pp. 31–40.
- Sauerland, U (2007). Presupposition and Implicature in Compositional Semantics. Pelgrave.
- Indarti, Gatri Asti Putri (2015-04-01). "Distinguishing Entailment and Presupposition Under Negation Test" (PDF). Language and Language Teaching Journal. 18 (01): 27–38. doi:10.24071/llt.2015.180104. ISSN 1410-7201.
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A request that this article title be changed to is under discussion Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed Linguistic entailments are entailments which arise in natural language If a sentence A entails a sentence B sentence A cannot be true without B being true as well For instance the English sentence Pat is a fluffy cat entails the sentence Pat is a cat since one cannot be a fluffy cat without being a cat On the other hand this sentence does not entail Pat chases mice since it is possible if unlikely for a cat to not chase mice Entailments arise from the semantics of linguistic expressions Entailment contrasts with the pragmatic notion of implicature While implicatures are fallible inferences entailments are enforced by lexical meanings plus the laws of logic Entailments also differ from presuppositions whose truth is taken for granted The classic example of a presupposition is the existence presupposition which arises from definite descriptions For example the sentence The king of France is bald presupposes that there is a king of France Unlike an entailment presuppositions survive when the sentence is negated The negation test can be used to determine the difference between entailment and presupposition For instance The king of France is not bald likewise presupposes that there is a king of France See alsoDownward entailing Formal semantics linguistics Implicature Loaded question Logical consequence PresuppositionReferencesBeth Evert Willem 1955 Semantic Entailment and Formal Derivability Murphy M Lynne 2010 Lexical Meaning Cambridge Cambridge Textbooks in Semantics pp 31 40 Sauerland U 2007 Presupposition and Implicature in Compositional Semantics Pelgrave Indarti Gatri Asti Putri 2015 04 01 Distinguishing Entailment and Presupposition Under Negation Test PDF Language and Language Teaching Journal 18 01 27 38 doi 10 24071 llt 2015 180104 ISSN 1410 7201 This semantics article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte This pragmatics related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte
