AN ANALYSIS OF PRESUPPOSITION IN MISS BRILL.

An Analysis of Presupposition in the short story Miss Brill by Katherine Mansfield.

Maryam Munir

National University of Modern Languages.

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Abstract:
The analysis used descriptive qualitative method to define presupposition in the short
story. The main purpose of the study is to find out the different types of presuppositions present
in the short story Miss Brill. The reason to study presupposition in the short story was to find out
the different types and also that how it functions in our day to day conversations. From the
analysis the writer has found that among all the types of presupposition Existential
presupposition was the most occurring one. Lexical presupposition was the least occurring. The
researcher during the study did not come across Counter Factual and Non Factive
presupposition. The researcher in the study tries to explain the significance of presupposition
that how it helps us to shorten our conversations by presupposing meaning from the context.
Without presupposition, a lot of explanations would be needed in order to explain a sentence or
utterance.
Key words: presupposition, assumption, short story.
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Introduction
Presupposition is the assumption of hidden meaning out of the context or from the
background. Something which a speaker assumes to have already seen is known to be as
presupposition. Presupposition is defined by George yule as: “when speakers continually design
their linguistic messages on the basis of assumptions, about which the hearers have already
know.” (Yule, 1996, p. 132)
One can also define presupposition as something that the speaker assumes to be true or is
already known to the hearer. Presupposition is common in our day to day conversations and is
possible only if both the speaker and the hearer have same background knowledge. It is a guess
that may be wrong, but it relies mostly on our daily conversation. For example,
1. Annie no longer writes stories.
2. Did you talk to John?
3. Where did Mike hide the chocolate cake?
We can easily presuppose from the example (1) that Annie used to write stories.
Example (2) shows that John is a person that exists. Example (3) provides the supposition that
there was a chocolate cake. And also if someone says “park your car outside” then there is a
possible assumption that someone has a car. There are other types of sentences that consists of
two suppositions. For example, when someone says, “why are you late for the class”? There can
be two possible presuppositions drawn from this sentence that can be as:
a. You had a class.
b. You arrived late for the class.
There is another example that provide two possible presuppositions i.e. when did you stop
drinking fizzy drinks? The possible presuppositions for this utterance can be:

a. You used to drink fizzy drinks.

b. You no longer take fizzy drinks.
Other examples for these type of presupposition can be:
1. When did you stop reading novels?
2. When did you stop smoking cigars?
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Such type of question have built in presuppositions. They are used by investigators or trial
lawyers in order to reveal the hidden truth. Presupposition can be useful in solving different
cases of investigation. For example, Mr. John was asked by a police officer as to how fast he was
driving, when he hit the lady on the road? Such type of questions are confusing and very tricky
to be answered. Because if Mr. John tries to answer the first part of the question i.e., “how fast he
was driving”? by mentioning his speed at that time, he will confirm that the presupposition made
about him by the police officer was correct. Presuppositions are present in almost every
utterance. One way to check the underlying supposition present in the sentences is to convert the
sentence into negative form. Changing a sentence into negative form is done in order to see
whether the presupposition made earlier remains true or not. For example, if one says that my
shawl is beautiful and if we convert the same sentence into negative form it will be as, my shawl
is not beautiful. If we analyze both of the sentences, we can assume the underlying meaning that
I have a shawl. Although both of the sentences have opposite meaning but the underlying or
hidden meaning remains the same. This process of changing the sentence into negative form and
finding out the underlying meaning in the sentence is known as constancy under negation. In
short one can easily say that negation of a sentence is done in order to test a presupposition. If we
look at another example that says I used to regret meeting him, but if the same sentence is
changed into negative form it will be as I don’t regret meeting him. Both the sentences have
opposite meaning but the presupposition that, I met him, remains the same. (Yule, 1996).

Presuppositions are closely related to the words and the grammatical structures that are used
in an utterance and are also related to our understanding of how native speakers generally use
them. Presupposition is an important idea which can help find out the speaker meaning hidden in
an utterance. In presupposition we look at the meaning of an utterance made by the person.
Presupposition can be made when there is very little or no background knowledge. We can say
about presupposition that they are inferences which are not directly stated rather they are
assumed to be true. For example,
1) Annie has a car
2) Don’t sit in Annie’s car
Example (1) shows direct assertion of the truth that Annie has a car. It directly states about
Annie’s ownership of the car. On the other hand, example (2) does not show direct assertion, but
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we can presuppose the given sentence that Annie has a car. It is an indirect statement given, on
the surface level it does not show any relation of Annie with the car but deep down there is an
indirect relation. While looking at the underlying meaning in the sentence, we do not concentrate
on the spoken utterance rather we concentrate on what is meant by the speaker in a certain
context. There is an important concept in pragmatics which is used to test a presupposition in an
utterance. In order to find out the presupposition in any sentence, negation of the main sentence
is done. It is known as Constancy under negation. A sentence is converted into negative form
and the presupposition in that sentence is tested. If the meaning remains the same in a sentence
under negation, the truth about the presupposition is established. For example,
1 John knows that Mike is a criminal.
2 John does not know that Mike is a criminal.
From both the sentences we can get the established truth i.e. Mike is a criminal. It is found
that both the sentences are in opposite forms, but the truth of presupposition remains the same
under negation of the main sentence. Presupposition has great importance in the use of
persuasive language. This type of language is mostly used by advertisers. They drag people in
order to make them agree to buy their products, even if others don’t want. They do not make
direct claims about their products, rather they make use of presupposition to compel people to
buy their products. For example, if we look at the following advertisement of shampoo we do not
find any utterance made directly by the advertisers to the people to buy their products rather the
advertiser makes such claims that attract the people to buy their products as;
The shampoo will provide cure for the dandruff and will provide nourishment to hair. It is a
revolutionary product to beat hair loss problem.
By looking at the advertisement the people themselves will be attracted towards the products.
They themselves will be persuaded to buy the products even when the advertisers have not
directed them to buy it. Words like When, Why, How etc. are used in both ways to trigger
suppositions. For example:
1) When did John eat all of the ice cream?
2) Why did John eat all of the ice cream?
3) I was sleeping when John ate all of the ice cream?
4) I wondered if John ate all of the ice cream?
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The above examples triggers presupposition in both ways. Firstly, when they are used to ask
questions and secondly when subordinate clauses are introduced. Example (3) and (4) provides
us with the supposition that John ate the ice cream. (Peccei, 2002).

“Presupposition refers to a common ground that is assumed to exist between language users
such as assumed knowledge of a situation or of the world” (Paltridge, 2012, p. 43).
Presupposition plays an important role to develop our understanding of what others mean by
whatever they say whether it is in spoken or written discourse. Presupposition comes from
different sources such as books, television, internet and also from personal experiences. A
speaker says something on the basis of his assumption. The speaker assumes that whatever he
will say, will be known to the hearer. With the help of presupposition, the speaker and the hearer
can assume the meanings from what they actually say in a certain context. In pragmatics, there
are basically two types of presupposition. One is Conventional Presupposition and the other is
Pragmatic Presupposition. Conventional Presupposition can be defined as those assumptions that
do not wholly depend on context or we can say that they are less context dependent. These type
of presuppositions are related to a certain linguistic form. Pragmatic Presupposition are those
assumptions that totally depend on the background knowledge or the context. They arise from
utterances used in a certain context (Paltridge, 2012).

Presupposition cannot be explained with a single definition. There are different views
regarding presupposition. Hudson defines presupposition as: Something that is supposed to be
true that directs other information. The following examples clearly explain the views regarding
presupposition:

1) The boy cried again.

2) The boy had cried before.
If we look at both of the sentences, the first sentence gives a presupposition about the second
sentence. The sentence (2) confirms the truth of the sentence (1). But if the sentence (1) is turned
into negative form it will be as:

The boy did not cry again.

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As the sentence is turned into negative form now it has an opposite meaning to that of
sentence (1) but the truth remains the same. i.e. The boy cried. Turning a sentence into negative
form or negating the truth of a sentence serves as a test to check the hidden presupposition in a
sentence. As we can see in the following sentence:

1¶ John’s shirt is blue.

2¶ John’s shirt is not blue.

As it is clear from the above sentences that both are having opposite meanings but still the
underlying presupposition remains the same which is, “John has a shirt”. Linguists name this
phenomenon as “constancy under negation”. This is a property used in pragmatics in order to test
a presupposition (Jafar, n.d.)

Jafar (n.d.) states one property of presupposition that they are likely to disappear in certain
context, that can be an immediate linguistic context or less immediate discourse context or in
situations where different assumptions are made. It is known as defeasibility in pragmatics. In
other words, it can be stated that it is a technique to cancel the main presupposition in the
sentence. A simple example can explain this case:

 Mike regretted having failed in the test.

 Mike did not regret having failed in the test.

Both of the sentences provide a presupposition that Mike had failed the test. But we can also say
that in the second sentence there is negation. It can also be assumed that Mike did not regret
having failed the test. The reason for this can be that he, in fact, has passed the test. Other
examples of pragmatic defeasibility can be:

 John is often complaining, in fact, always.

 Mike passed away before he finished his Masters.
 Can you close the door?

Yule (2000:27) states that presupposition has been linked with the use of words, phrases
and structures. These words and phrases are the indicators of presupposition in a sentence when
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uttered by a speaker in a context. He divides presupposition into six types that are: the
existential, factive, non-factive, lexical, structural and counterfactual. All of these six types are
presented as a whole under the heading Potential Presupposition. The first type of presupposition
which is known as the Existential Presupposition is either present in possessives or in any
definite noun phrase of a sentence.

For example,

1) Your doll.
2) My house.
3) His keys.
4) Sam’s children are very naughty.

All of these show possession and come under the general heading of existential
presupposition.

1¶ The Eiffel Tower

2¶ The King of France
3¶ The dog

All of the above examples possess definite noun phrase and they come under the heading of
existential presupposition. In the use of definite noun phrases, they assume the existence of
individuals or things being mentioned. Factive presupposition can be defined as words that are
used in a sentence which denote or symbolize something. Factive presupposition are used for the
purpose of symbolizing something. For example, Know, Realize, Odd, Glade etc.

1) Every body knows that John has failed in this exam.

2) Mike regret marrying Annie.
3) Sam realized that he was in danger.
4) It was odd how mean he was.

Example (1) gives the presupposition that John failed the exams. Example (2) assumes that
Mike did marry Annie. Example (3) provides the presupposition that Sam was really in danger
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and the last example (4) shows the presupposition that he was mean. The third type of
presupposition given by Yule is known as Non-factive presupposition. It can be defined as those
presuppositions which are not true or are related to imagination or fantasies. Dream, Imagine
and Pretend can be used in non-factive presuppositions. Non-factive presuppositions cannot be
considered true in the real world. They can only work in the world imaginations and illusions.
For example,

Sam dreamed that he was flying.

The sentence provides a presupposition that John did not fly. In fact it is not possible for
a human to have wings and fly. It is only possible in dreams.

The other type of presupposition is known as Lexical Presupposition. Words like manage,
stop and start are used in lexical presupposition. Yule defined this type as “The use of one form
with its asserted meaning that is conventionally interpreted with the presupposition that another
(non-asserted) is understood”. It can be explained as when someone says that Mike manages to
do his work, it can be directly stated that Mike has succeeded in doing his work, and if someone
says that Mike did not manage to do his work, it can be claimed that Mike was not able to do his
work or one can say that Mike did not succeed. If we analyze both of the sentences one can
easily find the presupposition that Mike tried to do his work (non-asserted), and managed to
assert the word “succeeded”. Other possible examples can be:

1. Martha managed to open the gate

2. Sam forgot to pick the groceries.

Structural presuppositions are also linked with the use of certain words or phrases. In this
type of presupposition part of the sentence is supposed to be true. One can also say that structural
presupposition is used to treat information as supposed and to be accepted as real or true by the
listeners. For example, The WH-forms.

1) When did you come?

2) Why did you leave the party early?
3) Where is John’s pen?
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Sentence (1) presupposes that “you came”. Sentence (2) provides the presupposition that
“you left the party” and sentence (3) supposes that “John had a pen”. All the three examples
clearly explain the structural presupposition. The last type of presupposition is known as
Counter-Factual presupposition. It can be explained as anything that is assumed is not real or true
but it is the opposite of true or opposite to the facts. For example,

If you were his friend would you help him.

The above sentence presupposes that you are not his friend. In conditional sentences the
information in the if-clause is not considered as true at the time of the utterance. Other examples
can be as:

1. If Sam had passed the exams, would you invite him for the party?
2. If the accident had not happened, he would not have died.

Example (1) shows that Sam has failed the exams and Example (2) provides the supposition
that he died.

Research Objectives:
The research objectives to he study are:
1. To find out different types of presupposition in the given Short Story.
2. To find out the function of language in presupposition.
3. To analyze presupposition in the Short Story Miss Brill.

Research Questions:
1. What is the significance of presupposition in the short story?
2. What is the effect of presupposition on our day to day conversation?
3. What is the role of presupposition in the given Short Story?

Research Hypothesis:
The Short Story Miss Brill displays many kinds of presupposition

Research Rationale:
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Presupposition belong to a branch in linguistics known as pragmatics. Presuppositions are

necessary as it helps in communication. Two persons talking to each other cannot communicate
if their presuppositions are not known. The study will help out in providing a better
understanding of presupposition. The study is necessary in order to fill the communication gap.

Significance:
Presuppositions are important tools in language that helps the receiver of an expression to
understand its intended meaning. It is difficult for natural language to survive without them.
The research will turn out to be very helpful for other students or researchers. It will develop a
good understanding of the topic. This topic will make other researchers see presupposition in a
different way and to easily understand any piece of writing or any utterance.

Methodology:
This study is descriptive, and qualitative in nature; a close reading of the text was made
to outline different types of presuppositions. The researcher found many presuppositions used by
the writer in the short story Miss Brill. The instances have been selected from the selected text,
and analyzed in the view of their function. The researcher has used non-participant observation
in this research.

Literature review

Chandra (2016) has applied presupposition in novel Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L James.
He has thoroughly studied presupposition in the novel Fifty Shades of Grey. The writer has
described presupposition key item of the paper in order to search out the kinds of presupposition,
The deliberate meaning of presupposition and the usage of presupposition in the stated novel. He
has used descriptive qualitative method. From the study the writer has found five types of
presupposition i.e, Factive, counter factual, factual, lexical, and existential presupposition. The
aim the writer is to expose the intended meaning of the author to the reader. The aim of the
writer is to expose the intended meaning of the author to the reader.

Khalili (2017) has applied presupposition in the novel Oedipus Rex. he has concluded
presupposition as pragmatic studies where presupposition exists in one’s mind. The writer has
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expected presupposition as a supplementary device in the study of pragmatics. He has used

descriptive research method based on novel and reviewed by the theory of presupposition. The
writer has used Yule theory of presupposition to find out the types of presupposition used in the
novel stated above such as Existential, Lexical, Structural, Factive and Counter Factual
presupposition. The most used presupposition is Structural. Presupposition which is marked by
WH_ questions and the less used type is factive presupposition.

Osoba (2014) has used presupposition in his term paper The Trial of Brother Jero. He has
discussed the application of linguistic theories and ideas as a tool for evaluation of literary
works. The most interesting concept is Presupposition. The researcher has used the term
linguistic analysis in order to examine the term presupposition. The writer has taken the
utterances of two panoramic characters Jero and Chume. The writer has found the idea of
presupposition more in fictional characters rather than in real life. The writer used descriptive
research method that includes pragmatic features, clausal structures and phrasal structures.

Yuliana (2015) has studied the term presupposition and applied it on the movie
“Maleficent” in his term paper. The writer has done descriptive analysis of presupposition in the
“Maleficent” movie script. The researcher has applied Yule theory of presupposition and found
Existential presupposition, Factive, Counter Factual, Non Factive, Lexical and Structural
presupposition. The writer has used distributional and referential method in order to carry out his
research. The most dominant type of presupposition found in the study is Existential
Presupposition.

The researcher Soviana (2014) has studied the term presupposition thoroughly and
applied it on the two main characters King George VI and Lionel Logue in the movie The King’s
speech. In the study the writer has found presupposition in the dialogues of the two panoramic
characters. The writer has applied Karttunen’s Theory of Presupposition Triggers to find out
presupposition and its types in the utterances. The writer has used descriptive qualitative method
for the study.

Yahya() has applied presupposition in the novel The Rainbow Troops. The researcher has
used dialogues of the main characters of the novel for his study. The main objective of the writer
AN ANALYSIS OF PRESUPPOSITION IN MISS BRILL. 13

is firstly to find out the total number of presuppositions used in the dialogues of the main
characters of the novel. Secondly to find out the the presuppositions that occurred most
repeatedly. And thirdly to explore the least occurring presupposition. The writer has used
descriptive qualitative method for his investigation. The research tool used for the study is the
script of the novel The Rainbow Troops. From the analysis the writer has found thirty-six
presuppositions. The writer during his study come across Existential Presupposition, Factual
Presupposition, Lexical Presupposition and Structural Presupposition. The writer did not come
across Counter Factual Presupposition and Factive Presupposition.

Oktoma and Mardiyono (2013) discussed presupposition in the short stories by Silvester
Goridus Sukur. The writer has used descriptive qualitative method in order to find out the
different types of presupposition and also its meaning. The used for the study were sentences that
contain presupposition triggers. The objective of the study is to find out the most occurring
presuppositions. The writer has used Yule theory in order to find out presuppositions from the
short story and found all the six types.

Discussion:

Presupposition is a collective term used in pragmatics that help in understanding the

meaning of an utterance. Presupposition is an important phenomenon in communication, that is
helpful in developing an understanding of the utterances if the background knowledge is known.
But if there is no background knowledge or the presuppositions are not understood, there will be
great confusion. Presupposition is useful in shortening the utterances. It saves us from detailing.

The reason to study presupposition in the short story Miss Brill, is to analyze the term
presupposition and find out its types because different type of presupposition can be found in the
short story. The focus of the study is not only to find out presupposition and its types in the short
story but the object of the study is also to find out the role of presupposition on utterance’s
meaning in the short story.

The short story Miss Brill is written by Katherine Mansfield. The story deals with the
psychological state of an old lady. The was all alone and was unable to fit in the society. The
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researcher has found many presuppositions while studying the short story Miss Brill. The
presuppositions found in the short story are as follows:

1) Miss Brill was… Page No. 107

Miss Brill was going to park. She took that fur out of the box, cleaned it and finally decided
to put it on. She was very happy with her decision. The given line leads us to the presupposition
that Miss Brill was happy and also that she had fur.

2) Wasn’t the conductor… Page No. 107

When Miss Brill finally decided on her fur, she went to the park. There she observed people
very carefully and saw a conductor wearing a new coat and she observes someone else wearing
something new. The above sentence triggers the two presuppositions one that the conductor was
wearing a new coat and second that one can assume that some one else was also wearing a new
coat.

3) They’ll always… Page No. 108

While miss brill was in the park, there she saw a couple talking. The husband was suggesting
his wife to wear glasses but the wife was not convinced and finally after a long conversation she
makes an utterance which leads to another presupposition i.e., she did not want to wear glasses

4) She took them… Page No. 108.

In the park Miss Brill saw a beautiful girl who came and dropped a bunch of violet. It seemed
as if she was very upset. A boy picked up the flowers and gave them to her but she throw them
away as if it was something poisoning. The given line presupposes that the violets belonged to
the girl and also that the flowers were something that were the cause of grief in her life.

5) Why does she… Page No. 110

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While sitting in the park a young couple comes and sits beside Miss Brill. They did not want
her company. The line was spoken by the boy that presupposes that this utterance was made for
Miss Brill that she goes to the park and the couple do not like her presence there.

6) But today she… Page No. 111

Miss Brill was very upset with the comments made by the couple about her. She left the
place immediately and went straight to home. On a normal day she used to buy cake but she was
so upset that she passed by the baker’s shop. The line supposes that Miss Brill did not go to the
baker’s today.

7) She unclasped the… Page No. 111

Miss brill was very upset with the views of the couple about her that she goes straight to
home and quickly un tie her necklet and put it back in the box. She was so deeply heart that she
could hear herself deep down crying. The line presupposes that Miss Brill was deeply hurt by the
remarks

of the young couple. That is why her heart was weeping.

Conclusion
The data for this research was taken from a short story Miss Brill. The text was analyzed
and the researcher found many presuppositions. The most occurring presupposition in the short
story Miss Brill was Existential Presupposition. The writer found One Hundred and Forty-Three
Existential Presupposition, Five Factive Presupposition, Ten Structural Presuppositions, Two
Lexical Presupposition. The researcher did not come across Counter Factual and Non Factive
Presuppositions.
Presuppositions are based on the background knowledge or the context. The context
provides an understanding of the presupposition. Without context one cannot understand the
assumed knowledge in any utterance or sentence. Presupposition is helpful in a way that it helps
us shorten what we want to say. If there were no presuppositions, communication will not be
possible because one had to provide lots and lots of details to the other in order to make him
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understand what he wanted to say. It is quite impossible. Presupposition is very important in

daily conversations. If the presuppositions are not known in any situation confusion will take
place. It shows that for fruitful conversation presupposition in any situation must me known to
the hearer as well as the speaker.
Presupposition is an important phenomenon in our day to day conversation. Without
presupposition one cannot get the meaning of any utterance. The speaker will then have to
provide a lot of details in order to make the hearer understand him or else it will lead to a lot of
confusion.
Presupposition plays an important role in the understanding of the given short story. The
researcher has found many presuppositions used by the writer Katherine Mansfield. It shows that
with the use of presupposition, she wrote short sentences and avoided explanations of each and
every situation. We may conclude that without the use of presupposition, the story would not be
possible. With the knowledge of the context one can easily understand many sentences in the
short story and get the meaning out of it. If the presuppositions in the given short story were not
known, it would have been quite difficult for the researcher or the reader to dig out the original
meaning.
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