Entailments%20and%20inferences

1
Entailments and inferences

• Logical entailment
• Many terrorists in Fallujah were killed. Some
  terrorists in Fallujah were killed.
• Presupposition
• Kerry realized that the campaign was in trouble.
• Kerry did not realize that the campaign was in
  trouble.
• Conversational inference
• Bush was able to convince McCain to campaign for
  him.
• but Bush chose not to do it.
• Many terrorists in Fallujah were killed. Some
  terrorists in Fallujah were not killed.
• in fact all of them.
• Plausible inference
• Many terrorists were shot. Many terrorists were
  killed.
• Trustworthy source
• Reuters reports that Congress has passed the use
  of force resolution.

2
Strong Implicatives

• In affirmative sentences, strong positive
  implicatives such as manage entail that the
  embedded proposition is true, while strong
  negative implicatives such as fail entail that
  the embedded proposition is false. In negative
  sentences, the polarity of the entailment is
  reversed. Strong implicatives also carry
  presuppositions. (Otherwise they would be devoid
  of any meaning.)
• Kerry managed to hold on to his seat.
• Entails Kerry held on to his seat.
• Presupposes It was difficult for Kerry to hold
  on to his seat.
• Bush didnt manage to find any oil.
• Entails Bush didn't find any oil.
• Presupposes It was difficult for Bush to find
  oil.
• The administration failed to track down the
  perpetrators.
• Entails The administration didn't track down the
  perpetrators.
• Presupposes The administration tried or should
  have tried to track down the perpetrators.
• Bush didnt fail to read a report warning of
  al-Qaida attacks.
• Entails Bush read a report warning of al-Qaida
  attacks.
• Presupposes Bush tried or should have tried to
  read the report.
• Other strong implicative constructions
• Positive bother to, happen to, get around to,
  succeed, take the trouble, deign, dare,
• Negative forget to, avoid (-ing), neglect to,

3
Semi-Implicatives

• In negative sentences, positive
  semi-implicatives entail that the embedded
  proposition is false in affirmative sentences
  there is no entailment but there may be a
  "conversational implication" that the embedded
  proposition is true.
• Kerry wasn't able to convince McCain to run with
  him.
• Entails Kerry didn't convince McCain to run
  with him.
• Kerry was able to convince McCain to run with
  him.
• Doesn't entail, strictly speaking, that Kerry
  convinced McCain to run with him. It is not a
  contradiction to say "Kerry was able to convince
  McCain to run with him but chose not to do it."
• However, in the absence of any contradictory
  information, the sentence is misleading if McCain
  was not convinced by Kerry.
• Kerry would have been able to convince McCain to
  run with him.
• In the actual world he wasn't able.
• More semi-implicative constructions
• She didnt have a chance / time / money /
  courage to follow your advice.
• He wasnt bold / clever / strong enough to meet
  the challenge.
• yield a negative entailment under negation, a
  positive conversational implicature in
  affirmative sentences if there is no
  counterindication.
• I was too scared / timid / stupid / distracted
  to do what I promised.
• yield a negative entailment in affirmative
  sentences, a positive conversational implication
  in negative sentences

4
Verbs of saying

• Speech act verbs
• Statement
• Source
• Author
• Author relates a Source to a Statement
• Bush said that Iraq had aided al Qaida.
• Bush didn't say that Iraq had aided al Qaida.
• Bush denied that Iraq had aided al Qaida.
• The choice of the verb indicates
• The relationship, or the lack of it, between the
  source and the statement.
• The stance of the author with respect to the
  veridicity of the statement.

5
Factive and non-factive verbs of saying

• Bush acknowledged that there were no WMD in Iraq.
• contains a statement There were no WMD in Iraq.
• attributed to a source Bush
• by an author
• By using a "factive" verb, acknowledge, the
  author indicates that Bush and the author are in
  agreement the statement is true. It is a
  "presupposition", not a logical entailment.
• Other factives avow, admit, concede, confess,
  regret,
• Non-factives deny, claim, say, announce, report,
  suggest,
• The spokesman did not acknowledge that Bush had
  been mistaken.
• With factive verbs, the truth of embedded
  statement is presupposed even if it was not
  uttered. Presupposition is a stronger notion than
  entailment.

6
Factive and non-factive cognitive verbs

• Verbs of believing
• Proposition
• Experiencer
• Author
• As with verbs of saying, the choice of the verb
  indicates the stance of the author with respect
  to the veridicity of the proposition.
• Bush realized that the US Army had to be
  transformed to meet new threats.
• Bush didn't realize that Afghanistan is
  land-locked.
• With realize, the embedded statement is
  presupposed.
• Other factives discover, find out, forget, know,
  learn, recognize, foresee, notice,
• Non-factives assume, believe, think, suspect,
  imagine, hope,

7
Other factive constructions

• Verbs
• It doesn't matter that Bush has more money than
  Kerry.
• Other factives make sense, suffice, bother,
  amuse, irritate, fascinate, help matters,
• Non-factives follow, predict, entail, suggest,
  imply,
• Adjectives
• Its not surprising that Bush is expected to beat
  Kerry.
• With surprising that, the embedded statement is
  presupposed.
• Other factives amazing, unfortunate, known, sad,
  good, great, lucky, important, relevant,
  irrelevant, enough,
• Non-factives likely, unlikely, probable,
  certain, possible
• Nouns
• Its no secret that Bush would like voters to see
  him as Reagans heir.
• Other factives accident, coincidence, disaster,
  miracle, blessing
• Non-factives claim, rumor, belief, suspicion,
  hypothesis, idea

8
Trustworthiness

• Reuters reports that Congress has passed the use
  of force resolution.
• Statement Congress has passed the use of force
  resolution.
• Source Reuters
• Author uncommitted (reports)
• Although the author is noncommittal, the reader
  may choose to take the statement as true if the
  source is trustworthy.
• trustworthy well-informed and honest
• Reuters reports that the UN said on Monday that
  the Iraqis claim that Iraq has fully cooperated
  with the inspectors.