Linguistic entailments areentailments which arise innatural language. If a sentenceA entails a sentenceB, sentenceA cannot be true withoutB being true as well.[1] For instance, theEnglish 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 thesemantics of linguistic expressions.[2] Entailment contrasts with thepragmatic notion ofimplicature. While implicatures are fallible inferences, entailments are enforced by lexical meanings plus the laws of logic.[3] Entailments also differ frompresuppositions, whose truth is taken for granted. The classic example of a presupposition is the existence presupposition which arises fromdefinite 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.[4] For instance, "The king of France is not bald" likewise presupposes that there is a king of France.[3]
 | Thispragmatics-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |