SEMANTIC ANALYSIS OF PRESUPPOSITION AND ENTAILMENT AS TRUTH-CONDITIONAL SENSE RELATIONS IN TIV LANGUAGE

Abstract

Truth conditional sense relations in language are expressed through presupposition and entailment. The basic idea behind presupposition in semantics is that the falsity of the presuppose sentence causes the presupposing sentence not to have truth-value (T or F.). Furthermore, both a sentence and its denial have the same semantic presupposition. One sentence ‘S’ is said to entail another sentence ‘S’ when the truth of the first guarantees the truth of the second and the falsity of the sentence guarantees the falsity of the other. Researches conducted on sense relations in Tiv focus on lexical sense relations neglecting truth-conditional sense relations: presupposition and entailment. The paper sets to analyse presupposition and entailment as truth conditional sense relations in Tiv. The basic objectives are: (i) to analyse presupposition as a truth-conditional sense relation in Tiv, and (2) to examine what certain statements or utterances entail. Data for the study were sourced from the speakers of Tiv in different gatherings. This was done through observation of the speakers’ speeches without them being aware that they were been observed.  Notes were taken on statements or utterances found to be significant to this research. Some sentences were picked from texts written in Tiv. The paper found out that both presupposition and entailment are evident in Tiv language. In the Tiv language, both presupposition and entailment express the truth conditional value of sentences. The analysis proves that truth-conditional theory is suitable in analysing presupposition and entailment in the Tiv language. The paper concludes that the knowledge of presupposition and entailment is necessary in mastering and using the Tiv language, interpreting and understanding utterances used by the speakers and writers in the Tiv language.