A Linguistic Analysis of Presupposition in Arabic

The paper looks upon the linguistic nature of presupposition in Arabic. Following Lyons (1977), Yule (1996), and Beaver (2010), Beaver (2001), among others, the researcher finds that Arabic presuppositions displays eight linguistic categories in addition to their triggers: existential, factive, counter-factive, lexical, structural, iterative, sortally restricted, and structural. This sortally devices indicate the argument structure of what is presupposed. Arabic presuppositions are lexically and structurally motivated and controlled. The speaker uses these devices to indicate to the listener what is presupposed.