PRESUPPOSITION IN THE SPEECH OF THE FIRST STUDENT PARLIAMENTARY SESSION IN MALAYSIA

Language strategies need to be taken into account in addition to ensuring that the information presented is clear and understandable. If a speaker is successful in using a good language strategy, his or her presentation will be of interest to the audience while at the same time understanding it. This study analyzes presupposition as one of the strategies for using language in communication. The use of presupposition will focus on the speech of the First Student Parliamentary Session in Malaysia as a study material. These selected student parliamentary debate speeches will be examined and the speeches containing presupposition will be separated. The student parliamentary debate is a platform for students to express their views and discuss selected issues that have been set by program organizers, the Malaysian Representative Council (MUBARAK) and the Ministry of Higher Education. Yule s (1996) approach is used as a guide in determining and categorizing words that contain presupposition. The results show that there are four Trigger Presuppositions used in the text of the student parliamentary debate speech which is existential, functional, structural and counterfactual. However, the other two types of presupposition namely non factive and lexical are not used by the speakers at this conference. The presupposition used in parliamentary debates can provide information to the reader or listeners if they can understand the strategies outlined. This study has been able to look at the trigger presuppositions applied in speech debate and the form of language used.