PRESUPPOSITION: A MEANING-MAKING STRATEGY IN KOFI AWOONOR'S THIS EARTH, MY BROTHER…AND COMES THE VOYAGER AT LAST

Abstract

Presupposition is a meaning-making process that makes allowance for background knowledge. It is about the information that is accommodated by the addressee as part of a non controversial background necessary for the addressors' utterance to still be sensible. This concept is found to be inherent in Kofi Awoonor's two novels which have relatively been underexplored in terms of systematic studies. This study thus, investigates how meaning-making is brought about in the texts through presuppositions. Awoonor's two novels This Earth, My Brother… and Comes the Voyager at Last were investigated to determine aspects of preposition as a meaning-making process in the texts and how meaning is construed and understood in the texts. The study adopted the pragmatic approach to prepositions from Jacob Mey's perspective. The study accentuates that presupposition, as a meaning-making process, is an integral part of meaning and the understanding of texts. Presuppositions, as shared assumptions, were identified to be held by both parties in interactive encounters that need not be explicitly spelt out but that both parties draw from to make and understand utterances. An understanding of the main tenets of presupposition is essential for the proper understanding of the study texts and meaning generally.