







































Asian Themes in Social Sciences Research 
ISSN: 2578-5516 

Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 18-21 
2019 

DOI: 10.33094/journal.139.2019.31.18.21 
© 2019 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

 
Accepted: 6 May 2019 | Published: 16 May 2019 

18 
© 2019 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

  

 
 
 
 
 

Presupposition in “Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus” Movie 
 
 

Anna Riana Suryanti Tambunan1* --- Fauziah Khairani Lubis2 --- Nurhayati Purba3 --- 
Martina Girsang4 --- Elita Modesta Br. Sembiring5 

 

1,2Universitas Negeri Medan, Indonesia 

 
3,4,5Universitas Methodist Indonesia 
 

 
Abstract 

This research paper used descriptive qualitative, which described the types of presuppositions 
in the movie “Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus.” The research questions of this paper were 
what types of presupposition found in the movie “Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus” were and 
the dominantly used. To analyze the data, the writer applied Yule’s theory which divided 
presupposition into six types: existential presupposition, factive presupposition, lexical 

presupposition, structural presupposition, non-factive presupposition, and counterfactual 
presupposition. The data of the research were the conversations in the movie “Barbie and the 
Magic Pegasus.” The results of this study showed that there were nine presuppositions. two 
existential presuppositions or 22, 2 %, one lexical presuppositions or 11, 1%, two structural 
presuppositions or 22, 2 %, three factive presuppositions or 33, 4 %, and one counterfactual 
presupposition or 11, 1 %. 
 
 

Keywords: Descriptive qualitative, “Barbie and the magic of Pegasus,” Movie, Presupposition, Types of presupposition, 
Yule’s Theory 
Licensed:  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.  
Funding: This study received no specific financial support. 
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. 

 
 
1. Introduction 

A presupposition is something assumed by speakers as an event before producing a speech (Yule, 2000). 
One can identify the statement as information that is understood correctly and will be connected with the 
knowledge it has. Through communication, the information conveyed by the speaker to the speech partner 
will be the initial assumption that will be obtained by the speech partner. Information in the form of a premise 
or temporary assumption is accomplished through an interaction that occurs in human life one to another 
human. 

The presupposition is in the form of a speaker's say that the speech partner can know for sure the person 
or object being discussed. The speech partner will understand or recognize something that the speaker 
communicates. Communication between speakers and speech partners can run without obstacles. 
Understanding of presuppositions by speech partners is due to the utterances that preach. Speakers stated 
speeches are presenting it. The prescribed statement is what is called presupposition. 

Presupposition chosen by researchers for research is caused first, in the process of interpreting a speech 
the speaker and the speech partner must be observant in verbalizing each utterance uttered so tha t the 
message delivered is more directed. If a presupposition is understood correctly, it will lead to the correct 
interpretation of the purpose of the conversation so that the storyline is adequately captured and intact. 
Second, presuppositions can help interpret speech between speakers and speech partners in the process of 

https://www.doi.org/10.33094/journal.139.2019.31.18.21


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© 2019 by the authors; licensee Online Academic Press, USA 

delivering information. Third, in a conversation interaction, speakers and speech partners do not only share 
information, but assumptions and expectations also appear in it as interpretations of speeches that will result. 

Yule (2000) says that a presupposition is something that the speaker assumes to be the case before making 
an utterance. Presupposition must be mutually known or considered by the speaker and the hearer so that the 
context of the statement can be understood.  Presupposition can also be found in a movie. The sample of the 
film which is going to be analyzed is “Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus” released in 2005 and directed by Greg 
Richardson. 
 

2. Theoretical Framework and Related Literature 
2.1. Presupposition 

A presupposition is something the speaker assumes to be the case before making an utterance. Speakers, 
not sentence, have a presupposition. For example “Mary’s brother bought three horses.” In producing the 
statement in the sentence, the speaker will generally be expected to have the presuppositions that a person 
called Mary exists and that she has a brother. The speaker may also hold more specific presupposition that 
Mary has only one brother and that he has a lot of money. All of these presuppositions are the speaker’s, and 
all of them can be wrong (Yule, 2000). 
Types of Presupposition 

According to Yule (2000) in the analysis of how speakers’ assumptions are typically expressed, 
presupposition has been associated with the use of a large number of words, phrases, and structures. Yule 
(2000) stated there are six types of presupposition:  

 (1) The existential presupposition, is assumed to be present either in possessive constructions (such as: 
your car presupposes (») you have a car) or in any definite noun phrase as in using expressions like: the King of 
Sweden, the cat, etc. in which the speaker presupposes the existence of the entities named.  

 (2) The factive presupposition, since some words are used in the sentences to denote facts, such as know, 
realize, regret, glad, odd and aware. For example, everybody knows that John is ill presupposes that John is 
sick.  

 (3) The non-factive presupposition, which is assumed not to be true. Verbs like a dream, imagine and 
pretend are used with the presupposition that what follows is not true. e.g., John dreamed that he was rich 
presupposes that John was not productive.  

 (4) The lexical presupposition, there are forms which may be treated as the source of lexical 
presupposition, such as manage, stop, and start. In this type, the use of one way with its asserted meaning is 
conventionally interpreted with the presupposition that another (non-asserted) meaning is understood. When 
one says that someone managed to do something, the asserted purpose is that the person succeeded in some 
way. But when one says that someone did not control, the affirmed meaning is that the person did not achieve. 
However, there is a presupposition (non-asserted) that the person tried to do that something. So, managed is 
conventionally interpreted as asserting 'succeeded' and presupposing 'tried.'  

 (5) The structural presupposition, in this case, specific sentence structures have been analyzed as 
conventionally and regularly presupposing that part of the structure is assumed to be true (Yule,2000). One 
might say that speakers can use such compositions to treat information as presupposed (supposed to be e xact) 
and hence to be accepted as valid by the listeners. For instance, the wh- forms (i.e., when, where, etc.) can be 
used in this type, as in When did John leave? It presupposes that John went.   

 (6) The counter-factual presupposition, in which what is assumed is not only true, but is the opposite of 
what is right, or contrary to facts. For example, the sentence: If you were his friend you would have helped 
him presupposes that you are not his friend. A conditional structure of this sentence presumes tha t the 
information in the if-clause is not accurate of the time of utterance. 
      

3. Method 
3.1. Research Design 

This study used a descriptive qualitative where it is designed to describe the case of the survey by words 
or sentences rather than numbers. Nazir (2003) states that the descriptive qualitative method was one used to 
make descriptive of the situation, even or accumulate the primary data. This statement means that this 
research found the pieces of evidence to prove the truth of specific theory but didn’t intend to see a new 
approach. The analysis explained the presuppositions according to Yule’s pragmatic theory.  

Qualitative research is a form of a study conducted by analyzing data obtained from the results of 
research. This research produces data, in the form of words or utterances and excerpts of sentences in the 
films Barbie and The Magic of Pegasus. Moleong (2014) states, qualitative research methods are research that 
intends to understand the phenomenon of what is experienced by the subject of studies such as behavior, 
perceptions, motivations, actions, and others. This research, in the end, produced descriptive data, in the form 
of writing, words, and sentences. 

 
3.2. Data Source 

The source of data was the movie “Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus” released in 2005 and directed by 
Greg Richardson. 



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3.3. The Instrument of Data Collection 
This study analyzed the presuppositions that used in Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus movie with all of 

their richness as carefully as possible to the form in which they were read and transcribed, and the written 
result of the research contains a quotation from the data to illustrate and substantiate the presentation. 
 
3.4. The technique of the Data Analysis 

Data collecting technique in this research applied the documentary method. The documentary technique 
is documenting all required data in this study based on its purpose, which finds the utterances which contained 
presupposition. Therefore, the researcher collected utterances data that related to six types presupposition 
based on the pragmatic theory which found on Barbie and the Magic Pegasus movie. After the data  were 
collected, they performed data reduction, whereas data which considered unimportant for the study had been 
eliminated and the researcher only focuses on information related to the study. 

 

4. Results and Discussions 
Some findings could be seen after the researchers analyzed the data. The findings were separated into kinds of  

speech function, and the research findings of the study of the type of speech function were presented in the Table 1. 
 

Table-1. Types of Pressuposition in “Barbie and The Magic of Pegasus” movie. 

No. Types of Presupposition Frequency Percentage 
1. Existential Presupoositions 2 22, 2 % 
2. Factive Presuppositions 3 33, 4 % 

3. Non-factive Presuppositions 0 0 % 
4. Lexical Presuppositions 1 11, 1 % 

5. Structural Presuppositions 2 22, 2 % 
6. Counter-factual Presuppositions 1 11, 1 % 
 Total  9 100 % 

                                             Source: “Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus” Movie.  
 

The table above shows that the total number of presuppositions are 9. The dominantly use in the movie is 
factive presuppositions (3) and then followed by existential presuppositions and structural presuppositions (2), and 
the last lexical presuppositions and counter-factual presuppositions (1) while there are no non-factive 
presuppositions that can be found in the movie.  

From percentages above, the highest proportion in the use of presuppositions is factive presuppositions (33 , 4  
%), then followed by existential presuppositions and structural presuppositions with the same percentage (22, 2 %), 
last is lexical presuppositions and counter-factual presupposition (11,1 %). Examining the form of presuppositions 
found in the Barbie and The Magic of Pegasus films the researcher uses the Yule theory which has divided the 
presuppositions based on their types into five existential, factive, non-active, lexical and structural models. 
Every utterance spoken by the characters in the films Barbie and The Magic of Pegasus contained the five 
kinds of presuppositions. Understanding of presuppositions by speech partners because of the utterances that 
preach. Speakers stated speeches are presenting it. Pre-understanding understanding involves two primary 
participants, namely speakers and speech partners. Pre-assessment is obtained from the statement conveyed by 
the speaker to the speech partner and refers to the actual report. Presuppositions can be understood through 
conversations between speakers and speech partners. It can be identified through a process of meaning 
utilizing a provisional assumption of speech that occurs by speakers and speech partners. Based on this 
description, the following pre-assessment findings are contained in the films Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus. 
Based on the result above, there are five types of presuppositions that will be explained below Table 2: 
 

Table-2. Explanation on Presuppositions found in “ Barbie and The Magic of Pergasus” Movie. 

No. Types Sentence Presupposition 

1. Existential 
I am Wenlock-your future husband 

- He is Wenlock 

- He is Anika’s future husband. 
There's  giant down the road much bigger than you. - There’s a giant 

2. Factive 
When she refused him, Wenlock turned her into a flying 
horse. 

-  turned her into a flying   
   horse. 

  I think I'll call you Shiver -  call you Shiver. 

If you need help, use this bell to call me -  this bell 
3. Counter-

factual 
If I had the Wand of Light, I could make life better for 
everyone 

- She didn’t has the Wand of Light 

4. Lexical We don't want you to wander from the castle again. - She has ever wandered from the 
castle before 

5. Structural Shiver, what do you say we go to a party? - They go to the party. 
Don't you know by know that nobody tells me what to 
so? 

- Nobody tells him 

 Source: ”Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus” Movie. 



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Some researchers have conducted studies of presupposition. The writers took two of them. The first 
research was the article by Ricco and Havid (2013) entitled “An Analysis of Presupposition Used in Novel 
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” has stated that as a kind of linguistic study, the study of 
presupposition in novel is one of interesting topic to discuss, because this topic able to make people see the 
presupposition in a different way. Usually, presupposition often found in communication between two or more 
person. And it makes the writer easier to analyze the presupposition. As an interesting topic, presupposition 
has many aspects which can be analyzed such as the types and meaning of presupposition like existential 
presupposition, factive, lexical, structural, nonfactive and counterfactual. The second study was conducted by  
Oktoma and Mardiyono (2013) entitled “The Analysis of Presupposition in the Short Stories of Silvester 
Gordius Sukur.” This study aims to find out the types of presupposition and the dominant kind of 
presupposition used in the short stories by Silvester Gordius Sukur. The result of this study is the 
predominant type is commonly used in the short stories by Silvester Gordius Sukur is existential 
presuppositions. The findings of the study are the same as what has been found in this current study.  
 

5. Conclusions 
The analyzed data of this study were utterances that were from the  movie “Barbie and the Magic of 

Pegasus,” in which consist of nine sentences those using presuppositions which selected randomly from data that 
obtained from this movie.  From data collected,  the researcher found the most dominant type of presupposition 
that used on “Barbie and the Magic Pegasus” movie is a factive presupposition, it is shown from the data that 
there are two existential presuppositions, three factive presuppositions, one counterfactual presupposition, 
1lexical presupposition, and two presuppositions for structural presupposition. 

The story of this movie is straightforward to understand and teach how struggle never lies the result. 
Annika as a stubborn girl but has a significant will, even many people against her and doesn't believe that her 
dream to save all people by the Wand of Light. 
 

References 
Moleong, L. (2014). Qualitative research methodology. Andung: PT. Teenager Rosdakarya.  
Nazir, M. (2003). Research methods. Jakarta: Ghalia Indonesia. 
Oktoma, E. & Mardiyono, S. (2013). The analysis of presupposition in the short stories of Silvester Goridus 

Sukur. English Reiew: Journal of English Education, 2(1): 73-83.  
Ricco, F. & Havid, A. (2013). An Analysis of Presupposition Used in Novel Harry Potter and the Deathly 

Hallows. Available from: http://ejournal.unp.ac.id/index.php/ell/article/view/1827/1564 .  
Yule, G. (2000). Pragmatics. Bristol: Oxford University Press. 

 

 
  
 
 

 

http://ejournal.unp.ac.id/index.php/ell/article/view/1827/1564

