Journal Article10.1093/JOS/FFY012
Reasoning with ‘Some’
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TL;DR: This paper investigates how it is possible that these two superficially similar studies provide such diverging sets of results and shows that subtle features of the displays in these studies affect the frequency of embedded upper-bounded construals.
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Abstract: There has been substantial debate about the question of whether ‘some’ is normally interpreted as ‘some but not all’ when it is embedded under a quantifying expression. Experiments using a sentence-picture verification paradigm have been equivocal: while Geurts & Pouscoulous (2009) report that embedded upper-bounded construals of ‘some’ are almost non-existent, Potts et al. (2016) observed substantial rates of upper-bounded construals in at least some embedding environments. In this paper, we investigate how it is possible that these two superficially similar studies provide such diverging sets of results. We show that subtle features of the displays influence the frequency of embedded upper-bounded construals. We discuss the consequences of these findings for theories of upper-bounded construals and for experimental research in pragmatics in general.
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Citations
Scalar implicatures with discourse referents: a case study on plurality inferences
TL;DR: The authors propose a formal theory of scalar implicatures with discourse referents couched in dynamic semantics, and demonstrate its usefulness through a case study on the plurality inferences of plural nouns in English.
Distributive ignorance inferences with wonder and believe
TL;DR: This paper examined the distributive ignorance inferences triggered by two verbs, wonder and believe, with different types of complements and different type of quantificational subjects, and argued that the data are best explained by an account that involves a strengthening mechanism which is sensitive to the syntactic structure of the complement of the verbs involved and optionally applies locally, as part of the semantic composition process.
Embedded implicature: what can be left unsaid?
Anton Benz,Nicole Gotzner +1 more
TL;DR: The study shows that embedded and unembedded implicatures are reliably communicated by some and proposes two cognitive principles that describe what can be left unsaid, which are more efficient than a strategy based on literal descriptions.
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