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View article: <i>Kein</i> subjects are hard: Exploring German-speaking children’s behavior with negative indefinites
<i>Kein</i> subjects are hard: Exploring German-speaking children’s behavior with negative indefinites Open
In this article, we present converging results from three studies investigating children's production or comprehension of the negative indefinite kein in German. An elicited production study found that 3- to 6-year-old children and adults …
View article: Negative Concord without Agree: Insights from German, Dutch and English Child Language
Negative Concord without Agree: Insights from German, Dutch and English Child Language Open
Children acquiring a non-negative concord language like English or German have been found to consistently interpret sentences with two negative elements in a negative concord manner as conveying a single semantic negation. Corpus-based inv…
View article: As complex as they appear: Children's comprehension of conjunctive expressions in Georgian
As complex as they appear: Children's comprehension of conjunctive expressions in Georgian Open
Mitrović and Sauerland [2014, 2016] claim that, across languages, DP-conjunction decomposes into [JP [MuP [XP1 ↻] ᴍᴜ] [J’ ᴊ [MuP [XP2 ↻] ᴍᴜ]]]. The ᴊ-particle which occurs between conjuncts maps to set intersection, while the ᴍᴜ-particles …
View article: Children’s Interpretation of Sentences Containing Multiple Scalar Terms
Children’s Interpretation of Sentences Containing Multiple Scalar Terms Open
Sentences containing the scalar term “some”, such as “The pig carried some of his rocks”, are usually interpreted as conveying the scalar inference that the pig did not carry all of his rocks. Previous research has reported that when inter…
View article: 'Believe' is Strong but Subjective: Experimental Evidence from Hedging
'Believe' is Strong but Subjective: Experimental Evidence from Hedging Open
This paper contributes to the debate concerning whether the attitude verb believe has a weak or a strong semantics. According to Hawthorne et al. (2016), believe is weak and akin to the probability operator likely, typically receiving an “…
View article: Verum accent IS VERUM, but not always focus
Verum accent IS VERUM, but not always focus Open
This paper studies the occurrence of verum accent in declaratives and polar interrogatives. Verum accent exhibits two kinds of interpretational effect: (i) it requires an epistemic conflict across sentence types and (ii) it may also convey…
View article: Comprehension of the Presupposition Trigger Ye “Also” by Mandarin-Speaking Preschoolers With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders
Comprehension of the Presupposition Trigger Ye “Also” by Mandarin-Speaking Preschoolers With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders Open
Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been reported to be widely impaired in their understanding of linguistic expressions that rely on elements of the context or norms of communication. The accurate interpretation of sente…
View article: Homogeneity or implicature: An experimental investigation of free choice
Homogeneity or implicature: An experimental investigation of free choice Open
A sentence containing disjunction in the scope of a possibility modal, such as Angie is allowed to buy the boat or the car, gives rise to the FREE CHOICE inference that Angie can freely choose between the two. This inference poses a well-k…
View article: Processing Presuppositions and Implicatures: Similarities and Differences
Processing Presuppositions and Implicatures: Similarities and Differences Open
Presuppositions and scalar implicatures are traditionally considered to be distinct phenomena, but recent accounts analyze (at least some of) the former as the latter. All else being equal, this “scalar implicature approach to presuppositi…
View article: Presupposition projection from the scope of None: Universal, existential, or both?
Presupposition projection from the scope of None: Universal, existential, or both? Open
The nature of presupposition projection from the scope of quantificational expressions, particularly negative ones, continues to be both theoretically and empirically controversial. We experimentally investigate the interpretation of sente…
View article: Plurality inferences are scalar implicatures: Evidence from acquisition
Plurality inferences are scalar implicatures: Evidence from acquisition Open
This paper provides novel experimental evidence for a scalar implicature approach to the plurality inferences that are associated with English plural morphology (Emily fed giraffes -> Emily fed more than one giraffe). Using a Truth Valu…