Abstract
A sentence containing a numerically modified noun phrase, e.g., John has read three books for the exam, can be ambiguous; its numeral can mean ‘exactly three’ or ‘at least three’—depending on whether we talk about John’s maximal achievement or on his satisfying some relevant requirement. In the framework of Stanley and Szabó (2000), the ‘exactly n’ and ‘at least n’ readings can be related by domain restriction–domain widening . Children have been found to access the ‘at least n’ interpretation in sentence-picture matching tasks with varying success. The present study tested the assumption that children’s success depends on whether they notice the possibility of domain manipulation, which depends on how rigidly fixed the domain of quantification appears to them. We hypothesized that the more flexible, the less clearly demarcated the domain of quantification appears, the easier it will be for a preschooler to relate the ‘exactly n’ and ‘at least n’ readings. In Experiment 1, the quantifier domain was a fixed set represented on a card. In Experiment 2, it consisted of mobile disks, which facilitated the exclusion of the irrelevant elements. In Experiment 3, the quantifier domain was not clearly demarcated in space; it consisted of real objects mixed with objects of other types in a toy box. Children’s success rate was below 10% in Experiment 1, it was 36% in Experiment 2, and it raised to 87% in Experiment 3. Experiment 4 tested children’s ability to carry out domain restriction/domain widening by an interpretation task involving two seemingly contradictory statements about one and the same visual stimulus.
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Notes
- 1.
The interpretation of the pronoun is derived by the following principle of Neale (1990):
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(i)
If x is a pronoun that is anaphoric on, but not c-commanded by a non-maximal quantifier ‘[Dx:Fx]’ that occurs in an antecedent clause ‘[Dx:Fx]G(x)’, then x is interpreted as ‘[the x: FX&Gx]’.
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(i)
- 2.
The stimuli in Hungarian:
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(i)
A gyerekek célbadobást játszottak. Ha egy gyereknek van 3 találata, akkor kapjon egy cukorkát!
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(ii)
A kislányok tojást festenek Húsvétra. Ha egy kislány megfestett 4 tojást, adj neki egy katicát!
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(iii)
A gyerekek takarítják az erdőt. Ha valaki összegyűjt 2 eldobott vizespalackot, kapjon egy matricát!
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(iv)
Anyák Napja van az óvodában; az anyukák eljöttek a gyerekeikkel az ünnepélyre. Ha egy anyukának van 3 gyereke, adj neki egy csokor virágot!
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(i)
- 3.
In Hungarian:
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(i)
Ha valaki összegyűjtött 3 pirospontot, vehet egy lufit.
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(i)
- 4.
A 4th test example had to be omitted. The picture contained empty and filled glasses on a silver tray. Because of reflections on the silver and on the glasses, it turned out to be very hard to interpret visually.
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Acknowledgements
This research was carried ont in the framework of project 108951 of OTKA, the Hungarian National Scientific Research Foundation. We owe thanks to the Budapest kindergartens Betlehem, Bükköny, and Táltos. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers of our paper for their useful advice.
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É. Kiss, K., Zétényi, T. (2018). Scalar Implicature or Domain Restriction: How Children Determine the Domain of Numerical Quantifiers. In: É. Kiss, K., Zétényi, T. (eds) Linguistic and Cognitive Aspects of Quantification. Studies in Theoretical Psycholinguistics, vol 47. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91566-1_5
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