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Paper Abstract and Keywords
Presentation 2013-08-03 15:35
[Poster Presentation] The Interpretation of Scalar Implicature -- The Acquisition of even --
Soyoung Kim (Pukyong National Univ.) TL2013-28
Abstract (in Japanese) (See Japanese page) 
(in English) In contrast to the bulk of developmental research on only (Crain et al., 1994; Drozd, 2001; Matsuoka et al., 2006; Paterson et al., 2003), to my knowledge, no study has been conducted to date on children¨s understanding of the semantic function of even. Unlike only, which simply evokes a contrast set, the introduction of even into a sentence causes speakers and addressees to construct a mental model in which alternative sets are ordered on a scale of likelihood or expectation in relation to the described event (König, 1991; Karttunen & Peters, 1979; Rooth, 1985). However, despite the active discussion on the pragmatic feature of even from theoretical perspectives, there has been no experimental investigation into children¨s sensitivity to scalar implicature in sentences with even such as Even Larry reached the cookie. The referent associated with the particle (e.g., Larry) is the least likely one to be able to carry out the action denoted by the sentence (e.g., reach the cookie) on the likelihood/expectation scale. In contrast, negation of the sentence reverses the scalar implicature, so the same referent is the most likely one to be able to carry out the action. This study aims to investigate how English-speaking children aged from 4 to 5 derive scalar implicature of even.
To examine children¨s calculation of implicature, a guessing task was created. Participants were asked to listen to a prerecorded story while viewing a series of pictures presented as Microsoft Office PowerPoint slides on a computer screen. At the end of the story, a certain character that had appeared in the story made a statement containing even. The children were asked to guess who the referent denoted by the even phrase was, choosing only one out of several characters depicted in the story. The results suggest that, unlike adults, preschoolers are unaware of the scalar implicature that the focus particle even induces. A general picture emerged of two child groups with different capabilities for computing scalar implicature. The first group consistently failed for both sentence types with even; the second group consistently succeeded for both sentence types with even. Children are able to compute a contrastive set for only without difficulty (Paterson et al., 2003) whereas they failed to compute a scalar implicature of even. This indicates that children have a different capacity to use discourse information to reach the intended interpretation of two focus particles. Based on these findings, I conclude that children aged 4 to 5 travel a different developmental path in acquiring only and even.

Crain, S., Ni, W.J., & Conway, L. (1994). Learning, parsing and modularity. In Perspectives on sentence processing, ed. by C. Clifton, L. Frazier, and K. Rayner, 443–67. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Drozd, K. F., & van Loosbroek, E. (1998). Dutch children¨s interpretation of focus particle constructions. Poster presented at the 23rd Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development.
Horn, L. (1969). A Presuppositional Analysis of Only and Even. In R. Binnick, et al. (ed.), Papers from the Fifth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistics Society. Chicago Linguistic Society, 97–108.
Karttunen, L., & Peters, S. (1979). Conventional Implicature. Syntax and Semantics 11, 1–56. Presupposition. New York. Academic Press.
Kay, P. (1990). Even. Linguistics and Philosophy 13, 59–111.
König, E. (1991). The Meaning of Focus Particles. Routledge, London.
Matsuoka, K., Miyoshi, N., Hoshi, K., Ueda, M., Yabu, I., & Hirata, M. (2006). The acquisition of Japanese focus particles: Dake (only) and mo (also). In D. Bamman, T. Magnitskaia & C. Zaller (eds.), Proceedings of the 30th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development Supplement. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Paterson, K. B., Liversedge, S. P., Rowland, C., & Filik, R. (2003). Children¨s comprehension of sentences with focus particles. Cognition 89, 263–294.
Keyword (in Japanese) (See Japanese page) 
(in English) scalar implicature / language acquisition / focus particle / / / / /  
Reference Info. IEICE Tech. Rep., vol. 113, no. 174, TL2013-28, pp. 81-86, Aug. 2013.
Paper # TL2013-28 
Date of Issue 2013-07-27 (TL) 
ISSN Print edition: ISSN 0913-5685    Online edition: ISSN 2432-6380
Copyright
and
reproduction		 All rights are reserved and no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Notwithstanding, instructors are permitted to photocopy isolated articles for noncommercial classroom use without fee. (License No.: 10GA0019/12GB0052/13GB0056/17GB0034/18GB0034)
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Conference Information
Committee TL  
Conference Date 2013-08-03 - 2013-08-04 
Place (in Japanese) (See Japanese page) 
Place (in English) Kwansei Gakuin University, Osaka Umeda Campus 
Topics (in Japanese) (See Japanese page) 
Topics (in English) Language Processing and Learning 
Paper Information
Registration To TL 
Conference Code 2013-08-TL 
Language English 
Title (in Japanese) (See Japanese page) 
Sub Title (in Japanese) (See Japanese page) 
Title (in English) The Interpretation of Scalar Implicature 
Sub Title (in English) The Acquisition of even 
Keyword(1) scalar implicature  
Keyword(2) language acquisition  
Keyword(3) focus particle  
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1st Author's Name Soyoung Kim  
1st Author's Affiliation Pukyong National University (Pukyong National Univ.)
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Speaker Author-1 
Date Time 2013-08-03 15:35:00 
Presentation Time 115 minutes 
Registration for TL 
Paper # TL2013-28 
Volume (vol) vol.113 
Number (no) no.174 
Page pp.81-86 
#Pages 6 
Date of Issue 2013-07-27 (TL) 

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