Priming implicatures in young children

Alice Rees, Ellie Carter, L. Bott

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Children struggle to derive scalar implicatures. Initially this was thought to relate to a lack of cognitive resources required for the computation. More recently however, there has been a shift towards the alternatives(what a speaker could have said but did not). The argument isthat children struggle to make the scalar implicature associated with somebecause they are unawareofits relationship withthe stronger alternative all. We present a priming study that investigates this. We show that children’s implicatures can be primed equally by alternatives in quantifier and ad hoc expressions. This suggests that children are aware of the scalar relationship between someand all, even if they choose not to derive the implicature.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
Subtitle of host publicationComparative Cognition: Animal Minds
PublisherCognitive Science Society
Pages2142-2148
Volume43
ISBN (Print)9781713835257
Publication statusPublished - 2021
Event43rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Comparative Cognition: Animal Minds, CogSci 2021 - Virtual, Online, Austria
Duration: 26 Jul 202129 Jul 2021

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society
PublishereScholarship Publishing
ISSN (Electronic)1069-7977

Conference

Conference43rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society: Comparative Cognition: Animal Minds, CogSci 2021
Country/TerritoryAustria
CityVirtual, Online
Period26/07/2129/07/21

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • structural priming
  • scalar implicature
  • alternatives
  • child language

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Priming implicatures in young children'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this