• Search Research Projects
  • Search Researchers
  • How to Use
  1. Back to previous page

A psycholinguistic study concerning the interpretation of quantified expressions--generative grammar theory and language acquisition

Research Project

Project/Area Number 16520269
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field Linguistics
Research InstitutionFukuoka University

Principal Investigator

ITO Masuyo  Fukuoka University, Faculty of Humanities, Associate Professor, 人文学部, 助教授 (10289514)

Project Period (FY) 2004 – 2006
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2006)
Budget Amount *help
¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥700,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000)
Keywordsquantified expressions / VP-ellipsis / the focus particle 'even' / universal quantifiers / pragmatic knowledge / Scalar Implicature / language acquisition / bound variable interpretation / Scalar Implicatures / 「さえ」 / 含意 / さえ〜 / 日本語 / 「さえ〜」 / felicity condition / 前提 / 「も」
Research Abstract

1. Ito 2005 examined how Japanese-speaking children interpret sentences containing sae 'even' in terms of its scope and implicatures (existential and scalar) by conducting experiments, and reported that: 1) Japanese children are unable to judge as infelicitous sentences that are infelicitous with context, a finding in partial agreement with Noveck 2001, and 2) Japanese children are insensitive to syntactic restrictions on the scope of sae, as shown by their incorrectly judging as felicitous a sentence infelicitous in context because sae was attached to an incorrect NP. The study, however, states that the first result renders the second inconclusive. This paper also considers three plausible explanations for the children's non-adult performance: the peculiar properties of sae, the children's lack of pragmatic knowledge, and processing cost. However, none of the evidence supports any one specific explanation.
My paper (to appear) extends the scope of my 2005 study in two ways: it adopts t … More he experimental technique developed by Chierchia et al. 2001 and it tests their Processing Limitation hypothesis. The results reveal that the children's performance, although it shows that they are somewhat sensitive to pragmatic felicity associated with sae and the scope of sae as well, was nevertheless only slightly above chance level. This shows that the comparison and evaluation of information strength can be a problem in a task which does not impose processing demands on children.
2. Ito 2006 investigated how Japanese-speaking children interpret bare NP arguments and NP arguments modified by the anaphor zibun in soo-su VP-ellipsis structures. Specifically examined is that whether or not they can access bound variable interpretations of null (determiner) pronouns and zibun when both have referential and quantificational NP antecedents. The results showed that it is difficult for Japanese children to associate the phonologically overt anaphoric element with quantificational antecedents as a bound variable. Less

Report

(4 results)
  • 2006 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report Summary
  • 2005 Annual Research Report
  • 2004 Annual Research Report
  • Research Products

    (6 results)

All 2006 2005

All Journal Article (6 results)

  • [Journal Article] 日本語児による束縛変更の解釈 : 動詞句削除文の点から2006

    • Author(s)
      伊藤 益代
    • Journal Title

      日本言語学会第133回大会予稿集 133号

      Pages: 152-157

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] The bound variable interpretation in child Japanese : VP-ellipsis structures2006

    • Author(s)
      Ito, Masuyo.
    • Journal Title

      The Proceedings of the 133rd Conference of the Linguistic Society of Japan 133

      Pages: 152-157

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] 日本語児による束縛変項の解釈 : 動詞句削除文の点から2006

    • Author(s)
      伊藤 益代
    • Journal Title

      日本言語学会第133回大会予稿集 133号

      Pages: 152-157

    • Related Report
      2006 Annual Research Report
  • [Journal Article] 取りたて詞「さえ」の習得について : 「前提」の解釈の点から2005

    • Author(s)
      伊藤 益代
    • Journal Title

      日本言語学会第131回大会予稿集 131号

      Pages: 34-39

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] The interpretation of the focus particle sae in Japanese : Children's (in) sensitivity to implicatures2005

    • Author(s)
      Ito, Masuyo.
    • Journal Title

      The Proceedings of the 131st Conference of the Linguistic Society of Japan 131

      Pages: 34-39

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2006 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] 取りたて詞「さえ」の習得について:「前提」の解釈の点から2005

    • Author(s)
      伊藤益代
    • Journal Title

      日本言語学会第131回大会予稿集

      Pages: 34-39

    • Related Report
      2005 Annual Research Report

URL: 

Published: 2004-04-01   Modified: 2016-04-21  

Information User Guide FAQ News Terms of Use Attribution of KAKENHI

Powered by NII kakenhi