Donkey pronouns in child Mandarin: Insights into the ∃/∀ dichotomy

Donkey pronouns and plural definites show similarities in exhibiting the existential/universal dichotomy with respect to monotonicity, discourse contexts and lexical semantics of the predicate with which they are combined. The parallel between the two elements suggests a unified analysis. Studies of children’s understanding of plural definites show that children initially interpret plural definites existentially rather than universally. The findings invite us to ask whether children also interpret donkey pronouns existentially. Two experiments were conducted to compare children’ and adults’ interpretation of donkey pronouns in conditional and relative-clause donkey sentences. The results of Experiment 1 show that children preferred the existential reading, whereas adults entertained the universal reading for both types of donkey sentences in upward-entailing contexts. Experiment 2 examined whether monotonicity influences the interpretation of donkey pronouns by creating a downward-entailing context. The findings were that in a downward-entailing context both children and adults preferred the existential reading. The findings led us to propose that the existential reading is perhaps the default semantics of donkey pronouns while the universal reading is derived, and we suggest that the derivational path is bridged by free choice strengthening. The findings were then discussed in relation to the unified analysis of plural definites by Magri (2014) and Bar-Lev (2018).

The Diverse Landscape of Negative Polarity Items: On the Use of German NPIs as Experimental Diagnostics

The goal of this study is to provide better empirical insight into the licensing conditions of a large set of NPIs in German so that they can be used as reliable diagnostics in future research on negation-related phenomena. Experiment 1 tests the acceptability of 60 NPIs under semantic operators that are expected to license superstrong, strong, weak, and nonveridicality-licensed NPIs, respectively: antimorphic (not), anti-additive (no), downward entailing (hardly), nonveridical (maybe, question). Controls were positive assertions. Cluster analysis revealed seven clusters of NPIs, some of which confirm the licensing categorization from the literature (superstrong and weak NPIs). Other clusters show unclear patterns (overall high or medium ratings) and require further scrutiny in future research. One cluster showed high acceptability ratings only with the antimorphic and the question operator. Experiment 2 tested whether the source of this unexpected distribution was a rhetorical interpretation of the questions. Results suggest that rhetoricity was not the sole source. Overall, the results show gradual rather than categorical differences in acceptability, with higher acceptability corresponding to stronger negativity. The paper provides the detailed results for the individual NPIs as a preliminary normed acceptability index.

On the syntax of the can’t seem construction in English

/The properties of the English can’t seem construction call for a syntactic resolution of the syntax-semantics mismatch it exhibits. This chapter shows the can’t seem order must be derived from a [seem to [ . . . not can VP ] ] structure. Insights into the derivation come from verb clusters in Germanic OV languages, with complex verb formation and clustering verbs like can and seem playing a central role. Together with infinitival to, dative to, and downward entailing elements, these are instrumental in creating remnant constituents, triggering pied-piping and smuggling a remnant constituent up into the structure, until each element can reach its final landing site. Restrictions fall out from the particular sequence of merge which must hold for convergence, and from the role each element must play. The English derivation in turn sheds light on a potential syntactic resolution of a syntax-phonology mismatch with “displaced” zu in German verbal clusters.

The Interpretation of Disjunction in the Scope of Dou in Child Mandarin

A recent theory provides a unified cross-linguistic analysis of the interpretations that are assigned to expressions for disjunction, Negative Polarity Items, Free Choice Items, and the non-interrogative uses of wh-phrases in languages such as Mandarin Chinese. If this approach is on the right track, children should be expected to demonstrate similar patterns in the acquisition of these linguistic expressions. Previous research has found that, by age four, children have acquired the knowledge that both the existential indefinite renhe “any” and wh-words in Mandarin Chinese are interpreted as Negative Polarity Items when they are bound by downward entailing operators, but the same expressions are interpreted as Free Choice Items (with a conjunctive interpretation) when they are bound by deontic modals (Mandarin keyi) or by the Mandarin adverbial quantifier dou “all”. The present study extends this line of research to the Mandarin disjunction word huozhe. A Truth Value Judgment Task was used to investigate the possibility that disjunction phrases that are bound by the adverbial quantifier dou generate a conjunctive interpretation in the grammars of Mandarin-speaking 4-year-old children. The findings confirmed this prediction. We discuss the implications of the findings for linguistic theory and for language learnability.

Negation and the Brain

This chapter reports an investigation into possible brain bases for negation. It begins with a review of negation experiments that used behavioral studies (measuring Reaction Time—RT), and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) experiments that sought to identify local activations that correlate with the presence of negation. The chapter dwells on a major methodological problem that permeates the experimental study of negation processing, and proposes a solution: instead of overt negation, we study expressions that contain a covert negation—expressions that are Downward Entailing (DE) as evinced by their ability to reverse inferences and license NPIs in their scope. DE operators are thus taken to contain a hidden, or covert, negation, and contrast with the Upward Entailing counterparts (few vs. many; less vs. more). The chapter reviews behavioral experiments in healthy adults that indicate that DE has a processing cost, and an fMRI study that finds a single brain location for this computation. These results serve as a basis for an experiment on individuals with Broca’s aphasia. Tests with DE and UE quantifiers with these patients resulted in a mixed picture, which is discussed and its implications are derived.

Alternating conj/disjunctions: the case of Japanese "-toka" and "-tari"

This paper investigates the interpretation of Japanese -toka and -tari, two nonexhaustiveparticles that receive conjunctive interpretations in upward-entailingenvironments, but disjunctive interpretations in downward-entailing and question contexts.We analyze -toka and -tari as items that introduce unstructured sets of alternatives in aHamblin-style alternative semantics (Hamblin, 1973; Kratzer and Shimoyama, 2002), andderive their conjunctive and disjunctive readings via an interaction between these sets and thesemantics of the environment containing them.Keywords: -toka, -tari, Japanese, alternative semantics, conjunction, disjunction

processing cost of Downward Entailingness: the representation and verification of comparative constructions

We bring experimental considerations to bear on the structure of comparatives and on ourunderstanding of how quantifiers are processed. At issue are mismatches between thestandard view of quantifier processing cost and results from speeded verification experimentswith comparative quantifiers. We build our case in several steps: 1. We show that thestandard view, which attributes processing cost to the verification process, accounts for someaspects of the data, but fails to cover the main effect of monotonicity on measured behavior.We derive a prediction of this view for comparatives, and show that it is not borne out. 2. Weconsider potential reasons – experimental and theoretical – for this theory-data mismatch. 3.We describe a new processing experiment with comparative quantifiers, designed to addressthe experimental concerns. Its results still point to the inadequacy of the standard view. 4. Wereview the semantics of comparative constructions and their potential processingimplications. 5. We revise the definition of quantifier processing cost and tie it to the numberof Downward Entailing (DE) operators at Logical Form (LF). We show how this definitionsuccessfully reconciles the theory-data mismatch. 6. The emerging picture calls for adistinction between the complexity of verified representations and the complexity of theverification process itself.Keywords: quantification, monotonicity, negation, comparative constructions, Logical Form,adjectival antonyms, decomposition, quantifier processing, speeded verification, reactiontime.

Epistemic indefinites: On the content and distribution of the epistemic component

Epistemic indefinites make an existential claim and convey that the speaker does not know which individual satisfies it. This epistemic component is absent in some environments, like the scope of downward entailing operators and the nuclear scope of a universal quantifier. This chapter discusses two types of theories of epistemic indefinites: the Conceptual Cover Approach (Aloni and Port 2013, circulated since 2010) and the Implicature Approach (Kratzer and Shimoyama 2002; Alonso-Ovalle and Menéndez-Benito 2008, 2010; Fălăuş 2009, 2014; Chierchia 2013). We assess the extent to which these theories can account for the content and the distribution of the epistemic effect of the Spanish epistemic indefinite algún. We present a number of arguments showing that neither approach can capture the whole range of data in its current formulation, and we sketch a preliminary proposal that adopts insights from both theories.