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Related Experiment Videos

Taking on semantic commitments, II: Collective versus distributive readings.

L Frazier1, J M Pacht, K Rayner

  • 1Department of Linguistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003, USA.

Cognition
|April 8, 1999
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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The Minimal Semantic Commitment (MSC) hypothesis suggests processors commit to interpretations early. This study shows semantic commitment occurs even with ambiguous distributivity, favoring collective readings initially.

Area of Science:

  • Psycholinguistics
  • Cognitive Science
  • Linguistics

Background:

  • The Minimal Semantic Commitment (MSC) hypothesis guides interpretation processing.
  • Research explores when mental representations are vague, determinate, or ambiguous.
  • MSC predicts commitment to one interpretation for ambiguous input (grammatical ambiguity) or delayed commitment for underspecified input (vagueness).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the MSC hypothesis regarding the representation of distributivity.
  • To investigate whether the processor treats the distributive/collective distinction as ambiguity or vagueness.
  • To determine when semantic commitment occurs in sentence processing.

Main Methods:

  • An eye-tracking experiment was conducted.
  • Participants read sentences with distributive or collective predicates.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Sentences varied in disambiguation timing: early (adverb preceding predicate) or late (adverb at end of predicate).

    • Main Results:

    • A significant interaction between ambiguity and distributivity was found in reading times (first pass, total) and regressions.
    • This interaction suggests a semantic commitment is made during locally indeterminate cases.
    • Findings indicate the processor commits to a collective reading before disambiguation in late-disambiguation sentences.

    Conclusions:

    • The distributive/collective distinction is treated as ambiguity, not vagueness.
    • The processor commits to a collective interpretation by default in the absence of distributive evidence.
    • Results support the MSC hypothesis and inform theories on the representation of distributivity in language processing.