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When being included is being excluded: a note on complement set focus and the inclusion relation.
A J Sanford1, C Williams, N Fay
1Department of Psychology, University of Glasgow, Scotland. tony@psy.gla.ac.uk
Memory & Cognition
|March 27, 2002
Summary
Negative quantifiers shift focus to the complement set, unlike positive quantifiers. This study confirms this using "including" to show pronoun reference, supporting complement set focus in negative quantifier interpretation.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Cognitive Science
- Semantics
Background:
- Negative quantifiers influence pronominal reference differently than positive quantifiers.
- Previous interpretations relied on subjective judgments of anaphoric reference.
- The focus on the complement set with negatives was not definitively proven.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the interpretation of negative quantifiers and their effect on pronoun reference.
- To objectively test the hypothesis of complement set focus using the expression 'including'.
- To provide empirical support for the role of denials in negative quantifier comprehension.
Main Methods:
- Two studies were conducted using sentence attachment patterns.
- The expression 'including' was used to circumvent subjective judgment problems.
- Participants' interpretation of sentences with negative quantifiers and 'including' was analyzed.
Main Results:
- Sentences like 'not many people enjoyed the race, including John' led to John being mapped into the set of non-enjoyers.
- Attachment patterns confirmed focus on the complement set for negative quantifiers.
- Results support the claim that complement set focus is driven by the denial aspect of negative quantifiers.
Conclusions:
- Negative quantifiers demonstrably direct focus to the complement set.
- The use of 'including' provides a robust method for studying quantifier semantics.
- Denials associated with negative quantifiers are key drivers of this interpretative phenomenon.