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Resolving uncertainty in plural predication.

Gregory Scontras1, Noah D Goodman2

  • 1University of California, Irvine, United States.

Cognition
|July 31, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Context helps understand ambiguous plural sentences. Stubbornly distributive predicates are not a distinct class but are rare due to unpredictable collective meanings, suggesting a pragmatic explanation for language interpretation.

Keywords:
Ambiguity resolutionDistributive vs. collective interpretationsPluralityRational Speech Act models

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Area of Science:

  • Linguistics
  • Cognitive Science
  • Computational Linguistics

Background:

  • Plural predications in language often present ambiguity, allowing for both distributive (individual) and collective (group) interpretations.
  • The phenomenon of "stubborn distributivity" suggests certain predicates inherently resist collective interpretations, a claim this study investigates.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of context in disambiguating plural predications.
  • To examine the existence and nature of "stubbornly distributive" predicates.
  • To propose a pragmatic account for the interpretation of ambiguous plural sentences.

Main Methods:

  • Validated a novel methodology for measuring interpretations of plural predications.
  • Analyzed naturally occurring plural predications from linguistic corpora.
  • Conducted experiments exploring the influence of property predictability and speaker knowledgeability on disambiguation.

Main Results:

  • Context significantly influences the disambiguation of plural predications.
  • Found no evidence supporting a distinct class of predicates that inherently resist collective interpretations.
  • Property predictability and speaker knowledgeability were identified as key contextual factors affecting interpretation.

Conclusions:

  • The interpretation of plural predications is primarily governed by pragmatic factors and context.
  • "Stubborn distributivity" arises from the contextual unpredictability of collective properties, not inherent semantic restrictions.
  • A pragmatic, context-driven account, formalized within the Bayesian Rational Speech Act framework, explains utterance disambiguation.