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The Trouble With Quantifiers: Exploring Children's Deficits in Scalar Implicature.
Alexandra C Horowitz1, Rose M Schneider2, Michael C Frank1
1Stanford University.
Child Development
|December 30, 2017
Summary
Four- to five-year-olds understand context-based meanings (ad hoc implicatures) but struggle with logical meanings (scalar implicatures). Quantifier knowledge, not general processing, impacts understanding of scalar implicatures in children.
Area of Science:
- Psycholinguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Adults often infer meanings beyond literal words using context (scalar implicatures).
- Children's ability to grasp these nuanced meanings develops over time.
- Understanding implicatures is crucial for effective communication.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate 4- to 5-year-olds' comprehension of scalar versus ad hoc implicatures.
- To explore the relationship between quantifier knowledge and implicature understanding.
- To identify factors contributing to difficulties with scalar implicatures in young children.
Main Methods:
- Compared children's understanding of scalar implicatures (e.g., 'some') with ad hoc implicatures derived from context.
- Conducted experiments with 209 children aged 4–5 years.
- Utilized correlational analyses and control studies to examine individual differences and rule out alternative explanations.
Main Results:
- Children reliably computed ad hoc implicatures but not scalar implicatures.
- Performance on 'some' and 'none' implicatures was unexpectedly correlated.
- Quantifier knowledge significantly correlated with success in computing scalar implicatures.
Conclusions:
- Failures in scalar implicature comprehension in young children may stem from insufficient semantic knowledge of quantifiers.
- This contrasts with the assumption that pragmatic or processing limitations are the primary cause.
- Findings highlight the importance of foundational semantic knowledge for developing pragmatic abilities.