L2 tolerance of pragmatic violations of informativeness
Evidence from ad hoc implicatures and contrastive inference
This study sets out to investigate second language (L2) speakers’ derivation of pragmatic inferences and tolerance
of violations of informativeness in two types of inferences, i.e., ad hoc implicatures and contrastive inference. The results of a
graded judgment task revealed that pragmatic tolerance is inference-specific: L2 speakers were overly tolerant of underinformative
statements in ad hoc implicatures than in contrastive inference. In addition, L2 speakers were found to be more relaxed with
overinformativeness than underinformativeness in contrastive inference. The fact that L2 speakers tend to be redundant
(overinformative) than ambiguous (underinformative) is further discussed with the Pragmatic Principles Violation Hypothesis (Lozano, 2016). This study hopes to contribute to a more find-grained understanding of L2
speakers’ abilities of deriving pragmatic inferences.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Native speakers’ processing of ad hoc implicatures and contrastive inference
- 3.L2 acquisition of implicatures and referential expressions
- 4.The present study
- 4.1Research questions
- 4.2Test design and materials
- 4.3Participants and procedures
- 4.4Data analysis
- 5.Results
- 6.Discussion
- 7.Conclusion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
-
References
References
Alonso-Ovalle, L., Fernandez-Solera, S., Frazier, L., & Clifton, C.
(
2002)
Null vs. overt pronouns and the topic-focus articulation in Spanish.
Journal of Italian Linguistics,
14
(2), 151–169.
Antoniou, K., & Katsos, N.
(
2017)
The effect of childhood multilingualism and bilectalism on implicature understand.
Applied Psycholinguistics,
38
1, 787–833.
Antoniou, K., Veenstra, A., Kissine, M., & Katsos, N.
(
2019)
How does childhood bilingualism and bi-dialectalism affect the interpretation and processing of pragmatic meanings? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition,
23
(1), 186–203.
Arts, A.
(
2004)
Overspecification in instructive texts. Doctoral dissertation, Tillburg University.
Barner, D., Brooks, N., & Bale, A.
(
2011)
Accessing the unsaid: the role of scalar alternatives in children’s pragmatic inference.
Cognition,
118
(1), 84–93.
Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J., & Clubley, E.
(
2001)
The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ): evidence from Asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians.
Journal of Autism Development Disorder,
31
1, 5–17.
Barr, D., Levy, R., Scheepers, C., & Tily, H.
(
2013)
Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal.
Journal of Memory and Language, 681, 255–278.
Bel, A., & Garcia-Alcaraz, E.
Bel, A., Sagarra, N., Cominguez, J. P., & Garcia-Alcaraz, E.
(
2016)
Transfer and proficiency effects in L2 processing of subject anaphora.
Lingua,
184
1, 134–159.
Belke, E.
(
2006)
Visual determinants of preferred adjective order.
Visual Cognition,
14
1, 261–294.
Bott, L., Bailey, T. M., & Grodner, D.
(
2012)
Distinguishing speed from accuracy in scalar implicatures.
Journal of Memory and Language,
66
1, 123–142.
Bott, L. & Noveck, I. A.
(
2004)
Some utterances are underinformative: The onset and time course o scalar inferences.
Journal of Memory and Language,
51
1, 437–457.
Breheny, R., Ferguson, H. J., & Katsos, N.
(
2013)
Investigating the timecourse of accessing conversational implicatures during incremental sentence interpretation.
Language and Cognitive Processes,
28
(4), 443–467.
Breheny, R., Katsos, N., & Williams, J. N.
(
2006)
Are generalised scalar implicatures generated by default? An on-line investigation into the role of context in generating pragmatic inferences.
Cognition,
100
(3), 434–463.
Chierchia, G.
(
2006)
Broaden your views: Implicatures of domain widening and the “logicality” of language.
Linguistic Inquiry,
37
1, 535–90.
Chierchia, G., Fox, D., & Spector, B.
(
2012)
Scalar implicature as a grammatical phenomenon. In
P. Portner,
C. Maienborn, &
K. von Heusinger (Eds.),
Semantics: An international handbook of natural language meaning (pp. 2297–2331). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Christensen, R. H. B.
(
2019)
Ordinal: Regression Models for Ordinal Data.
R package version 2019, 12–10.
Clements, M., & Domínguez, L.
Contemori, C., & Dussias, P. E.
(
2016)
Referential choice in a second language: Evidence for a listener-oriented approach.
Language, Cognition and Neuroscience,
31
(10), 1257–1272.
Crosthwaite, P.
(
2014)
Definite discourse-new reference in L1 and L2: A study of bridging in Mandarin, Korean, and English.
Language Learning,
64
(3), 456–492.
Cunnings, I., Fotiadou, G., & Tsimpli, I. M.
(
2017)
Anaphora resolution and reanalysis during L2 sentence processing: Evidence from the visual world paradigm.
Studies in Second Language Acquisition,
39
1, 621–652.
Davies, C., & Katsos, N.
(
2010)
Over-informative children: Production/comprehension asymmetry or tolerance to pragmatic violations? Lingua,
120
1, 1956–1972.
Degen, J., & Tanenhaus, M. K.
(
2011)
Making inference: The case of scalar implicature processing. In
L. A. Carlson,
C. Holscher &
T. F. Shipley (Eds.),
Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 3299–3304.
Degen, J., & Tanenhaus, M. K.
(
2015)
Processing scalar implicature: A constraint-based approach.
Cognitive science,
39
(4), 667–710.
Donaldson, B.
(
2012)
Syntax and discourse in near-native French: clefts and focus.
Language Learning
62
1, 902–930.
Ekiert, M.
(
2010)
Linguistic effects on thinking for writing: The case of articles in L2 English. In
Z. Han &
T. Cadierno (Eds.),
Linguistic relativity in SLA: Thinking for speaking (pp. 125–153). Multilingual Matters.
Engelhardt, P. E., Bailey, K. G. D., & Ferreira, F.
(
2006)
Do speakers and listeners observe the Gricean maxim of quantity? Journal of Memory and Language,
54
1, 554–573.
Engelhardt, P. E., Demiral, S. B., & Ferreira, F.
(
2011)
Over-specified referring expressions impair comprehension: An ERP study.
Brain and Cognition,
77
1, 304–314.
Feeney, A., Scrafton, S., Duckworth, A., & Handley, S. J.
(
2004)
The story of some: Everyday pragmatic inference by children and adults.
Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology,
58
(2), 121–132.
Feng, S.
under review).
L2 speakers’ tolerance of pragmatic violations in interpreting scalar implicatures.
Foppolo, F., Mazzaggio, G., Panzeri, F., & Surian, L.
(
2020)
Scalar and ad hoc pragmatic inferences in children: guess which one is easier.
Journal of Child Language,
48
(2), 350–372.
Grice, P.
(
1975)
Logic and conversation. In:
Davidson, D. and
Harman, G. (Eds.),
The logic of grammar (pp. 64–75). Encino, CA: Dickenson.
Grice, P.
(
1989)
Studies in the way of words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Guasti, M. T., Chierchia, G., Crain, S., Foppolo, F., Gualmini, A., & Meroni, L.
(
2005)
Why children and adults sometimes (but not always) compute implicatures.
Language and Cognitive Processes,
20
1, 667–696.
Horn, L.
(
1972)
On the semantic properties of logical operators in English. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Bloomington, USA.
Horowitz, A. C., Schneider, R. M., & Frank, M. C.
(
2018)
The trouble with quantifiers: Exploring children’s deficits in scalar implicature.
Children Development,
89
(6), e572–e593.
Huang, C. -T James
(
1987)
Existential sentences in Chinese and (in)definiteness. In
E. Reuland (Ed.),
Between syntax and semantics (pp. 63–85). Taylor & Francis.
Huang, Y. T., & Snedeker, J.
(
2009)
Online interpretation of scalar quantifiers: Insight into the semantics–pragmatics interface.
Cognitive Psychology,
58
1, 376–415.
Jegerski, J., Van Patten, B., & Keating, G. D.
(
2011)
Cross-linguistic variation and the acquisition of pronominal reference in L2 Spanish.
Second Language Research,
27
(4), 481–507.
Katsos, N., & Bishop, D. V. M.
(
2011)
Pragmatic tolerance: Implications for the acquisition of informativeness and implicature.
Cognition,
120
(1), 67–81.
Kronmuller, E., Morisseau, T., & Noveck, I.
(
2014)
Show me the pragmatic contribution: A developmental investigation of contrastive inference.
Journal of Child Language,
41
1, 985–1014.
Levinson, S.
(
2000)
Presumptive Meanings. MIT Press.
Liddell, T. M., & Kruschke, J. K.
(
2018)
Analyzing ordinal data with metric models: What could possibly go wrong? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology,
79
1, 328–348.
Lozano, C.
(
2016)
Pragmatic principles in anaphora resolution at the syntax-discourse interface: Advanced English learners of Spanish in the CEDEL2 corpus. In
M. Alonso-Ramos (Ed.),
Studies in corpus linguistics (Vol. 781, pp. 235–265). John Benjamins.
Lozano, C.
(
2018)
The development of anaphora resolution at the syntax-discourse interface: Pronominal subjects in Greek learners of Spanish.
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research,
47
(2), 411–430.
Maes, A., Arts, A., & Noordman, L.
(
2004)
Reference management in instructive discourse.
Discourse Processes,
37
1, 117–144.
Miller, D., Giancaspro, D., Iverson, M., Rothman, J., & Slabakova, R.
Mitkovska, L., & Bužarovska, E.
(
2018)
Subject pronoun (non)realization in the English learner language of Macedonian speakers.
Second Language Research,
34
1, 463–485.
National College English Syllabus for Non-English Majors
(
1999)
Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Nieuwland, M. S., Ditman, T., & Kuperberg, G. R.
(
2010)
On the incrementality of pragmatic processing: An ERP investigation of informativeness and pragmatic abilities.
Journal of Memory and Language,
63
1, 324–346.
Noveck, I. A.
(
2001)
When children are more logical than adults: Experimental investigations of scalar implicatures.
Cognition,
78
1, 165–188.
Noveck, I. A., & Posada, A.
(
2003)
Characterizing the time course of an implicature: An evoked potentials study.
Brain and Language,
85
(2), 203–210.
Papafragou, A., & Musolino, J.
(
2003)
Scalar implicatures: Experiments at the semantics–pragmatics interface.
Cognition,
86
1, 253–282.
Paul, W., Lu, Y., & Lee, T. H.
(
2019)
Existential and locative constructions in mandarin Chinese.
Linguistic Review,
37
(2), 231–267.
Pechman, T.
(
1989)
Incremental speech production and referential overspecification.
Linguistics,
27
1, 89–110.
Quesada, T., & Lozano, C.
(
2020)
Which factors determine the choice of referential expressions in L2 English discourse? New evidence from the COREFL corpus.
Studies in Second Language Acquisition,
42
(5), 959–986.
R Core Team
(
2018)
R: A language and environment for statistical computing.
R Foundation for Statistical Computing.
Rothman, J.
(
2009)
Pragmatic deficits with syntactic consequences?: L2 pronominal subjects and the syntax-pragmatics interface.
Journal of Pragmatics,
41
1, 951–973.
Ryan, J.
(
2015)
Overexplicit referent tracking in L2 English: Strategy, avoidance, or myth? Language Learning,
65
(4), 824–859.
Sedivy, J. C.
(
2007)
Implicature during real time conversation: A view from language processing research.
Philosophy Compass,
2
1, 475–496.
Sedivy, J. C., Tanenhaus, M. K., Chambers, C. G., & Carlson, G. N.
(
1999)
Achieving incremental semantic interpretation through contextual representation.
Cognition,
70
1, 19–47.
Skordos, D., & Papafragou, A.
(
2016)
Children’s derivation of scalar implicatures: Alternatives and relevance.
Cognition,
153
1, 6–18.
Slabakova, R.
(
2010)
Scalar implicatures in second language acquisition.
Lingua,
120
1, 2444–2462.
Sonnenschein, S.
(
1982)
The effects of redundant communications on listeners: When more is less.
Child Development,
53
(3), 717–729.
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D.
(
1986/1995)
Relevance: Communication and cognition (2nd ed.) Harvard University Press.
Stiller, A., Goodman, N. D., & Frank, M. C.
(
2015)
Ad-hoc implicature in preschool children.
Language Learning and Development,
11
1, 176–190.
Su, Y. E.
(
2013)
Scalar implicatures and downward entailment in child mandarin.
Journal of East Asian Linguistics,
22
(2), 167–187.
Tieu, L., Romoli, J., Zhou, P., & Crain, S.
(
2016)
Children’s knowledge of free choice inferences and scalar implicatures.
Journal of Semantics,
33
(2), 269–298.
Veenstra, A., Hollebrandse, B., & Katsos, N.
Wilson, E., & Katsos, N.
(
2021)
Pragmatic, linguistic and cognitive factors in young children’s development of quantity, relevance and word learning inferences.
Journal of Child Language, 1–28.
Yang, X., Minai, U., & Fiorentino, R.
(
2018)
Context-sensitivity and individual differences in the derivation of scalar implicature.
Frontiers in Psychology,
9
1,
Article 1720.
Yoon, E. J., & Frank, M. C.
(
2019)
The role of salience in young children’s processing of ad hoc implicatures.
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,
186
1, 99–116.
Yuan, B.
(
1995)
Acquisition of base-generated topics by English-speaking learners of Chinese.
Language Learning,
45
(4), 567–603.
Cited by
Cited by 2 other publications
Lozano, Cristóbal & Teresa Quesada
2023.
What corpus data reveal about the Position of Antecedent Strategy: anaphora resolution in Spanish monolinguals and L1 English-L2 Spanish bilinguals.
Frontiers in Psychology 14
Lunn, Andrew & Andrea Manfrin
2023.
Impact of reduced idea density on pharmacy students' attainment in pharmaceutical calculations: A study protocol for a single-blind multicentre randomised controlled trial.
International Journal of Educational Research 117
► pp. 102108 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 18 february 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.