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.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Antoniou, K., & Katsos, N.
(
2017)
The effect of childhood multilingualism and bilectalism on implicature understand.
Applied Psycholinguistics,
38
1, 787–833.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Belke, E.
(
2006)
Visual determinants of preferred adjective order.
Visual Cognition,
14
1, 261–294.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Bott, L., Bailey, T. M., & Grodner, D.
(
2012)
Distinguishing speed from accuracy in scalar implicatures.
Journal of Memory and Language,
66
1, 123–142.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Chierchia, G.
(
2006)
Broaden your views: Implicatures of domain widening and the “logicality” of language.
Linguistic Inquiry,
37
1, 535–90.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Christensen, R. H. B.
(
2019)
Ordinal: Regression Models for Ordinal Data.
R package version 2019, 12–10.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Davies, C., & Katsos, N.
(
2010)
Over-informative children: Production/comprehension asymmetry or tolerance to pragmatic violations? Lingua,
120
1, 1956–1972.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Degen, J., & Tanenhaus, M. K.
(
2015)
Processing scalar implicature: A constraint-based approach.
Cognitive science,
39
(4), 667–710.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Donaldson, B.
(
2012)
Syntax and discourse in near-native French: clefts and focus.
Language Learning
62
1, 902–930.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Grice, P.
(
1975)
Logic and conversation. In:
Davidson, D. and
Harman, G. (Eds.),
The logic of grammar (pp. 64–75). Encino, CA: Dickenson.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Grice, P.
(
1989)
Studies in the way of words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Huang, Y. T., & Snedeker, J.
(
2009)
Online interpretation of scalar quantifiers: Insight into the semantics–pragmatics interface.
Cognitive Psychology,
58
1, 376–415.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Katsos, N., & Bishop, D. V. M.
(
2011)
Pragmatic tolerance: Implications for the acquisition of informativeness and implicature.
Cognition,
120
(1), 67–81.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Levinson, S.
(
2000)
Presumptive Meanings. MIT Press.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Maes, A., Arts, A., & Noordman, L.
(
2004)
Reference management in instructive discourse.
Discourse Processes,
37
1, 117–144.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
National College English Syllabus for Non-English Majors
(
1999)
Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Noveck, I. A.
(
2001)
When children are more logical than adults: Experimental investigations of scalar implicatures.
Cognition,
78
1, 165–188.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Noveck, I. A., & Posada, A.
(
2003)
Characterizing the time course of an implicature: An evoked potentials study.
Brain and Language,
85
(2), 203–210.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Papafragou, A., & Musolino, J.
(
2003)
Scalar implicatures: Experiments at the semantics–pragmatics interface.
Cognition,
86
1, 253–282.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Paul, W., Lu, Y., & Lee, T. H.
(
2019)
Existential and locative constructions in mandarin Chinese.
Linguistic Review,
37
(2), 231–267.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Pechman, T.
(
1989)
Incremental speech production and referential overspecification.
Linguistics,
27
1, 89–110.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
R Core Team
(
2018)
R: A language and environment for statistical computing.
R Foundation for Statistical Computing.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Rothman, J.
(
2009)
Pragmatic deficits with syntactic consequences?: L2 pronominal subjects and the syntax-pragmatics interface.
Journal of Pragmatics,
41
1, 951–973.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Ryan, J.
(
2015)
Overexplicit referent tracking in L2 English: Strategy, avoidance, or myth? Language Learning,
65
(4), 824–859.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sedivy, J. C.
(
2007)
Implicature during real time conversation: A view from language processing research.
Philosophy Compass,
2
1, 475–496.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Skordos, D., & Papafragou, A.
(
2016)
Children’s derivation of scalar implicatures: Alternatives and relevance.
Cognition,
153
1, 6–18.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Slabakova, R.
(
2010)
Scalar implicatures in second language acquisition.
Lingua,
120
1, 2444–2462.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sonnenschein, S.
(
1982)
The effects of redundant communications on listeners: When more is less.
Child Development,
53
(3), 717–729.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Sperber, D., & Wilson, D.
(
1986/1995)
Relevance: Communication and cognition (2nd ed.) Harvard University Press.
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Stiller, A., Goodman, N. D., & Frank, M. C.
(
2015)
Ad-hoc implicature in preschool children.
Language Learning and Development,
11
1, 176–190.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Su, Y. E.
(
2013)
Scalar implicatures and downward entailment in child mandarin.
Journal of East Asian Linguistics,
22
(2), 167–187.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
Yuan, B.
(
1995)
Acquisition of base-generated topics by English-speaking learners of Chinese.
Language Learning,
45
(4), 567–603.
![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
![Google Scholar](https://benjamins.com/logos/google-scholar.svg)
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
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
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.
![DOI logo](//benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
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.