This study examines interpretation of scalar implicatures (SI) in the L2 Spanish of native English advanced learners. Spanish is especially interesting since, unlike English, it has two indefinite determiners, unos and algunos, which ostensibly map to English some. However, each does not allow an implicature like English some. The complexity of the Spanish system is predicted to make Spanish particularly challenging. We present data from a Video Acceptability Judgment experiment where the subset – whole set distinction is applied to algunos/unos. The videos contain sets of 4 participants, in which 0, 3 or all 4 engage in an action. Test sentences are presented after the video clips in four target conditions: (a) algunos with 4 out of 4 (4/4) video, (b) algunos with 3 out of 4 (3/4) video, (c) unos with 4/4 video and (d) unos with 3/4 video. Judgments on the 4/4 video conditions, especially the algunos condition, indicate whether implicatures are projected or not. If participants are sensitive to the idiosyncratic restrictions on algunos for implicatures, one expects to find a distinction between algunos and unos in the 4/4 condition, and between 4/4 versus 3/4 conditions with algunos. Both participant groups (native speakers and advanced L2ers) perform the experiment similarly. Both groups make the two relevant distinctions to the same degree.
Barr, D. J., Levy, R., Scheepers, C., & Tily, H. J. (2013). Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language, 68(3), 255–278.
Belletti, A., Bennati, E., & Sorace, A. (2007). Theoretical and developmental issues in the syntax of subjects: Evidence from near-native Italian. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 4, 657–689.
Breheny, R., Katsos, N., & Williams, J. (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.
Bruhn de Garavito, J., & Valenzuela, E. (2008). Eventive and stative passives in L2 acquisition: A matter of aspect. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11(3), 323–336.
Chierchia, G., & McConnell-Ginet, S. (2000). Meaning and Grammar: An Introduction to Semantics. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Chierchia, G. (2004). Scalar implicatures, polarity phenomena and the syntax/pragmatics interface. In A. Belletti (Ed.), Structures and Beyond (pp. 39–103). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Crain, S. (2012). The Emergence of Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dekydtspotter, L., & Hathorn, J., (2005). Quelque chose… de remarquable in English–French acquisition: Mandatory, informationally encapsulated computations in second language interpretation. Second Language Research, 21, 291–323.
Donaldson, B. (2012). Syntax and discourse in near-native French: Clefts and focus. Language Learning, 62, 902–930.
Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. L. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and Semantics, Vol. 3 (pp. 41–58). New York, NY: Seminar Press.
Grice, H. P. (1989). Studies in the Way of Words. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Guasti, T. M., Chierchia, G., Crain, S., Foppolo, F., Gaulmini, A., & Meroni, L. (2005). Why children and adults sometimes (but not always) compute implicatures. Language and Cognitive Processes, 20 (5), 667–696.
Gutiérrez-Rexach, J. (2001). The semantics of Spanish plural existential determiners. Probus, 13, 113–154.
Hopp, H., & Schmid, M. S. (2013). Perceived foreign accent in first language attrition and second language acquisition: The impact of age of acquisition and bilingualism. Applied Psycholinguistics, 34(2), 361–394.
Horn, L. (1972). On the Semantic Properties of the Logical Operators in English (Unpublished PhD dissertation). UCLA.
Levinson, S. (2000). Presumptive Meanings. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Lieberman, M. (2009). L2 acquisition of scalar implicatures: Interpretation at the syntax-pragmatics interface. Paper presented at Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (GASLA) 2009. University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
López Palma, E. (2007). Plural indefinite descriptions with unos and the interpretation of number. Probus, 19, 235–266.
Noveck, I. A. (2001). When children are more logical than adults: Experimental investigations of scalar implicature. Cognition, 78, 165–188.
Noveck, I., & Sperber, D. (2007). The why and how of experimental pragmatics: the case of ‘scalar inferences’. In N. Burton-Roberts (Ed.), Advances in Pragmatics (pp. 184–212). Houndmills: Palgrave.
Papafragou, A., & Musolino, J. (2003). Scalar implicatures: Experiments at the semantics–pragmatics interface. Cognition, 86(3), 253–282.
Rothman, J. (2009). Pragmatic deficits with syntactic consequences?: L2 pronominal subjects and the syntax-pragmatics interface. Journal of Pragmatics, 41, 951–973.
Rothman, J., & Iverson, M. (2010). Independent normative assessments for bi/multilingualism, where art thou. In M. Cruz-Ferreira (Ed.), Multilingual Norms (pp. 33–51.) Bern: Peter Lang.
Rothman, J., & Slabakova, R. (2011). The mind-context divide: On acquisition at the linguistic interfaces. Lingua, 121(4), 568–576.
Slabakova, R. (2010). Scalar implicatures in L2 acquisition. Lingua, 120, 2444–2462.
Slabakova, R., & Montrul, S. (2003). Genericity and aspect in L2 acquisition. Language Acquisition, 11(3), 165–196.
Slabakova, R., Kempchinsky, P., & Rothman, J. (2012). Clitic-doubled left dislocation and focus fronting in L2 Spanish: A case of successful acquisition at the syntax-discourse interface. Second Language Research, 28(3), 319–343.
2023. Processing pragmatic inferences in L2 French speakers. Second Language Research 39:4 ► pp. 969 ff.
Zhang, Jun & Yan Wu
2023. Epistemic reasoning in pragmatic inferencing by non-native speakers: The case of scalar implicatures. Second Language Research 39:3 ► pp. 697 ff.
Syrett, Kristen, Jennifer Austin & Liliana Sanchez
2021. Establishing upper bounds in English monolingual and Heritage Spanish-English bilingual language development. Language Acquisition 28:1 ► pp. 39 ff.
Miller, David & Jason Rothman
2020. You win some, you lose some: Comprehension and event-related potential evidence for L1 attrition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 23:4 ► pp. 869 ff.
Feng, Shuo & Jacee Cho
2019. Asymmetries Between Direct and Indirect Scalar Implicatures in Second Language Acquisition. Frontiers in Psychology 10
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 december 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.