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The effects of quantifier size on the construction of discourse models

Klingvall, Eva LU orcid and Heinat, Fredrik LU orcid (2022) In Journal of Neurolinguistics 63.
Abstract
Sentences with quantified expressions involve mental representations of sets of individuals for which some property holds (the reference set), as well as of sets for which the property does not hold (the complement set). Both sets can receive discourse focus with negative quantifiers, while the reference set is strongly preferred with positive quantifiers, complement set focus however being possible if contextually motivated. In an offline semantic plausibility study and two online EEG studies, we investigated whether the complement set is an available discourse entity inherently for positive quantifiers, as it is for negative quantifiers. The results show that while the default focus patterns induced by positive and negative quantifiers... (More)
Sentences with quantified expressions involve mental representations of sets of individuals for which some property holds (the reference set), as well as of sets for which the property does not hold (the complement set). Both sets can receive discourse focus with negative quantifiers, while the reference set is strongly preferred with positive quantifiers, complement set focus however being possible if contextually motivated. In an offline semantic plausibility study and two online EEG studies, we investigated whether the complement set is an available discourse entity inherently for positive quantifiers, as it is for negative quantifiers. The results show that while the default focus patterns induced by positive and negative quantifiers are robust, both complement and reference set are represented as discourse entities and this is to our knowledge the first study to show that even positive quantifiers make both reference and complement set mentally represented during discourse processing without contextual influence. We also discuss the impact the results from the two ERP studies have on the functional interpretation of two well known ERP effects: the N400 and the P600. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Sentence processing, ERP, P600, Semantics, Swedish, Acceptability study
in
Journal of Neurolinguistics
volume
63
article number
101066
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85125144932
ISSN
0911-6044
DOI
10.1016/j.jneuroling.2022.101066
project
Set size and reference
Quantification in Swedish
Variation i referens till kvantitativa nominalfraser
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7e92fa33-61e1-4ee5-96ff-8d715eb7cd57
date added to LUP
2022-02-25 08:14:14
date last changed
2023-09-11 10:48:26
@article{7e92fa33-61e1-4ee5-96ff-8d715eb7cd57,
  abstract     = {{Sentences with quantified expressions involve mental representations of sets of individuals for which some property holds (the reference set), as well as of sets for which the property does not hold (the complement set). Both sets can receive discourse focus with negative quantifiers, while the reference set is strongly preferred with positive quantifiers, complement set focus however being possible if contextually motivated. In an offline semantic plausibility study and two online EEG studies, we investigated whether the complement set is an available discourse entity inherently for positive quantifiers, as it is for negative quantifiers. The results show that while the default focus patterns induced by positive and negative quantifiers are robust, both complement and reference set are represented as discourse entities and this is to our knowledge the first study to show that even positive quantifiers make both reference and complement set mentally represented during discourse processing without contextual influence. We also discuss the impact the results from the two ERP studies have on the functional interpretation of two well known ERP effects: the N400 and the P600.}},
  author       = {{Klingvall, Eva and Heinat, Fredrik}},
  issn         = {{0911-6044}},
  keywords     = {{Sentence processing; ERP; P600; Semantics; Swedish; Acceptability study}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Neurolinguistics}},
  title        = {{The effects of quantifier size on the construction of discourse models}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2022.101066}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jneuroling.2022.101066}},
  volume       = {{63}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}