Presentation 2016-07-23
Japanese children's scope interpretation revisited
Natsumi Shibata,
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Abstract(in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Abstract(in English) It has been known that doubly-quantified sentences in Japanese do not show scope ambiguity unlike English. According to Reinhart (2006), QR is a marked operation, and applies just in case it is forced by interface needs. This study shows, based on Reinhart’s theory, how inverse-scope readings in Japanese are blocked. Then we reanalyze acquisition data from previous studies and show that, in experimental contexts using a truth-value judgment task, children accept inverse-scope readings by chance. We argue, supporting Reinhart’s theory, that children’s chance-level acceptance is due to their limited working memory. That is, blocking inverse-scope readings requires a costly operation called reference-set computation, and children do not have sufficient processing capacity to execute it. Therefore, they resort to guesswork and give inconsistent responses.
Keyword(in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Keyword(in English) doubly-quantified sentence / inverse-scope reading / child Japanese / reference-set computation / scope / truth-value judgment task / quantifier / quantifier raising
Paper # TL2016-17
Date of Issue 2016-07-16 (TL)

Conference Information
Committee TL
Conference Date 2016/7/23(2days)
Place (in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Place (in English) Waseda Univ. (Nishi-Waseda Campus)
Topics (in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Topics (in English) Human Language Processing and Learning
Chair Masami Suzuki(KDDI R&D Labs.)
Vice Chair Chiaki Kubomura(Yamano College of Aesthetics)
Secretary Chiaki Kubomura(Ehime Univ.)
Assistant Yasushi Tsubota(Kyoto Univ.) / Nobuyuki Jincho(Waseda Univ.)

Paper Information
Registration To Technical Committee on Thought and Language
Language ENG
Title (in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Sub Title (in Japanese) (See Japanese page)
Title (in English) Japanese children's scope interpretation revisited
Sub Title (in English)
Keyword(1) doubly-quantified sentence
Keyword(2) inverse-scope reading
Keyword(3) child Japanese
Keyword(4) reference-set computation
Keyword(5) scope
Keyword(6) truth-value judgment task
Keyword(7) quantifier
Keyword(8) quantifier raising
1st Author's Name Natsumi Shibata
1st Author's Affiliation The University of Tokyo(U. of Tokyo)
Date 2016-07-23
Paper # TL2016-17
Volume (vol) vol.116
Number (no) TL-159
Page pp.pp.25-30(TL),
#Pages 6
Date of Issue 2016-07-16 (TL)