Perceptual, Semantic, and Pragmatic Factors Affect the Derivation of Contrastive Inferences
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22157704 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Camilo R Ronderos (0000-0002-7779-406X, University of Oslo), Helena Aparicio (Cornell University), Madeleine Long (0000-0002-6034-4038, University of Edinburgh), Vishakha Shukla (0000-0002-9131-507X, New York University), Julian Jara-Ettinger (0000-0002-6167-1647, Yale University), Paula Rubio-Fernández (0000-0003-1622-0967, University of Oslo) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Pages | 1213-1227 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Open MIND (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2470-2986 • E-ISSN: 2470-2986 |
| Publisher | MIT Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1162/opmi_a_00165 |
| PMID | 39474158 |
| OpenAlex | W4403632990 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 29 |
People derive contrastive inferences when interpreting adjectives (e.g., inferring that ‘the short pencil’ is being contrasted with a longer one). However, classic eye-tracking studies revealed contrastive inferences with scalar and material adjectives, but not with color adjectives. This was explained as a difference in listeners’ informativity expectations, since color adjectives are often used descriptively (hence not warranting a contrastive interpretation). Here we hypothesized that, beyond these pragmatic factors, perceptual factors (i.e., the relative perceptibility of color, material and scalar contrast) and semantic factors (i.e., the difference between gradable and non-gradable properties) also affect the real-time derivation of contrastive inferences. We tested these predictions in three languages with prenominal modification (English, Hindi, and Hungarian) and found that people derive contrastive inferences for color and scalar adjectives, but not for material adjectives. In addition, the processing of scalar adjectives was more context dependent than that of color and material adjectives, confirming that pragmatic, perceptual and semantic factors affect the derivation of contrastive inferences
Cognitive psychology · Contrastive analysis · Linguistics · Perception · Categorization, perception, and language · Communication · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Multisensory perception and integration · Psychology
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |