The Recursive Set-Subset Ordering Principle orders adjectives and relative clauses in visual context

We present evidence from two picture-matching experiments that native adult speakers of American English order and interpret sequences nouns modified by adjectives/relative clauses containing adjectives in line with the Recursive Set-Subset Ordering Principle proposed Bleotu & Roeper (2022a, b) Bleotu, Foucault, (2023). This principle ensures an automatic mapping set-subset semantics to a recursive syntax Universal Grammar, such set modifiers are merged closer noun than subset modifiers: leaves (N) short (SET) long (SUBSET) or (SUBSET). here expand upon interpretation ordering modification elucidate syntactic, semantic pragmatic interface.