Whensomeis notevery: Dissociating scalar implicature generation and mismatch

When some is not every: dissociating scalar implicature generation and mismatch.

Making inferences beyond the literal meaning of sentences occurs with certain scalar expressions via scalar implicatures. For example, adults usually interpret some as some but not all. On the basis of behavioral research, it has been suggested that processing implicatures is cognitively costly. However, many studies have used cases where sentences with some did not match the context in which t...

Scalar Implicature

Informativeness, Relevance and Scalar Implicature

1. Introduction The main topic of this paper is the phenomenon of scalar implicature. Typical examples are given in (1)-(4): (1) a. Bill has got some of Chomsky's papers. b. The speaker believes that Bill hasn't got all of Chomsky's papers. (2) a. There will be five of us for dinner tonight. b. There won't be more than five of us for dinner tonight. (3) a. X: I like Mary. She's intelligent and ...

Scalar Implicature and Local Pragmatics

The Gricean theory of conversational implicature has always been plagued by data suggesting that what would seem to be conversational inferences may occur within the scope of operators like believe, for example; which for bona fide implicatures should be an impossibility. Concentrating my attention on scalar implicatures, I argue that, for the most part, such observations can be accounted for w...

Between “cost” and “default” of Scalar Implicature

The ongoing theoretical debate Scalar Implicatures (SIs) are pragmatic inferences that are normally derived in conversational exchanges when a scalar term is used. Different theoretical accounts have been proposed to explain how and when implicatures are derived. We will focus here on one particular aspect of this debate, namely, the question of the “cost” of implicature computation, which has ...