Where truth and optimality part. Experiments on implicatures with epistemic adverbs

Authors

  • Adina Camelia Bleotu University of Bucharest ZAS Fellow
  • Anton Benz ZAS Berlin
  • Nicole Gotzner ZAS Berlin University of Potsdam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3765/elm.1.4863

Keywords:

scalar implicatures, modality, epistemic adverbs, truth value judgment task, optimality judgment task, Romanian, methodology

Abstract

In the current paper, we employ a novel Shadow Play Paradigm in order to test Romanian monolingual adults’ sensitivity to truth and informativeness and investigate their ability to derive implicatures with epistemic adverbs. We show that implicature rates with epistemic adverbs are higher when participants are asked to reward characters depending on the truth of their statements rather than on whether what they say is the best description of the situation. Given participants’ task-sensitivity, we recommend instructions using optimality criteria as a more sensitive method of probing into implicature generation.

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Published

2021-07-30

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Section

Articles