The impact of focus particles on the recognition and rejection of contrastive alternatives
- The semantics of focus particles like only requires a set of alternatives (Rooth, 1992). In two experiments, we investigated the impact of such particles on the retrieval of alternatives that are mentioned in the prior context or unmentioned. The first experiment used a probe recognition task and showed that focus particles interfere with the recognition of mentioned alternatives and the rejection of unmentioned alternatives relative to a condition without a particle. A second lexical decision experiment demonstrated priming effects for mentioned and unmentioned alternatives (compared with an unrelated condition) while focus particles caused additional interference effects. Overall, our results indicate that focus particles trigger an active search for alternatives and lead to a competition between mentioned alternatives, unmentioned alternatives, and the focused element.
Author details: | Nicole Gotzner, Isabell WartenburgerORCiDGND, Katharina SpalekORCiDGND |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-413420 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-41342 |
ISSN: | 1866-8364 |
Title of parent work (English): | Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe |
Publication series (Volume number): | Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe (517) |
Publication type: | Postprint |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2019/02/04 |
Publication year: | 2016 |
Publishing institution: | Universität Potsdam |
Release date: | 2019/02/04 |
Tag: | alternative-set semantics; competitive inhibition; focus particles; lexical decision task; probe recognition task |
Issue: | 517 |
Number of pages: | 37 |
Source: | Language and Cognition 8 (2016), pp. 59–95 DOI 10.1017/langcog.2015.25 |
Organizational units: | Humanwissenschaftliche Fakultät |
DDC classification: | 4 Sprache / 40 Sprache / 400 Sprache |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access |
Grantor: | Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
License (German): | Keine öffentliche Lizenz: Unter Urheberrechtsschutz |