Speaker: Ito Masuyo (Fukuoka University/MIT)
Title: Japanese-speaking childrens interpretation of sentences containing the focus particle datte even: QUD or processing limitations
Date: Wednesday, December 10th
Time: 3:00p
Place: 32-D831
In this talk, I will talk about the acquisition of even in Japanese. I will focus on the following: 1) the properties of the focus particle datte even in Japanese; 2) whether Japanese-speaking children are able to interpret sentences containing even as adults do; and if not, QUD or processing considerations can facilitate childrens performance.
The results show that children can calculate information strength associated with datte sentences when the task does not require them to construct and maintain alternative representations. Examining whether or not QUD relevance and processing considerations apply to datte sentence implicatures as they do to SIs allows re-examination of the nature of implicatures datte generates. I aim to contribute to experimental studies on pragmatics, especially those on EVEN, conventional implicature and SI.