CNL Lunch

Martin Hackl and Luisa Meroni

On-line Processing of Quantifiers - Evidence from NPI Licensing

Thursday November 8th 2001, 12:30pm, 3416 Marie Mount Hall

It is well-known that the theory of quantification as presented by Generalized Quantifier Theory needs to be amended to yield a plausible basis for models of on-line processing of quantified expressions. Among the key ingredients are the monotonicty properties of quantifiers. We investigate whether speakers use the monotonicty properties of quantifiers on-line by looking at the licensing of negative polarity items (NPIs), which are licensed only in the scope of a monotone decreasing function, in a self-paced reading study.