Journal

Volume 10, Issue 2 (July 31, 2009)

9 articles

• Introduction to Special Issue (vol. 10-2)
  by Kei Yoshimoto
  J. CS. 2009, 10(2), 0-0;
  Abstract This special issue of Journal of Cognitive Science was developed through the workshop “Quantification in East Asian Languages” held in affiliation with the 6th International Conference of Cognitive Science that took place at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, on July 27, 2008. Papers on the s... [Read more].
  Abstract This special issue of Journal of Cognitive Science was developed through the workshop “Quantification in East Asian Languages” held in affiliation with the 6th International Conference of Cognitive Science that took place at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, on July 27, 2008. Papers on the semantics of noun phrasesand determiner phrases in East Asian languages including Japanese, Korean, and Chinese were invited to the conference. We thought this was of importance, since these languages contain phenomenawhich are not commonly addressed by approaches developed mainly for the analysis of WesternEuropean languages. In the workshop, a tutorial was given by Eric McCready andAlastair Butler, and papers were read by Kazuhiko Fukushima, Yoon-kyoung Joh,Mana Kobuchi-Philip, and Sumiyo Nishiguchi. In addition, the conference included talks by invited speakers Bart Geurts, Thomas Hun-tak Lee, and James Pustejovsky.Three of the participants in the workshop submitted their papers to this special issue.Four additional papers are also included in this volume to address as diverse a range of topics and languages as possible. It is no surprise to find that different papers in this issue deal with the same or similar topics. First, both Alastair Butler and Mana Kobuchi Philip attempts to analyze the particle mo in Japanese. The former proposes a unified account of quantified phrases in Japanese as interaction of scope operators. The latter attempts an extensive analysis of the particle mo. It is successful in dealing with its uses other than universal quantification. Both the papers written by Pierina Cheung, David Barner, and Peggy Li and by Byeong-Uk Yi discuss mass-count concepts in Mandarin Chinese. The first, based on psychological experiments, has made it clear that classifiers gradually become associated with individuation during the process of acquisition, but may not be the critical source of the meaning of the nouns. The latter paper argues that classifier languages possess count nouns as well as mass nouns and even distinguish them with morphosyntactic means. Eric McCready and So-Young Park share interests in classifiers with Yi. McCready proposes that what is meant by a classifier is not truth-conditional, but a conventional implicature. Park attempts a unified syntactic analysis of four constructions of Korean numeral classifiers. Finally, Chonghyuck Kim, Qizhong Chang, and Leslie Lee, based on regularity in number marking in Singapore English, propose the ‘Avoid Ambiguity Principle’ to explain the data as interaction between the principle and the syntactic structure of nominals.I hope this issue may inspire the reader to examine new ideas about different aspects of the semantics of quantification and classifiers. [Collapse]
• Quantification support with indeterminate pronouns
  by Alastair Butler
  J. CS. 2009, 10(2), 113-134;
  Abstract This paper is concerned with one possible way of having quantification in a language without determiners, taking Japanese as a case study. After starting with data that suggests deep connections between the 'morphosyntax' employed for constituent questions and for quantification, we present a formal... [Read more].
  Abstract This paper is concerned with one possible way of having quantification in a language without determiners, taking Japanese as a case study. After starting with data that suggests deep connections between the 'morphosyntax' employed for constituent questions and for quantification, we present a formal account that initially considers sentences without any quantification to see how argument linking is nevertheless achieved when case marking is added to noun phrases. We then look at how quantification can subsequently be added to the system with the aid of indeterminate pronouns (e.g., dare, nani, dono) and particles (ka and mo). We end by considering the kinds of grammatical effects that arise from this integration. [Collapse]
• Syntactic Cues to Individuation in Mandarin Chinese
  by Pierina Cheung, David Barner, & Peggy Li
  J. CS. 2009, 10(2), 135-148;
  Abstract When presented with an entity (e.g., a wooden honey-dipper) labeled with a novel noun, how does a listener know that the noun refers to an instance of an object kind (honey-dipper) rather than to a substance kind (wood)? While English speakers draw upon count-mass syntax for clues to the noun’s mean... [Read more].
  Abstract When presented with an entity (e.g., a wooden honey-dipper) labeled with a novel noun, how does a listener know that the noun refers to an instance of an object kind (honey-dipper) rather than to a substance kind (wood)? While English speakers draw upon count-mass syntax for clues to the noun’s meaning, linguists have proposed that classifier languages, which lack count-mass syntax, provide other syntactic cues. Three experiments tested Mandarin-speakers’ sensitivity to the diminutive suffix -zi and the general classifier ge when interpreting novel nouns. Experiment 1 found that -zi occurs more frequently with nouns that denote object kinds. Experiment 2 demonstrated Mandarin-speaking adults’ sensitivity to ge and -zi when inferring novel word meanings. Experiment 3 tested Mandarin three- to six-year-olds’ sensitivity to ge. We discuss differences in the developmental course of these cues relative to cues in English, and the impact of this difference to children’s understanding of individuation. [Collapse]
• Number marking in Colloquial Singapore English
  by Chonghyuck Kim, Qizhong Chang, & Leslie Lee
  J. CS. 2009, 10(2), 149-172;
  Abstract Number marking in Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) has often been described as sporadic or random. This description stems from the fact that plural marking is largely optional in CSE, combined with a lack of precise characterization of its optionality. We show that CSE number marking is not random... [Read more].
  Abstract Number marking in Colloquial Singapore English (CSE) has often been described as sporadic or random. This description stems from the fact that plural marking is largely optional in CSE, combined with a lack of precise characterization of its optionality. We show that CSE number marking is not random but systematic; plural marking is obligatory on a noun that occurs with a number-neutral determiner in Determiner+Noun sequence, and optional elsewhere. We propose a principle called Avoid Ambiguity Principle and derive the optional but not-so-optional nature of CSE number marking from an interaction between the principle and the structure of a nominal expression. Unlike CSE, English displays obligatory number marking. We argue that this is a result of the two languages differing in two respects – (i) English always projects D, whereas CSE does so optionally; (ii) English D comes with unvalued [αpl], whereas CSE D comes with valued [+/−pl]. These language-specific parameters, coupled with the Avoid Ambiguity Principle, capture the differences between the two languages. Under our analysis, English transformed to CSE by a parameter resetting in category D when it came to Singapore. [Collapse]
• Japanese Mo: Universal, Additive, and NPI
  by Mana Kobuchi-Philip
  J. CS. 2009, 10(2), 172-194;
  Abstract This paper discusses four distinct functions of the Japanese particle mo, namely, (i) the universal quantificational use of mo with an indeterminate; (ii) mo within a negative polarity item containing an indeterminate; (iii) mo within a negative polarity item functioning as a minimizer; and (iv) add... [Read more].
  Abstract This paper discusses four distinct functions of the Japanese particle mo, namely, (i) the universal quantificational use of mo with an indeterminate; (ii) mo within a negative polarity item containing an indeterminate; (iii) mo within a negative polarity item functioning as a minimizer; and (iv) additive mo. Starting with Shimoyama (2001, 2006) and a significantly modified adaptation of Kobuchi-Philip’s (2008a) analysis of universal quantifcational mo, this paper proposes a unified semantic analysis of all four uses of mo. It is argued that X-mo is syntactically an adjunct, and that its semantics involves (i) a condition of membership in the denotation of the DP construed with the mo-phrase (the Condition of Inclusion in Moltmann 1995), (ii) a condition of membership in the predicate denotation, and (iii) a condition requiring the existence of an additional element with the same properties as the referent of what mo syntactically combines with. [Collapse]
• Conventional Implicature and Classifiers
  by Eric McCready
  J. CS. 2009, 10(2), 195-208;
  Abstract This paper considers the semantic contribution of classifiers in East Asian languages, drawing data primarily from Japanese. The focus is on the classifier itself, rather than the numeral-classifier combination discussed in the semantic literature. It is argued, based on tests involving projection, ... [Read more].
  Abstract This paper considers the semantic contribution of classifiers in East Asian languages, drawing data primarily from Japanese. The focus is on the classifier itself, rather than the numeral-classifier combination discussed in the semantic literature. It is argued, based on tests involving projection, that the contribution of the classifier is a conventional implicature. An informal sketch of an implementation in the system of Potts (2005) is provided. [Collapse]
• Chinese Classifiers and Count Nouns
  by Byeong-Uk Yi
  J. CS. 2009, 10(2), 209-226;
  Abstract Many linguists, philosophers, and anthropologists hold that classifier languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai, have no count nouns, and that all their common nouns are mass nouns. This paper argues that Chinese draws a syntactic, as well as semantic, distinction between mass and co... [Read more].
  Abstract Many linguists, philosophers, and anthropologists hold that classifier languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Thai, have no count nouns, and that all their common nouns are mass nouns. This paper argues that Chinese draws a syntactic, as well as semantic, distinction between mass and count nouns, and suggests how the approach taken to clarify the distinction can be extended to other classifier languages. [Collapse]
• Numeral Classifiers and Nominal Functional Projections in Korean
  by So-Young Park
  J. CS. 2009, 10(2), 227-244;
  Abstract In this paper, I propose a unified analysis for four patterns of numeral classifier constructions, capitalizing on the idea of a DP structure which embeds a small clause. By appealing to the general theory of movement for featurechecking, the patterns of numeral classifier constructions will be show... [Read more].
  Abstract In this paper, I propose a unified analysis for four patterns of numeral classifier constructions, capitalizing on the idea of a DP structure which embeds a small clause. By appealing to the general theory of movement for featurechecking, the patterns of numeral classifier constructions will be shown to be directly accounted for. The proposed analysis can directly account for demonstrative recursion, which annuls one of the arguments against a DP projection in classifier languages. [Collapse]
• Comprehension of communicative intentions: The case of figurative language
  by Francesca M. Bosco, Marianna Vallana, & Monica Bucciarelli
  J. CS. 2009, 10(2), 245-278;
  Abstract This study is concerned with children’s comprehension of the communicative meaning of conventional figurative communication acts. We assume that comprehending the communicative meaning of both figurative and non-figurative communication acts involves the same cognitive processes. We hypothesize that... [Read more].
  Abstract This study is concerned with children’s comprehension of the communicative meaning of conventional figurative communication acts. We assume that comprehending the communicative meaning of both figurative and non-figurative communication acts involves the same cognitive processes. We hypothesize that the complexity of the mental representations involved accounts for the increasing difficulty in comprehending the very same conventional figurative expression, uttered with a sincere, deceitful or ironic intent. A pre-test on 20 children (7 to 7; 6 year-olds) ascertained the conventionality of the 6 figurative expressions used as the experimental material, e.g. To be as mute as a fish. For each figurative expression we created three different communicative contexts, within which that expression acquired either a sincere, deceitful or ironic communicative meaning. In the experiment, we presented 108 children aged 7 to 10; 6 years with brief audio-recorded stories, each involving a figurative expression in a specific communicative context. The children’s performance reflects the predicted trend in difficulty for comprehending the use of the very same figurative expression, from the easiest to the most difficult: sincere, deceitful, ironic. Our results are in favor of a unifying framework for explaining the comprehension of figurative and non-figurative communication acts. [Collapse]