What second-language speakers can tell us about pragmatic processing

Upon hearing the phrase Some cats meow, a listener might pragmatically infer that ‘Some but not all cats meow’. This is known as a scalar implicature and it often arises when a speaker produces a weak linguistic expression instead of a stronger one. Several L2 studies claim that pragmatic inferences are generated by default and their comprehension presents no challenges to L2 learners. However, the evidence obtained from these studies largely stems from offline-based tasks that provide limited information about how scalar implicatures are processed. This study investigated scalar implicature processing among L2 speakers of English and the degree to which differences in L2 proficiency and Theory of Mind abilities would modulate pragmatic responding. The experiment used an online sentence verification paradigm that required participants to judge, among multiple control items, the veracity of under-informative sentences, such as Some cats are mammals, and to respond as quickly as possible. A true response to this item is indicative of a logical some and perhaps all reading and a false response to a pragmatic some but not all reading. Our results showed evidence that scalar inferences are not generated by default. The answer linked to the pragmatic reading some but not all took significantly longer to make relative to the answer that relies on the logical interpretation some and perhaps all. This processing slowdown was also significantly larger among participants with lower English proficiency. Further exploratory analyses of participants’ Theory of Mind, as measured by the Social Skill subscale in the Autism Spectrum Quotient, revealed that socially inclined participants are more likely than the socially disinclined to derive a scalar inference. These results together provide new empirical insights into how L2 learners process scalar implicatures and thus implications for processing theories in experimental pragmatics and second language acquisition.当听者听到"Some cats meow（部分猫会喵喵叫）"这一表述时，可能会通过语用推理得出"部分但并非所有猫都会喵喵叫"的结论。这类现象被称为量级含义（scalar implicature），通常产生于说话者使用了较弱的语言表达而非更强的表达时。已有多项第二语言（L2）研究提出，语用推理是默认生成的，且其理解不会对第二语言学习者造成任何困难。然而，此类研究所得出的证据大多来自离线任务，这类任务难以揭示量级含义的具体加工过程。本研究针对英语第二语言使用者的量级含义加工展开探究，并考察了第二语言熟练度与心理理论（Theory of Mind）能力的差异会在多大程度上调节语用反应。本实验采用在线句子验证范式（online sentence verification paradigm），要求参与者在多项控制项目中判断信息不足的句子（例如"Some cats are mammals（部分猫是哺乳动物）"）的真实性，并尽可能快速地做出反应。对该项目做出“真”的反应，表明参与者采用了逻辑层面的“部分且可能全部”解读；而做出“假”的反应，则对应语用层面的“部分但非全部”解读。本研究结果表明，量级含义推理并非默认生成的。相较于基于逻辑解读（部分且可能全部）的反应，基于语用解读（部分但非全部）的反应所需时长显著更长。英语熟练度较低的参与者，其加工延迟现象也更为显著。进一步通过自闭症谱系量表（Autism Spectrum Quotient）中的社交技能子维度对参与者的心理理论能力进行探索性分析后发现，社交倾向型参与者相较于社交疏离型参与者，更易推导出量级含义。综上，本研究结果为第二语言学习者如何加工量级含义提供了全新的实证视角，同时也为实验语用学及第二语言习得领域的加工理论研究提供了新的启示。