Modelling the Use of Quantifiers in Typical and Atypical Speakers Probabilistically
General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
Final Report Abstract
In the MUQTASP project, we have used theoretical, experimental, and computational methods to study the meaning and use of quantifiers (e.g., ‘some’, ‘most’). The research in MUQTASP has focused on three interconnected issues. First, we have carried out a number of experimental studies that describe and theoretically explain diversity in the pragmatic inferences associated with quantifiers and other scalar words. Furthermore, we have constructed, implemented, and tested computational models that quantitatively connect the meaning and use of quantifiers. Finally, we investigated how pragmatic inferencing with scalar terms relates to variation in the population in autistic traits. Taken together, these three strands of research yield a much better understanding of the connection between the linguistic meaning of quantifiers and the way they are used in actual speech situation, thus synthesising insights from theoretical linguistics and experimental psychology. One surprising new finding was that typicality patterns in the use of quantifiers could be completely explained on the basis of a truth-conditional semantics of quantifiers when it is combined with a pragmatic principles of language use. A second finding was that we found a consistent effect of autistic traits on scalar inferences in language comprehension and use, but that we also saw an effect on presupposition.
Publications
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Quantity-based reasoning in the broader autism phenotype: A web-based study. Applied Psycholinguistics, 39(6), 1373-1403.
VAN TIEL, BOB & KISSINE, MIKHAIL
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Reasoning with ‘Some’. Journal of Semantics (c(2018, 8, 4)).
van Tiel, Bob; Noveck, Ira & Kissine, Mikhail
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Pragmatic reasoning in autism. Thinking, Reasoning, and Decision Making in Autism (c(2019, 10, 11)), 113-134. Routledge.
Geurts, Bart; Kissine, Mikhail & Tiel, Bob van
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Scales and scalarity: Processing scalar inferences. Journal of Memory and Language, 105(c(2019, 4)), 93-107.
van Tiel, Bob; Pankratz, Elizabeth & Sun, Chao
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The role of gender in the perception of autism symptom severity and future behavioral development. Molecular Autism, 10(1).
Geelhand, Philippine; Bernard, Philippe; Klein, Olivier; van Tiel, Bob & Kissine, Mikhail
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Comprehending and: The Acquisition of English Conjunction in Child Language. In M.M. Brown, & A. Kohut (Eds.), BUCLD 44: Proceedings of the 44th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 91–104)
Chen, S. Y.; Kobayashi, F. H.; Koring, L.; Bill, C.; Rosenstein, L. & Hackl, M.
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Comprehension of the Presupposition Trigger Ye “Also” by Mandarin-Speaking Preschoolers With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorders. Frontiers in Psychology, 11(c(2020, 10, 28)).
An, Shasha; Bill, Cory & Yang, Qi
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Strategic Deception in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 51(1), 255-266.
van Tiel, Bob; Deliens, Gaétane; Geelhand, Philippine; Murillo Oosterwijk, Anke & Kissine, Mikhail
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Children’s Interpretation of Sentences Containing Multiple Scalar Terms. Journal of Semantics, 38(4), 601-637.
Bill, Cory; Pagliarini, Elena; Romoli, Jacopo; Tieu, Lyn & Crain, Stephen
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Probabilistic pragmatics explains gradience and focality in natural language quantification. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(9).
van Tiel, Bob; Franke, Michael & Sauerland, Uli
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The role of relevance for scalar diversity: a usage-based approach. Language and Cognition, 13(4), 562-594.
PANKRATZ, ELIZABETH & VAN TIEL, BOB
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Meaning and Use in the Expression of Estimative Probability. Open Mind, 6(2022), 250-263.
van Tiel, Bob; Sauerland, Uli & Franke, Michael
