Implicature and Children

Both of the readings discuss scalar implicatures, which is a type of implicature that attributes an implicit meaning beyond the literal sense. This specifically points to the usage of “some.” An example of this is: “Some of the cups are clean.” This sentence, rather than talking about the clean cups, points to the fact that the rest of the cups are actually “not clean.” Before the readings, I was aware that there are sentences that often accentuate what is not mentioned. However, I only gain a better understanding of the choice to use these sentences. I notice that scalar implicatures actually exist in abundance in real-life situations. For instance, when reserving tables at a restaurant, the cardinal number should indicate that “there will not be more than [specific number] of people coming. I think implicatures exist to diversify the types of sentences we have. If all we say are definite, characteristically strong sentences, there will be hardly any space to imply more than one meaning. Furthermore, I think implicatures act as a shortcut to our lives. If I ask you what flavor of ice cream you are eating and you offer me to taste it, you will construe it that I have inferred that I wanted to taste the ice cream. Unless I say specifically that I do not want it, the inference is still made.

 The Stiller reading concludes that children have difficulty understanding alternative quantifiers in a scale. It also suggests that certain properties are rarer and thus more informative than others. The Barner reading also discusses the ability of children make inference from implicatures. The author supports the previous reading that children have difficulty when generating alternative quantifies (some, all). These readings make me think about how descriptions fundamentally work. In this sense, descriptions rely on the rarity of the described. If I have a car, I would describe it as “has a Stanford sticker on the back” because not every car has the same sticker. Instead of saying that it has “seatbelts,” I unconsciously chose the characteristics that are rarer.

On a broader sense, because previous readings have been taking stabs at language of adults, I find it intriguing how the linguistic readings for this week focus on children’s ability to use language. This sparks an interest in me to understand more about the acquisition of languages and capability to use language of children.