LINGUIST List 22.5069 Thu Dec 15 2011 Diss: Lang Acq/Pragmatics: Davies: 'Over-Informativeness in ...' Editor for this issue: Xiyan Wang <xiyanlinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.     Catherine Davies , Over-Informativeness in Referential Communication Message 1: Over-Informativeness in Referential Communication Date: 15-Dec-2011 From: Catherine Davies <c.n.daviesleeds.ac.uk> Subject: Over-Informativeness in Referential Communication E-mail this message to a friend Institution: Cambridge University Program: PhD in Linguistics Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2011 Author: Catherine Evans Davies Dissertation Title: Over-Informativeness in Referential Communication Dissertation URL: http://www.srcf.ucam.org/~cnd24/CDaviesCompleteThesisPaperback.pdf Linguistic Field(s): Language Acquisition                             Pragmatics                             Psycholinguistics Dissertation Director: Napoleon Katsos Dissertation Abstract: This thesis investigates the pragmatic mechanisms responsible for detecting how much information is appropriate to include in referring expressions by adults and children. Theoretically, it rests on the Cooperative Principle (Grice, 1975/1989) which is comprised of four conversational maxims to which all cooperative speakers are assumed to adhere. The experiments herein test whether the fundamental processes behind these theoretical ideas are psychologically real in adults and children, with a focus on informativeness/quantity maxims. The novel contribution of the thesis to this domain is the verification of sensitivity to and use of informativeness cues; an integral skill in parsing abilities. Using referential communication tasks for production and comprehension, the experimental findings reveal penalties resulting from non-optimally informative utterances. Under-informative referring expressions cause delays for the hearer, and speakers are penalised on judgments of expression quality. Over-informative utterances also elicit processing delays and penalties. This is compatible with hypotheses predicting that interlocutors hold expectations of optimal amounts of information and suggest that Grice's Quantity maxim is psychologically real in comprehenders. Experiments 1 to 4 respond to a previous study reporting that speakers and hearers are sensitive to under-informativeness but not to over-informativeness (Engelhardt, Bailey & Ferreira, 2006). In comprehension, experiment 1 replicates the original findings regarding under-informativeness but also documents a tentative sensitivity to over-informativeness; revealed more robustly by experiment 2. Experiments 3 and 4 focus on production, finding that speakers do not under- or over-inform in neutral contexts, but may over-inform when aspects of the referent are made salient. This constitutes evidence that speakers and hearers are sensitive to both Quantity maxims in simple contexts, suggesting that the effects obtained in previous literature should be attributed to pragmatic factors rather than structural constraints. Experiments 5 to 7 investigate the development of pragmatic expectations of informativeness. They document five-year-old children's off-line ability to detect non-optimal informativeness. In production, experiment 5 finds that whilst children are frequently under-informative, they produce very low rates of over-informative referring expressions overall. From the comprehender's perspective, experiment 6 shows that using binary judgments, five-year-olds do not reliably reject over-informative utterances (unlike adults), although they show an adult-like sensitivity to under-informative expressions. Experiment 7 tests the same sensitivities but this time allows intermediate ratings by using a gradable scale, yielding sensitivity to both under- and over-informative expressions. Thus, a major finding is that children do have adult-like processing mechanisms regarding the detection of Quantity-based infelicities. This pattern of results is accommodated within a novel account, the pragmatic tolerance hypothesis (Katsos & Bishop, 2011) and extends the hypothesis beyond accounting for sensitivity to under-informativeness by additionally encompassing sensitivity to over-informativeness. The thesis provides evidence for adult and child sensitivity to both Quantity maxims, with implications for pragmatic theory, for psycholinguistic theory, and for methods in experimental pragmatics. Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 15-Dec-2011       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.