GENERICITY AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE COPULAS BY SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN

In Spanish the copulas ser and estar correlate with generic and specific interpretations, respectively. Likewise, both adjective types (scalar vs. non-scalar) and animacy of the sentential subject have been found to impact generic vs. specific interpretations in speakers. The current study extends u...

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Autores principales:	HOLTHEUER BEAUSIRE,CAROLINA, MILLER,KAREN
Lenguaje:	English
Publicado:	Universidad de Concepción. Facultad de Humanidades y Arte 2015
Materias:	Semantics generic interpretation Spanish copulas adjective type
Acceso en línea:	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-48832015000100006
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spelling	oai:scielo:S0718-488320150001000062015-10-19GENERICITY AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE COPULAS BY SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDRENHOLTHEUER BEAUSIRE,CAROLINAMILLER,KAREN Semantics generic interpretation Spanish copulas adjective type In Spanish the copulas ser and estar correlate with generic and specific interpretations, respectively. Likewise, both adjective types (scalar vs. non-scalar) and animacy of the sentential subject have been found to impact generic vs. specific interpretations in speakers. The current study extends upon previous research by investigating the interplay between copula, adjective type, and animacy in children's ability to access the generic vs. specific readings of the two copulas. The results of two comprehension experiments indicate that children treat the two copulas differently, associating ser + adjective constructions to generic interpretations significantly more often than they do for estar + adjective constructions. Nevertheless, the results also show that children do not reach adult levels on their interpretation of estar + adjective constructions. Instead, children's performance also depends on adjective type (scalar vs. non-scalar) and animacy of the subject. The results suggest that children have knowledge of the generic and existential interpretations associated with ser and estar, but that, in addition, they use the semantic structure of adjectives and their knowledge of the world (typicality of properties and how they apply to animate v. inanimate subjects) to assign generic and existential interpretations to the copulas.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessUniversidad de Concepción. Facultad de Humanidades y ArteRLA. Revista de lingüística teórica y aplicada v.53 n.1 20152015-06-01text/htmlhttp://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-48832015000100006en10.4067/S0718-48832015000100006
institution	Scielo Chile
collection	Scielo Chile
language	English
topic	Semantics generic interpretation Spanish copulas adjective type
spellingShingle	Semantics generic interpretation Spanish copulas adjective type HOLTHEUER BEAUSIRE,CAROLINA MILLER,KAREN GENERICITY AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE COPULAS BY SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN
description	In Spanish the copulas ser and estar correlate with generic and specific interpretations, respectively. Likewise, both adjective types (scalar vs. non-scalar) and animacy of the sentential subject have been found to impact generic vs. specific interpretations in speakers. The current study extends upon previous research by investigating the interplay between copula, adjective type, and animacy in children's ability to access the generic vs. specific readings of the two copulas. The results of two comprehension experiments indicate that children treat the two copulas differently, associating ser + adjective constructions to generic interpretations significantly more often than they do for estar + adjective constructions. Nevertheless, the results also show that children do not reach adult levels on their interpretation of estar + adjective constructions. Instead, children's performance also depends on adjective type (scalar vs. non-scalar) and animacy of the subject. The results suggest that children have knowledge of the generic and existential interpretations associated with ser and estar, but that, in addition, they use the semantic structure of adjectives and their knowledge of the world (typicality of properties and how they apply to animate v. inanimate subjects) to assign generic and existential interpretations to the copulas.
author	HOLTHEUER BEAUSIRE,CAROLINA MILLER,KAREN
author_facet	HOLTHEUER BEAUSIRE,CAROLINA MILLER,KAREN
author_sort	HOLTHEUER BEAUSIRE,CAROLINA
title	GENERICITY AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE COPULAS BY SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN
title_short	GENERICITY AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE COPULAS BY SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN
title_full	GENERICITY AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE COPULAS BY SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN
title_fullStr	GENERICITY AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE COPULAS BY SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN
title_full_unstemmed	GENERICITY AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE COPULAS BY SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN
title_sort	genericity and the interpretation of the copulas by spanish-speaking children
publisher	Universidad de Concepción. Facultad de Humanidades y Arte
publishDate	2015
url	http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0718-48832015000100006
work_keys_str_mv	AT holtheuerbeausirecarolina genericityandtheinterpretationofthecopulasbyspanishspeakingchildren AT millerkaren genericityandtheinterpretationofthecopulasbyspanishspeakingchildren
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GENERICITY AND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE COPULAS BY SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN

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