Surface structure and presupposition

Frequency of perceptual errors as a function of differential presupposition in descriptive sentences was measured. In Experiment I, subjects heard a cleft or pseudocleft sentence prior to tachistoscopic presentation of a picture in which the presupposed proposition or the focused proposition was mis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior Vol. 13; no. 5; pp. 530 - 538
Main Author Hornby, Peter A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York Elsevier B.V 01.01.1974
Academic Press
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ISSN0022-5371
0749-596X
DOI10.1016/S0022-5371(74)80005-8

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Summary:Frequency of perceptual errors as a function of differential presupposition in descriptive sentences was measured. In Experiment I, subjects heard a cleft or pseudocleft sentence prior to tachistoscopic presentation of a picture in which the presupposed proposition or the focused proposition was misrepresented. The task was to decide if the sentence correctly described the picture. Results indicated that more errors occurred when the misrepresentation involved the presupposition than when it involved the focused proposition. Experiment II was conducted to determine if the frequency of errors was a function of the type of surface structure employed to mark the presupposition. Results indicated that several different surface structure features of English, employed in combination, increase the presuppositional strength of the sentence.
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ISSN:0022-5371
0749-596X
DOI:10.1016/S0022-5371(74)80005-8