Complement set focus after positive quantifiers: The influence of context
During reading, different cues influence readers’ focus. One of these is natural language quantifiers. Negative quantifiers, such as few (e.g., “Few attended the lecture”), have a complex influence on focus. They convey a sense of shortfall – a quantity that is less than what was expected (e.g. Moxe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Psychology of Language and Communication |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.58734/plc-2025-0003 |
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| author | Poirier Rachel C. Upadhyay Sri Siddhi N. Klin Celia M. |
| author_facet | Poirier Rachel C. Upadhyay Sri Siddhi N. Klin Celia M. |
| author_sort | Poirier Rachel C. |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | During reading, different cues influence readers’ focus. One of these is natural language quantifiers. Negative quantifiers, such as few (e.g., “Few attended the lecture”), have a complex influence on focus. They convey a sense of shortfall – a quantity that is less than what was expected (e.g. Moxey, 2006; Moxey & Sanford, 1987). This, in turn creates focus on the complement set (e.g., those not attending). Upadhyay et al. (2018) demonstrated the influence of story context on these focus effects. In three experiments, we investigated the influence of story context on focus effects with positive quantifiers. Although positive quantifiers are less diffuse in their meaning than negative quantifiers, context can lead positive quantifiers to convey shortfall, as negative quantifiers do. When the story context creates an expectation for a large quantity (e.g., many), the positive quantifier a few was understood as shortfall, leading to focus on the complement set. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0d926ffd0ed74e1b91f2a426318a905b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2083-8506 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Psychology of Language and Communication |
| spelling | doaj-art-0d926ffd0ed74e1b91f2a426318a905b2025-08-20T03:59:39ZengSciendoPsychology of Language and Communication2083-85062025-01-01291436210.58734/plc-2025-0003Complement set focus after positive quantifiers: The influence of contextPoirier Rachel C.0Upadhyay Sri Siddhi N.1Klin Celia M.21Psychology, Binghamton University, United States2Psychology, James Madison University, United States1Psychology, Binghamton University, United StatesDuring reading, different cues influence readers’ focus. One of these is natural language quantifiers. Negative quantifiers, such as few (e.g., “Few attended the lecture”), have a complex influence on focus. They convey a sense of shortfall – a quantity that is less than what was expected (e.g. Moxey, 2006; Moxey & Sanford, 1987). This, in turn creates focus on the complement set (e.g., those not attending). Upadhyay et al. (2018) demonstrated the influence of story context on these focus effects. In three experiments, we investigated the influence of story context on focus effects with positive quantifiers. Although positive quantifiers are less diffuse in their meaning than negative quantifiers, context can lead positive quantifiers to convey shortfall, as negative quantifiers do. When the story context creates an expectation for a large quantity (e.g., many), the positive quantifier a few was understood as shortfall, leading to focus on the complement set.https://doi.org/10.58734/plc-2025-0003readingfocustext processingnatural language quantifiers |
| spellingShingle | Poirier Rachel C. Upadhyay Sri Siddhi N. Klin Celia M. Complement set focus after positive quantifiers: The influence of context Psychology of Language and Communication reading focus text processing natural language quantifiers |
| title | Complement set focus after positive quantifiers: The influence of context |
| title_full | Complement set focus after positive quantifiers: The influence of context |
| title_fullStr | Complement set focus after positive quantifiers: The influence of context |
| title_full_unstemmed | Complement set focus after positive quantifiers: The influence of context |
| title_short | Complement set focus after positive quantifiers: The influence of context |
| title_sort | complement set focus after positive quantifiers the influence of context |
| topic | reading focus text processing natural language quantifiers |
| url | https://doi.org/10.58734/plc-2025-0003 |
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