Sentences with phrase «scalar implicatures»

But once we compute the scalar implicatures, we realize that «Jane ate cake or ice cream» is a «strengthened» way of saying she ate one or the other, but not both.

Fox has conducted extensive research over the last decade formalizing our computations of scalar implicatures and identifying areas where tiny differences in the logical «space of alternatives» can have far - reaching consequences.

The results suggest that children are computing scalar implicatures when they evaluate the statements — but they largely do not substitute disjunctions and conjunctions when testing out the possible meaning of sentences, as adults do.

To make this evaluation, adults compute «scalar implicatures,» a technical phrase for thinking about the implications of the logical relationship between a sentence and its alternatives.

And while we tend to think children are wrong to draw that conclusion, it is still the result of computing scalar implicatures — it just happens that, as Singh observes, those computations create divergent outcomes for children and adults.