Logic and Conversation Revisited: Evidence For a Division Between Semantic and Pragmatic Content in Real Time Language Comprehension

Abstract

The distinction between semantics (linguistically encoded meaning) and pragmatics (inferences about communicative intentions) can often be unclear and counterintuitive. For example, linguistic theories argue that the meaning of some encompasses the meaning of all while the intuition that some implies not all results from an inference. We explored how online interpretation of some evolves using an eye-tracking while listening paradigm. Early eye-movements indicated that while some was initially interpreted as compatible with all, participants began excluding referents compatible with all approximately 800 ms later. These results contrast with recent evidence of immediate inferencing and highlight the presence of bottom-up semantic–pragmatic interactions which necessarily rely on initial access to lexical meanings to trigger inferences.