1887
Volume 24, Issue 3
  • ISSN 0929-0907
  • E-ISSN: 1569-9943
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Abstract

Abstract

In previous research comparing the with the of meaning processing, the former was preferred. It predicts that contexts play an exclusively decisive role in meaning processing, whereas the latter holds that the inference of literal meaning generally goes through, unless it is subsequently defaulted or cancelled by the context it is associated with. The , which we added to our experiments, highlights that implicatures are figured out from standardized forms typically based on the mutual background belief and speaker’s intention. We tested whether Chinese people’s processing of the gradable adjective scale <hot, burning> conformed more to the , the , or the . The results demonstrated that the is the most acceptable among the three. The findings of this study, which is the first study using the experimental paradigm on Chinese gradable adjectives, highlighted a need for further studies to investigate the same questions with different languages and cultures.

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2019-02-28
2025-02-18
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