title: Talker-specificity and adaptation in quantifier interpretation.
abstract: Linguistic meaning has long been recognized to be highly context-dependent. Quantifiers likemanyandsomeprovide a particularly clear example of context-dependence. For example, the interpretation of quantifiers requires listeners to determine the relevant domain and scale. We focus on another type of context-dependence that quantifiers share with other lexical items: talker variability. Different talkers might use quantifiers with different interpretations in mind. We used a web-based crowdsourcing paradigm to study participants' expectations about the use ofmanyandsomebased on recent exposure. We first established that the mapping ofsomeandmanyonto quantities (candies in a bowl) is variable both within and between participants. We then examined whether and how listeners' expectations about quantifier use adapts with exposure to talkers who use quantifiers in different ways. The results demonstrate that listeners can adapt to talker-specific biases in both how often and with what intended meaningmanyandsomeare used.
authors: University of Rochester Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, The Rockefeller University Laboratory of Neural Systems.
authors: Ilker
authors: I
authors: Yildirim
authors: Stanford University Department of Psychology.
authors: Judith
authors: J
authors: Degen
authors: University of Rochester Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department of Linguistics.
authors: Michael K
authors: MK
authors: Tanenhaus
authors: University of Rochester Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department of Computer Science Department of Linguistics.
authors: T Florian
authors: TF
authors: Jaeger
keywords: adaptation; pragmatics; quantifiers; semantics; talker-specificity