PSY315H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Noun Phrase, Dollhouse, Freudian Slip
Document Summary
Put the apple on the plate in the basket . Function of phrase on the plate = temporarily ambiguous as sentence unfolds in timemodifier (which apple?) One-referent display there is only one apple (one potential reference for the world apple)- adults look at the empty plate (intended location) immediately, specifying where the apple is supposed to go. This is where adults show confusion because they hear in the basket so they look back at the original apple (to see that it is on a plate) and then at the basket. The speaker has violated the rules of language by providing too much information. If there is only one apple then they don"t need to provide more details about the apple they"re referring to. Adults are using pragmatic knowledge to figure out what is being said. They look at the empty plate because that is a rational way to expect the rest of that sentence to unfold.
