The control of attributional patterns by the focusing properties of quantifying expressions  

Oleh:

Barton, S. B. ; Sanford, A. J.

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Journal of Semantics (Sebagian Full Text) vol. 7 no. 1 (Jan. 1990), page 81-92.
Topik: quantifiers; quantifying adverbs;
Fulltext: vol 7, no 1, p 81-92.pdf (581.7KB)

Isi artikel

Recent evidence has shown that certain quantifiers {few, only a few) and quantifying adverbs (seldom, rarely) when used tend to make people think of reasons for the small proportions or low frequencies which they denote. Other expressions single out small proportions or low frequences, but do not lead to a focus on reasons (e.g. a few; occasionally). In the present paper, these observations are applied to the attribution of cause in short two-line vignettes which make reference to situations, and where subjects have to say what is special in bringing about the state of affairs depicted. The procedure is standard in the area of social psychology known as attribution theory, but the present experiment is concerned with the role of quantifying descriptions in the process. Two theories are contrasted. The first, the frequency signalling theory, ascribes the peculiarity of an action to the frequency of that action in an individual versus the frequency of it in the population at large. The second, the focus control account, says that contrasts are only important if one or more of the quantifiers focuses attention on cause (i.e. serves as a comment on the frequency or proportion which is denoted). The results support the second hypothesis, and suggest that frequency signalling alone is not enough to generate attributional patterns. Apart from indicating an important boundary condition on attributional effects, the results show the important consequences of the non truth-functional aspects of the meaning of quantifiers previously reported in Moxey and Sanford (1987). The attributional effects are clearly dependent upon linguistic phenomena, a point largely ignored by attribution theorists until recently

Opini Anda

Klik untuk menuliskan opini Anda tentang koleksi ini!

Kembali