Interpretations and Processing Strategies for Japanese Quantificational Sentences

Abstract

In this project, we first investigated interpretations of Japanese quantified sentences like ‘(Q)NP1-nom (Q)NP2-acc V’ in a novel way. We found that, in more than half of the responses we obtained, the sentences were not interpreted based on tripartite structures (we named such quantification ‘non-TPS (tripartite structure) quantification’). Next, two experiments were carried out to measure the reading times of sentences with an embedded relative clause, such as ‘(Q)NP1-nom [(Q)NP2-acc V3] N4-acc V5,’ where N4 is a head noun modified by a relative clause. The findings revealed that the reading time of N4 was longer, an example of the garden path effect, when Qs tended to receive interpretations based on non-TPS quantification. These results and their implications are discussed according to the following hypothesis: When a Q is interpreted without TPS quantification, the interpretation of the whole quantified sentence is immediately determined, whereas the interpretation decision is temporarily delayed when TPS quantification is involved.