Disjunction in DE contexts - When do children change their interpretation?

摘要

An interpretation of a disjunction that is in the scope of a downward entailment (DE) operator differs cross-linguistically [14, 16]. Every child has to acquire his or her target interpretation successfully. However, earlier research often report children's non-adult behavior. This raises a question in terms of acquisition. When do they change their interpretation? An experimental study revealed that Japanese-speaking 9-year-olds have the same interpretation of a disjunction as adults in a negative sentence but not in a comparative sentence. Although it is not economical, no correlation was found in time when a child changes his or her interpretation of a disjunction in different DE contexts.