Contextual reference domains and verification: What is relevant and what is not in sentence verification

Abstract

A contextual reference domain model is proposed to explain situations wherein referents that do not involve the topic of a sentence (or nontopical referents) are judged to be relevant to that sentence's verification. The model states that decisions about the relevance of referents depend on how the target sentence is understood. The meaning attributed to the sentence constrains the set of objects that can provide proof for the sentence's verification. This set of objects is referred to as reference domain for verification and is proposed to vary depending on the contextual factors that affect the meaning of the target sentence. Data supporting the model were found in three experiments with 80 subjects using a verification decision task. The type of relationship (i.e., binary or nonbinary) between the topic of the sentence and the referent was used to prompt more inclusive meanings for the sentence and the reference domains. Nontopical referents were found more likely to be considered relevant in conditions where it was more likely that the target sentence was understood as referring to the nontopical concept, too. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of contextual factors in the sentence verification process.