Abstract
Sentences such as The author started the book are indeterminate because they do not make explicit what the subject (the author) started doing with the object (the book). In principle, indeterminate sentences allow for an infinite number of interpretations. One theory, however, assumes that these sentences are resolved by semantic coercion, a linguistic process that forces the noun book to be interpreted as an activity (e.g., writing the book) or by a process that interpolates this activity information in the resulting enriched semantic composition. An alternative theory, pragmatic, assumes classical semantic composition, whereby meaning arises from the denotation of words and how they are combined syntactically, with enrichment obtained via pragmatic inferences beyond linguistic-semantic processes. Cognitive neuroscience studies investigating the neuroanatomical and functional correlates of indeterminate sentences have shown activations either at the ventromedial pre-frontal cortex (vmPFC) or at the left inferior frontal gyrus (L-IFG). These studies have supported the semantic coercion theory assuming that one of these regions is where enriched semantic composition takes place. Employing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we found that indeterminate sentences activate bilaterally the superior temporal gyrus (STG), the right inferior frontal gyrus (R-IFG), and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), more so than control sentences (The author wrote the book). Activation of indeterminate sentences exceeded that of anomalous sentences (…drank the book) and engaged more left- and right-hemisphere areas than other sentence types. We suggest that the widespread activations for indeterminate sentences represent the deployment of pragmatic-inferential processes, which seek to enrich sentence content without necessarily resorting to semantic coercion.
Highlights
A hallmark of linguistic communication is that sentences are often indeterminate: their intended messages cannot be obtained by resorting to what they explicitly say, that is, to the meaning of their constituent words and how those meanings combine
If coercion effects are pragmatic effects reflecting attempts to resolve indeterminacy, as we suggest, we are left with a view of semantic composition that contrasts with the enriched form of compositionality as proposed by Pustejovsky (1995) and others
Our results show that indeterminate sentences engage neurological substrates that go beyond those required to interpret determinate sentences—producing a hemodynamic response that is more compatible with a view that takes pragmatic inferences to be triggered beyond classical semantic composition
Summary
A hallmark of linguistic communication is that sentences are often indeterminate: their intended messages cannot be obtained by resorting to what they explicitly say, that is, to the meaning of their constituent words and how those meanings combine. A sentence such as (1a) can be taken to express the idea that John wants to drink or to buy Frontiers in Human Neuroscience | www.frontiersin.org de Almeida et al. FMRI of Indeterminate Sentences a beer, just like (1b) can be taken to express that Mary began reading or writing the book. What is not clear is the source of information that is supposed to enrich the content of these sentences beyond what their constituent words and their modes of combination provide. How does Mary began the book come to be understood as something like Mary began to read the book? And, more pertinent to our present goals, what are the neurological resources deployed in the comprehension of these sentences?
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