Experimental L2 Semantics/Pragmatics of Scalar Quantifiers: An ERP Study

Abstract

We used the event-related potential (ERP) experimental methodology to probe into Korean English L2ers’ differentiation between semantic and pragmatic interpretations of the scalar quantifier SOME. Besides, we scrutinized their recognition of semantic interpretations for the universal quantifier ALL. The results of the two experiments reveal that Korean English L2ers were able to differentiate characteristically distinct types of semantic anomaly for the two quantifiers at issue during sentence processing. However, unlike L1 native speakers that recorded late sustained posterior negativity for the pragmatically anomalous quantifier SOME, Korean English L2ers didn’t register the corresponding ERP response to it.