Direct Modification (Pilot) Syntax Subject NP, Predicate NP Trial-type Critical / Filler

Your friend runs far ahead of you. You see him in the distance:

Your friend says: Y “That big Great Dane is a prize-winner” / “That Great Dane is big” “That prize-winner is a big Great Dane” / “That’s a big Great Dane” What do you think your friend is saying it is big relative to? “It is big relative to other ___”

How do listeners infer the comparison class? Listeners use world knowledge and pragmatic reasoning to adjust the comparison class (Tessler, Lopez-Brau, & Goodman, 2017)

What a noun can do A Noun Phrase in the sentence can contribute to reference or predication. (Reboul, 2001) • reference: aid the listener in attending to the target referent• predication: set the comparison classInferential hypothesisReference-predication trade-off

Basic−Level Context Subordinate−Level Context

Subject NP(That NP is big)

Predicate NP(That's a big NP)

Subject NP(That NP is big)

Predicate NP(That's a big NP)

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Syntax Rating You see this Great Dane. Syntax Subject N, Predicate N N Label Basic, Subordinate

Comparison Class Inference Syntax Subject N, Predicate N Your friend runs far ahead of N Label Basic, Subordinate, “one” you. You see him in the distance: Context Basic, Subordinate Your friend says: “That {dog, Great Dane, one} is big” “That’s a big {dog, Great Dane, one}” What do you think your friend meant? “It’s big relative to other ___”

Alternative Hypotheses • “Grab the Noun”: Use the noun as the comparison

class• “Context Only”: Use perceptual context set as

comparison class• “Modification Only”: Use the noun as comparison

class if it is directly modified by the adjective, otherwise use contextually supplied comparison class

Inferring Comparison Classes from Sentence Structure and Informational Goals Michael Henry Tessler1*, Polina Tsvilodub2, and Roger P. Levy1

1MIT, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences 2Osnabrück University, Institute of Cognitive Science *tessler@mit.edu

Gradable Adjectives & Comparison Classes

Working Assumption: Nouns in the subject position (esp., when combined with the deictic “that”, e.g., “that dog”) are more likely to contribute to reference, and less to predication.

Nouns whose presence can be explained by their utility in reference are less likely to be used for predication (setting the comparison class).

Experiment Design

How well does each of the sentences describe it?

Basic-Level Context Subordinate Context

Results

Noun Production You see this one. Syntax Subject N, Predicate N [between-participants]

You say to your friend: “That ___ is small” “That’s a small ___”

Basic-Level Context Subordinate Context

Comparison Class Inference (n=200)

Syntax Rating (n=80) Noun Production (n=190)

Subject N (That N is big)

Predicate N (That’s a big N)

Subject N (That N is big)

Predicate N (That’s a big N)

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Discussion • Listeners use information-structure (and world knowledge) to

infer comparison classes• That’s a big Great Dane = big for a Great Dane• That Great Dane is big = big for a dog

• The noun’s utility in reference can explain it away• Preliminary evidence suggests that syntactic structure

provides cues to the comparison class and not the direct modification by the adjective

Do the experiments yourself! tinyurl.com/yb5ogj5g

ReferencesGraf, C., Degen, J., Hawkins, R. X., & Goodman, N. D. (2016). Animal, dog, or dalmatian? level of abstraction in nominal referring expressions. In 38th annual meeting of the cognitive science society. Kennedy, C. (2007). Vagueness and grammar: The semantics of relative and absolute gradable adjectives. Linguistics and philosophy, 30(1), 1–45. Reboul, A. (2001). Foundations of reference and predication. In M. Haspelmath (Ed.), Language typology and language universals. an international handbook, vol.1. Walter de Gruyter. Tessler, M. H., Lopez-Brau, M., & Goodman, N. D. (2017). Warm (for winter): Comparison class understanding in vague language. In Proceedings of the thirty-ninth annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

Subject N (That N is big)

Predicate N (That’s a big N)

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Subject N (That N is big)

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Direct Modification Pilot (n=32)

Subject NP

(That big Great Dane

is a prize-winner)Predicate NP

(That prize-winner

is a big Great Dane)

That Great Dane is big • big for a Great Dane?•big for a dog?

Kennedy (2007)

critical filler

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