Beyond the scope of acquisition: a novel perspective on the isomorphism effect from Broca’s aphasia

Lynda Kennedy*, Jacopo Romoli, Lyn Tieu, Vincenzo Moscati, Raffaella Folli

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    2 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Children have been reported to prefer the surface scope or “isomorphic” reading of scopally ambiguous sentences (Musolino 1998, among others). Existing accounts in the literature differ with respect to the proposed source of this isomorphism effect. Some accounts are based on learnability considerations (e.g., Moscati & Crain 2014), while others invoke pragmatic and/or processing factors (e.g., Gualmini et al. 2008; Musolino & Lidz 2006). The present study investigates whether the isomorphism effect is specific to development or rather is observable in other populations with language processing limitations. We investigated the interpretation of ambiguous sentences containing “every” and negation in 4–6-year-old children, individuals with Broca’s aphasia, and neurotypical adult controls. We observed parallel performance in the children and the aphasic group, with both groups accessing more surface scope readings than inverse scope readings. This finding suggests that the preference for isomorphism may not be specific to acquisition and supports accounts that are not specifically based on learnability considerations—for example, processing accounts along the lines of Musolino & Lidz (2006).

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)144-152
    Number of pages9
    JournalLanguage Acquisition
    Volume26
    Issue number2
    Early online date5 Sept 2018
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2019

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Beyond the scope of acquisition: a novel perspective on the isomorphism effect from Broca’s aphasia'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this