Group Construal and Preschoolers' Generation of Scalar Implicatures

Unlike adults, 4- and 5-year-olds generally do not interpret some as meaning some but not all. Two experiments showed that 4-year-olds will interpret some to mean some but not all when given cues to construe multiple entities as forming a group. Experiment 1 showed that large numerosities, which are likely to be perceived as ensembles and represented as a group, facilitated children's interpretation of some to mean some but not all. Experiment 2 showed that describing a small numerosity with the collective noun family facilitated children's interpretation of some to mean some but not all. The results suggest the mechanisms that generate scalar implicatures are in place by age 4, and point to the role of conceptual and morphosyntactic factors in implicature generation.