Semantic theory and acquisition: how one can inform the other

In recent years, there have been a number of theoretical efforts to unify certain semantic and pragmatic phenomena, including, for example, scalar implicatures, free choice inferences, and plural meanings. Such theories make predictions for child language, and indeed a number of recent studies have turned to acquisition data as a means of evaluating the plausibility of these theories. In this talk, I’ll present an overview of some of these studies, which have examined phenomena such as: free choice, plurals, homogeneity, clefts, questions, neg-raising, disjunction, and tense. I’ll discuss the consequences of some of the findings for semantic theories and for children’s development of enriched meanings more generally.