Plurality

Most experimental work on plurality to date has focused on testing some version of the implicature-based approach. These studies have typically focused on four aspects of the multiplicity inference: (i) its sensitivity to logical polarity, (ii) its context-dependence, (iii) the possibility of its suspension, and (iv) its development in young children. As we will see, while experimental data from adults regarding (i) and (ii) suggest that the multiplicity inference is indeed a scalar implicature, the existing evidence pertaining to (iii), at least prima facie, provides an argument in the opposite direction. We will argue that the developmental data may provide the critical evidence for adjudicating between the two theoretical approaches. In particular, data obtained from preschool-aged children are generally consistent with the predictions of the implicature-based approach, while they require auxiliary assumptions on the ambiguity-based approach.