Generics and Context: Do Counterexamples Dissuade Acceptance of True Generic Statements?

StatusVoR
Dublin Core metadata
Alternative title
Authors
Wajda, Edyta
Karczewski, Daniel
Monograph
Monograph (alternative title)
Date
2025-12-31
Publisher
Journal title
Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric
Issue
1
Volume
70
Pages
Pages
431-447
DOI
ISSN
0860-150X
2199-6059
ISSN of series
Weblink
https://reference-global.com/download/article/10.2478/slgr-2025-0022.pdf
Access date
2025-12-31
Abstract PL
Abstract EN
This study investigates whether the salience of counterexamples in discourse affects the acceptance of true generic statements. Building on previous theoretical and experimental work on generics, we examine whether generics are sensitive to contextual cues that highlight exceptions. Polish participants completed a truth-value judgment task featuring majority and minority characteristic generics presented in two types of encyclopaedic contexts: neutral and exception-driven. The results show that plural generics were highly stable across contexts, while singular generics exhibited a small but statistically significant decrease in acceptance in exception-driven conditions. Predicate type also influenced judgments: minority generics were rated as less acceptable than majority ones. These findings support the view that generics display high tolerance of exceptions, with limited context effects attributable to heuristic misjudgment or anaphoric reinterpretation rather than semantic variability. The results further suggest that singular generics may invite more restrictive interpretations due to their morphosyntactic form.
Abstract other
Keywords PL
Keywords EN
generics
context sensitivity
exception salience
heuristic judgment
plural vs. singular generics
Polish
Keywords other
Sustainable Development Goals
No SDGs are relevant for this Publication
Exhibition title
Place of exhibition (institution)
Exhibition curator
URI
https://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/2443
Type
License type
cc-by
Except as otherwise noted, this item is licensed under the Attribution licence | Permitted use of copyrighted works
Funder
Time range from
Time range to
Contact person name
Related publication
Related publication
Grant/project name
Grant number
Files
pdf
Generics and Context.pdf(332.1 KB)
Download
Views
Views0
Acquisition Date20.10.2022
Downloads
Downloads0
Acquisition Date20.10.2022
Altmetrics©
Dimensions
Google Scholar
Google Scholar