Algoritmi innati nello sviluppo della competenza pragmatica: il caso delle Implicature Scalari

Abstract

In this paper, we will examine some experimental data on Scalar Implicatures (SIs) in children. We will propose a “lexical” account to deal with this pragmatic phenomenon, to explain why children: (i) behave differently from adults in pragmatic tasks; (ii) treat different scalar items differently; in particular, why they easily compute the SIs associated to numerals; (iii) derive SIs more in some tasks than others; (iv) are sensitive to the monotonicity properties of the context. We will argue that SIs are an example of the spontaneous logicality of language, based on innate algorithms. The delay observed in their computation in children will be accounted for in terms of  lexical maturation and lexicon development.