The pragmatics of descriptive and metalinguistic negation: experimental data from French - Experiment 1

Ref. 1022

Dataset Overview

Dataset title

The pragmatics of descriptive and metalinguistic negation: experimental data from French - Experiment 1

Dataset description language

English

Dataset Description

We created 16 pairs of DN and MN stimuli divided into two lists, with each list including only one sentence from each pair, and 16 fillers. Each participant saw only one list. The experiment was run using the E-prime self-paced reading software (Schneider et al. 2012). The software presented the items and the fillers in a randomized order for each participant. Participants saw a series of three segments: the first was NEG; the second, the COR follow up sentence; and the last one was a wrap up sentence, whose function was to finalize the task and to avoid a reading time measure taken on a series-final segment. The three segments were followed by a yes/no question, where the ostensible task was to decide whether or not the situation described by the three segments (NEG, COR and the wrap up sentence) correctly described the picture. All the experimental items correctly described the corresponding pictures. There was a mixture of true and false answers in the case of the fillers. All the sentences were formulated in the present tense and had simple vocabulary. The number of syllables of NEG and COR varied between 5 and 6. The two target segments for which the reading time measures were taken were NEG and COR. Each participant was invited to sit in front of the computer screen where the instructions explaining the experiment were displayed. They were informed that they would see a picture, that they should take the time to look at it, that they would read three sentences and that they would have to decide whether the three segments did or did not describe the picture. Each session began with written instructions, followed by a training phase, in which participants read sentences similar to the experimental items and the fillers. At the end of the training phase, which was carried out on 4 items similar to experimental items and 4 items similar to fillers, they had the opportunity to ask questions of the experimenter before the actual experiment began. All the trials began with a fixation cross in the middle of the screen, which lasted for 1000ms. Then the picture appeared, remaining until the participants pressed the space bar. After that, participants could read the sentences one after another, by pressing the space bar. There was no time constraint imposed for the task, and each participant completed the experiment within approximately 8 minutes

Remarks about the documentation

-

System version number

1.0

Embargo end date

23.06.2019

Publication date

03.07.2019

Version notes

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Bibliographical citation

Blochowiak Joanna & Cristina Grisot: The pragmatics of descriptive and metalinguistic negation: experimental data from French - Experiment 1 [Dataset]. Distributed by FORS, Lausanne.

DIP MD5 hash

a9d59d70ce4958ad697becf759d9f2e5

Dataset contents

swissubase_1022_1_0.zip