Cover not available

In:New Frontiers and Connections in Second Language Acquisition: Selected Proceedings of the 17th Generative Approaches to Second Language Acquisition (GASLA-17) Conference
Edited by Tania Ionin and Silvina Montrul
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 71] 2026
► pp. 101–128

Acquiring the scope of logical connectives and negation in Japanese as a second language

 | Ritsumeikan University
This content is being prepared for publication; it may be subject to changes.
Abstract
This study investigated the interpretations of Japanese negated disjunctions and conjunctions by L1-English and L1-Mandarin learners of L2-Japanese. Negated disjunctions and conjunctions have different interpretations in English as opposed to Japanese and Mandarin. The results of a Truth Value Judgment Task show that L1-Mandarin L2-Japanese learners had more target-like interpretations than L1-English L2-Japanese learners, suggesting L1 transfer. L1-English L2-Japanese learners had more difficulty with Japanese negated disjunctions than conjunctions, contrary to predictions based on learnability. L1-English L2-Japanese learners also had difficulty with another form of Japanese negated disjunction. From these results, I argue that the cognitive complexity of negated disjunctions is a potential delaying factor in the acquisition of their correct interpretations.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Linguistic properties
    • 2.1Negated disjunctions
    • 2.2Negated conjunctions
  • 3.Previous L2 studies on disjunction and conjunction under negation
  • 4.Research questions and predictions
  • 5.Experiment
    • 5.1Participants
    • 5.2Procedure
    • 5.3Materials
  • 6.Results
    • 6.1Group results
      • 6.1.1Descriptive analysis
      • 6.1.2Statistical analysis
    • 6.2Individual results
  • 7.Discussion
    • 7.1Which L2ers will be more target-like, L1-Mandarin learners
      or L1-English learners?
    • 7.2Will L1-English and L1-Mandarin learners be more target-like in
      their interpretation of negated disjunctions compared to negated conjunctions, and does this pattern differ between these two L1 groups?
    • 7.3Follow-up experiment
    • 7.4Limitation of the study
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
References (32)
References
Bates, D., Mächler, M., Bolker, B., & Walker, S. (2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bleotu, A. C., Nicolae, A., Panaitescu, M., Bîlbîie, G., Benz, A., & Tieu, L. (2025). A nonce investigation of a possible conjunctive default for disjunction. Experiments in Linguistic Meaning, 3, 53–64. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, Y., Mani, S., & Liu, C. (2023). L2 acquisition of scope of negation and conjunction in Mandarin Chinese. In P. Gappmayr & J. Kellogg (Eds.), Proceedings of the 47th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 118–131). Cascadilla.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crain, S. (2012). The emergence of meaning. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crain, S., & Thornton, R. 1998. Investigations in universal grammar. The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Crain, S., Goro, T., Notley, A., & Zhou, P. (2013). A parametric account of scope in child language. In S. Stavrakaki, M. Lalioti, & X. Konstantinopoulou (Eds.), Advances in language acquisition (pp. 63–71). Cambridge Scholars.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geçkin, V., Crain, S., & Thornton, R. (2016). The interpretation of logical connectives in Turkish. Journal of Child Language, 43(4), 784–810. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Geçkin, V., Thornton, R., & Crain, S. (2018). Children’s interpretation of disjunction in negative sentences: A comparison of Turkish and German. Language Acquisition, 25, 197–212. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goro, T. (2007). Language-specific constraints on scope interpretation in first language acquisition (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Maryland, College Park.
(2011). Scope of logical connectives in second language acquisition. Paper presented at the 26th Conference of Sophia University Linguistics Society. Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan.
(2017). Negation, uncertainty, and the Truth Value Judgment Task. In M. Nakayama, Y. Su, & A. Huang (Eds.), Studies in Chinese and Japanese language acquisition (pp. 41–61). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goro, T., & Akiba, S. 2004a. The acquisition of disjunction and positive polarity in Japanese. In V. Chand, A. Kelleher, A. J. Rodríguez, & B. Schmeiser (Eds.), Proceedings of the 23rd West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (pp. 251–264). Cascadilla.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004b). Japanese disjunction and the acquisition of positive polarity. In Y. Otsu (Ed.), The Proceedings of the 5th Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics (pp. 137–162). Hituzi Syobo.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grice, P. (1975). Logic and conversation. In P. Cole & J. Morgan (Eds.), Syntax and semantics (pp. 41–58). Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grüter, T., Lieberman, M., & Gualmini, A. (2010). Acquiring the scope of disjunction and negation in L2: A bidirectional study of learners of Japanese and English. Language Acquisition, 17(3), 127–154. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gualmini, A., & Crain, S. (2005). The structure of children’s linguistic knowledge. Linguistic Inquiry, 36(3), 463–474. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Horn, L. R. (1989). A natural history of negation. The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kuroda, S.-Y. (1965). Generative grammatical studies in the Japanese language (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Lee, Y., & Schwartz, B. D. (2024). The acquisition of negated disjunction in (native and) nonnative Korean. In H. A. A. AlThagafi & J. Ray (Eds.), Proceedings of the 48th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 299–312). Cascadilla.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lenth, R. (2025). emmeans: Estimated marginal means, aka least-squares means. R Package (version 1.11.2). [URL]
Muromatsu, K. (2007). The interaction of conjunction and negation. The bulletin of the Institute of Human Sciences, Toyo University, 7, 33–46.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oga, S. (2019). R niyoru shinri/tyousa de-ta bunseki [Psychological and research data analysis using R]. Tokyo-tosho.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Okuma, T. (2015). The Overt Pronoun Constraint effects in L2 Japanese (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). McGill University.
R Core Team. (2025). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. [URL]
Sano, T., Ohba, A., Yusa, M., & Deen, K. (2024). Reconsidering the semantic subset principle: Japanese children do have wide scope disjunction under negation. In H. A. A. AlThagafi & J. Ray (Eds.), Proceedings of the 48th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 441–455). Cascadilla.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shimoyama, J. (2006). Indeterminate phrase quantification in Japanese. Natural Language Semantics, 14(2), 139–173. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Szabolcsi, A. (2002). Hungarian disjunction and positive polarity. In I. Kenesei & P. Siptár (Eds.), Approaches to Hungarian 8 (pp. 217–241). Akadémiai Kiadó.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thornton, R. (2017). The Truth Value Judgment Task: An update. In M. Nakayama, Y. Su, & A. Huang (Eds.), Studies in Chinese and Japanese language acquisition (pp. 13–39). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wu, M-J., & Ionin, T. (2019). L1-Mandarin L2-English speakers’ acquisition of English quantifier-negation scope. In M. Brown & B. Dailey (Eds.), Proceedings of the 43rd annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 716–729). Cascadilla.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2022). L1-Mandarin L2-English learners’ acquisition of English double-quantifier scope. In T. Leal, E. Shimanskaya, & C. A. Isabelli (Eds.), Generative SLA in the age of minimalism (pp.93–114). John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yatsushiro, K. (2009). The distribution of quantificational suffixes in Japanese. Natural Language Semantics, 17(2), 141–173. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yusa, M., & Schwartz, B. D. (2022). L2 reconstruction effects in negated disjunction under pseudoclefts. In K. Horie, K. Akita, Y. Kubota, D. Y. Oshima, & A. Utsugi (Eds.), Japanese/Korean linguistics 29 (pp. 291–305). CSLI.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue