What do you expect to get when you ask for "a cup of coffee and a muffin or a croissant"? On the interpretation of sentences containing multiple connectives

Judith Avrahami*, Yaakov Kareev

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sentences containing both the AND and the OR connectives (e.g. A and B or C) may be interpreted either as "(A and B) or C" or as "A and (B or C)". The present study explored the effects of two variables-the order of the two connectives and category membership of the arguments connected-on the interpretation of such sentences. Some 160 undergraduates had to choose between alternative interpretations of a sentence involving three arguments connected by AND and OR. It was found that in most cases AND is considered to bind the arguments more strongly than OR. However this tendency is order- and content-sensitive.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)429-434
Number of pages6
JournalInternational Journal of Man-Machine Studies
Volume38
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1993

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