Genericity, exceptions and domain restriction: experimental evidence from comparison with universals

Abstract

Generic statements are characteristically associated with two features that distinguish them from universally quantified statements: first, they are tolerant of exceptions, and, second, they are not associated with any overt quantifier or determiner. We present data from a timed Truth Value Judgement Task (TVJT) that investigates the consequences of these two features for processing. We discuss these results in the context of recent proposals that generic interpretations are a more 'default' or 'basic' kind of interpretation than universal quantification and argue that our results do not support these proposals.