Abstract :
English sentences containing the universal quantifiers each, every, and all are highly complex structures
in view of the subtleties of their scope properties and resulting ambiguities. This study explored the
acquisition of universal quantifier sentences as reflected in the performance of three diverse collegelevel
student groups on a multipicture sentence interpretation task. The participant groups (hearing
native speakers, deaf students, and second language learners of English) all exhibited fundamental
knowledge of universal lexical, semantic, and syntactic properties that contribute to quantifier sentence
interpretation. The native speakers outperformed the deaf and second language groups, whose
performance was strikingly parallel. Performance patterns are explained in terms of the influences
of derivational economy, including the option to restrict in situ indefinite noun phrases to singleton
indefinites. The symmetry effect observed in child language studies was also observed among the
college-aged participants in this study. It is explained in terms of a pragmatic challenge in managing
contextual information that invokes an unexpected singleton indefinite interpretation. The results contribute
to the understanding of sentence comprehension under conditions of restricted learner access
to target language input and underscore the value of seeking correlates of theory-internal derivational
economy in language acquisition and use.
