Quantifiers and anaphoric set interpretation

In this project we investigate how anaphors referring back to quantified expressions such as 'some students' are interpreted in Swedish.

The sentences in (1) and (2) both talk about students falling asleep in a lecture:
(1) Några studenter somnade på föreläsningen.
(some students fell asleep in the lecture)

(2) Få studenter somnade på föreläsningen.
(few students fell asleep in the lecture)

When referring back to 'the students' in (1) we could say something like (3), where we have the students falling asleep in mind:

(3) De var så trötta efter gårdagens fest.
(they were so tired after yesterday's party)

When referring back to 'the students' in (2), on the other hand, we typically have the students who didin't fall asleep in the lecture in mind:

(4) De var så fascinerade av ämnet.
(they were so fascinated by the topic)

Giving (3) as a continuation to (2) is also possible while (4) as a continuation of (1) is quite odd.

We use EEG to examine how native speakers of Swedish process sentences with anaphoric reference to a quantified expression.