Beyond knower levels

early partial knowledge of number words

Katie Wagner (Author), Franc Marušič (Author), Vesna Plesničar (Author), Tina Razboršek (Author), Jessica Sullivan (Author), Rok Žaucer (Author), David Barner (Author)

Abstract

Although both syntax and number words can indicate quantity, only numbers can specify large exact quantities. Do children use syntax to bootstrap preliminary meanings of number words before mastering precise meanings? We compared errors across languages on a Give-a-Number task in non-knowers (who have adult meanings for no number words) and subset knowers (who have adult meanings for fewer than five number words). Participants included learners of English, Spanish, French, and two dialects of Slovenian. One dialect, Central Slovenian, has rich number morphology including singular, dual, small plural, and large plural (for 5+). In all languages, subset knowers and some non-knowers demonstrated better than random responding for at least 2 number words beyond the largest number word they comprehended precisely. Additionally, Central Slovenian-learning non- and 1- knowers responded more accurately to requests for higher numbers than their counterparts in other languages, suggesting that rich plural marking may bootstrap number word meanings.

Keywords

knower level;grammatical number;acquisition of number words;bootstrapping;

Data

Language:	English
Year of publishing:	2015
Typology:	1.12 - Published Scientific Conference Contribution Abstract
Organization:	UNG - University of Nova Gorica
UDC:	81
COBISS:	4169211
Views:	4108
Downloads:	0
Average score:	0 (0 votes)
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