Cross-linguistic patterns in the acquisition of quantifiers

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 113; no. 33; pp. 9244 - 9249
• Main Authors: Katsos, Napoleon, Cummins, Chris, Ezeizabarrena, Maria-José, Gavarró, Anna, Kraljević, Jelena Kuvač, Hrzica, Gordana, Grohmann, Kleanthes K., Skordi, Athina, de López, Kristine Jensen, Sundahl, Lone, van Hout, Angeliek, Hollebrandse, Bart, Overweg, Jessica, Faber, Myrthe, van Koert, Margreet, Smith, Nafsika, Vija, Maigi, Zupping, Sirli, Kunnari, Sari, Morisseau, Tiffany, Rusieshvili, Manana, Yatsushiro, Kazuko, Fengler, Anja, Varlokosta, Spyridoula, Konstantzou, Katerina, Farby, Shira, Guasti, Maria Teresa, Vernice, Mirta, Okabe, Reiko, Isobe, Miwa, Crosthwaite, Peter, Hong, Yoonjee, Balčiūnienė, Ingrida, Nizar, Yanti Marina Ahmad, Grech, Helen, Gatt, Daniela, Cheong, Win Nee, Asbjørnsen, Arve, von Koss Torkildsen, Janne, Haman, Ewa, Miękisz, Aneta, Gagarina, Natalia, Puzanova, Julia, Anđelković, Darinka, Savić, Maja, Jošić, Smiljana, Slančová, Daniela, Kapalková, Svetlana, Barberán, Tania, Özge, Duygu, Hassan, Saima, Chan, Cecilia Yuet Hung, Okubo, Tomoya, van der Lely, Heather, Sauerland, Uli, Noveck, Ira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 16.08.2016
• Subjects: Adult; Child, Preschool; Cognitive science; Comprehension; Culture; Female; Gender; Generalization (Psychology); Humans; Language; Learning; Linguistics; Male; Semantics; Sensory perception; Social Sciences; universals; semantics; quantifiers; pragmatics; language acquisition
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1601341113

Learners of most languages are faced with the task of acquiring words to talk about number and quantity. Much is known about the order of acquisition of number words as well as the cognitive and perceptual systems and cultural practices that shape it. Substantially less is known about the acquisition of quantifiers. Here, we consider the extent to which systems and practices that support number word acquisition can be applied to quantifier acquisition and conclude that the two domains are largely distinct in this respect. Consequently, we hypothesize that the acquisition of quantifiers is constrained by a set of factors related to each quantifier’s specific meaning. We investigate competence with the expressions for “all,” “none,” “some,” “some...not,” and “most” in 31 languages, representing 11 language types, by testing 768 5-y-old children and 536 adults. We found a cross-linguistically similar order of acquisition of quantifiers, explicable in terms of four factors relating to their meaning and use. In addition, exploratory analyses reveal that language- and learner-specific factors, such as negative concord and gender, are significant predictors of variation.