Work

What Exactly Do Numbers Mean

Year: 2004

Type: article

Abstract: The correct semantics for number words has been a topic of much dispute in linguistics. This controversy bears directly on our understanding of the development of numerical concepts. The Neo-Gricean theory (Horn, 1989) posits that number words, like other scalar terms, possess a lower-bounded semantics and only receive exact interpretations pragmatically via scalar implicatures. For example, “two” would mean AT LEAST TWO and would only be interpreted as referring to exactly two entities because the speaker could use stronger terms such as “three” or “four” to refer to larger quantities. A second theory (Koenig, 1991) states that numbers have an exact semantics (“two” means EXACTLY TWO) that can generate both a set reading (“two ” establishes numerosity of the set) and a distributed reading (“two ” predicates the existence of two individuals

Authors: Yi Ting Huang, Jesse Snedeker, Elizabeth S. Spelke

Language: English

Topic: Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

Subfield: Language and Linguistics

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2587540915

FWCI: 3.244

Cites:

Cited by: 17

Related to: 10