Year: 2004
Type: article
Abstract: Various theories propose that count nouns are distinguished from mass nouns by their specification of individuation.We present evidence that, while 3-year-old children acquiring language extend words differentially on the basis of masscount syntax, they quantify over individuals for both novel mass and count nouns.We suggest that children may begin acquisition with an underspecified representation of mass noun semantics, permitting quantification over both individuals and continuous quantities.Also, children may rely on ontologically based biases to guide quantification.
Authors: David Barner, Jesse Snedeker
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: National Science Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W2772342919