Cross-linguistic relations between quantifiers and numerals in language acquisition: Evidence from Japanese

Abstract

A study of 104 Japanese-speaking 2-to 5-year-olds tested the relation between numeral and quantifier acquisition. Experiment 1 assessed Japanese children's comprehension of quantifiers, numerals, and classifiers. Relative to English-speaking counterparts, Japanese children were delayed in numeral comprehension at 2 years old, but showed no difference at 3 and 4. Also, Japanese 2-year-olds had better comprehension of quantifiers, indicating that their delay was specific to numerals. A second study examined the speech of Japanese and English caregivers, to explore the syntactic cues that might affect integer acquisition. In English, quantifiers and numerals occurred in similar syntactic positions, and overlapped to a greater degree than in Japanese. Also, Japanese nouns were often dropped, and both quantifiers and numerals exhibited variable positions relative to the nouns they modified. We conclude that syntactic cues in English facilitate bootstrapping numeral meanings from quantifier meanings, and that such cues are weaker in classifier languages like Japanese.Acknowledgements: Thank you to the families and staff of childcare centers in Toronto and

Learning that classifiers count: Mandarin-speaking children’s acquisition of sortal and mensural classifiers

“…For a count-mass language like English, children do not have to learn a complex system of sortal classifiers because numerals in English directly co-occur with most7 sortal nouns. Unlike Mandarin, English also has obligatory plural markings that could facilitate acquisition of measure words (Sarnecka et al 2007; Barner et al 2009). For example, the plural on the noun “cow” in the phrase, “one herd of cows,” might clue children into the fact that a collection of cows is being referenced and help children uncover the meaning of the novel word “herd.” In sum, cross-linguistic differences very likely affect the ease by which English-and Mandarin-speaking children come to understand how their native language encodes quantities.…”

Early Number Knowledge in Dual-Language Learners From Low-SES Households

“…These number-knower levels are found across language environments, not only in children speaking English or Spanish (or both), but also in child speakers of Arabic, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Slovenian, and even Tsimane', the language of a farming and foraging people by the same name who live in rural Bolivia (Almoammer et al, 2013;Barner, Libenson, Cheung, & Takasaki, 2009;Li, Le Corre, Shui, Jia, & Carey, 2003;Piantadosi, Jara-Ettinger, & Gibson, 2014;Sarnecka et al, 2007). …”

Numerical morphology supports early number word learning: Evidence from a comparison of young Mandarin and English learners

“…Likewise, it may be that syntax and morphology provide information that constrains the acquisition of number words. Indeed, Bloom and Wynn (1997) proposed that English-learning children infer that each number word denotes a unique, exact numerosity from the fact that it is the only meaning that is consistent with the syntax and semantics of the different types of phrases where number words occur (see also Barner, Libenson, Cheung, & Takasaki, 2009; Syrett, Musolino, & Gelman, 2012). …”

“… Previous studies showed that children learning a language with an obligatory singular/plural distinction (Russian and English) learn the meaning of the number word for one earlier than children learning Japanese, a language without obligatory number morphology (Barner, Libenson, Cheung, & Takasaki, 2009; Sarnecka, Kamenskaya, Yamana, Ogura, & Yudovina, 2007). This can be explained by differences in number morphology, but it can also be explained by many other differences between the languages and the environments of the children who were compared.…”