Sounding the depths at the confluence of numerosity and language

Abstract

Researchers in a variety of disciplines are currently exploring how number words and other culturally variant symbols for quantities enable and enhance numerical cognition. In this article I survey the ways in which fieldwork among Amazonian languages is helping to elucidate the relationship between numerical cognition and language. I highlight several noteworthy findings in recent work on this topic, address their implications, and also consider the potential of future fieldwork on languages with typologically remarkable number systems.