EXPRESS: Mutual influences between numerical and non-numerical quantities in comparison tasks

Humans possess a numerical intuition that allows them to manipulate large non-symbolic quantities. This ability has been broadly assessed with the help of number comparison tasks involving simultaneously displayed arrays. Many authors pointed out that the manipulation (or the lack thereof) of non-numerical features deeply impacts performance in these tasks, but the specific nature of this influence is not clear. The current study investigates the interaction between numerical and non-numerical quantity judgment tasks. Adult participants performed five distinct comparison tasks, each based on a target dimension: numerosity, total area, dot size, convex hull, and mean occupancy. We manipulated the relation between the target and the other dimensions to measure their respective influence on task performance. Results showed that total area and convex hull substantially affected numerosity comparisons. The number of dots conversely acted as an informative dimension when participants had to make a decision based on the total area or the convex hull. Our results illustrate that adults flexibly use non-target dimensions as visual cues to perform comparison judgments. Overall, this suggests that the influence found in numerical comparison tasks is explicit and deliberate rather than due to implicit visual integration processes.

The count-mass distinction in Terena

This paper examines the count-mass distinction in Terena (Aruák, Brazil) by focusing on plural marking availability, numeral and quantifier distribution and cardinal versus volume interpretation in quantity judgment tests. The data collected from the initial research of these features in Terena reveals the relevancy of the count-mass distinction in the language with some signature properties: (i) only count nouns can be directly combined with numerals; (ii) only count nouns can be used with the quantifier êno with the interpretarion of many individuals rather than a large quantity; and finally, (iii) only count nouns can express cardinality of individuals in a comparative sentence such as John has more N than Peter. Plural morpheme distribution is unsuitable for distinguishing count from mass nouns (such as in English) since mass nouns can be pluralized in Terena, provided noun denotations have individuals to allow for number rather than volume quantity interpretation.

Mutual influences between numerical and non-numerical quantities in comparison tasks

Humans possess a numerical intuition that allows them to manipulate large non-symbolic quantities. This ability has been broadly assessed with the help of number comparison tasks involving simultaneously displayed arrays. Many authors pointed out that the manipulation (or the lack thereof) of non-numerical features deeply impacts performance in these tasks, but the specific nature of this influence is not clear. The current study investigates the interaction between numerical and non-numerical quantity judgment tasks. Adult participants performed five distinct comparison tasks, each based on a target dimension: numerosity, total area, dot size, convex hull, and mean occupancy. We manipulated the relation between the target and the other dimensions to measure their respective influence on task performance. Results showed that total area and convex hull substantially affected numerosity comparisons. The number of dots conversely acted as an informative dimension when participants had to make a decision based on the total area or the convex hull. Our results illustrate that adults flexibly use non-target dimensions as visual cues to perform comparison judgments. Overall, this suggests that the influence found in numerical comparison tasks is explicit and deliberate rather than due to implicit visual integration processes.

An experimental study on the interpretation of bare singulars in Mexican Spanish / Um estudo experimental sobre a interpretação de singulares nus no espanhol mexicano

This paper explores the interpretation of bare singulars (count nouns that are not preceded by determiners) as coche (“car”) in María compró coche ayer (“Mary bought (a/some) car(s) yesterday”) in Mexican Spanish. A quantity judgment task was performed with 134 L1 Mexican speakers and they had to choose one between two scenarios where different quantities of the tested noun were shown. In this task, while presenting two different characters, one that has two big portions of x (Volume) and another that has six different portions of x (Number), it is presented a comparative sentence (Marcelo tiene más X que Lena (“Marcelo has more X than Lena”)) and asked whether the sentence was true or false given the context. The results show that a Number interpretation was preferred for bare singulars (Marcelo tiene más bici que Lena (“Marcelo has more bike than Lena”)) and a Volume interpretation was preferred for substance mass nouns (Marcelo tiene más agua que Lena (“Marcelo has more water than Lena”)). That is, the absence of the plural morpheme (mass syntax) does not trigger a mass interpretation of bare singulars; bare singulars are interpreted as pluralized count nouns even when they are not pluralized.Keywords: Mexican Spanish; bare singulars; count/mass distinction; quantity judgment task.Resumo: Esse trabalho explora a interpretação de singulares nus (nomes contáveis que não são precedidos de determinantes) como coche (“carro”) em María compró coche ayer (“Maria comprou (um/alguns) carro(s) ontem”) no Espanhol Mexicano. Um julgamento de quantidade foi feito com 134 falantes mexicanos L1 e eles tiveram que escolher um entre dois cenários em que diferentes quantidades do nome testado eram mostradas. Nessa tarefa, enquanto duas personagens diferentes foram apresentadas, uma que possuía duas porções grandes de x (Volume) e outra que possuía seis diferentes porções de x (Número), é apresentada uma sentença comparativa (Marcelo tiene más X que Lena (“Marcelo tem mais X que Lena”)) e perguntado se a sentença é verdadeira ou falsa, dado o contexto. Os resultados mostram que a interpretação de Número foi a preferida para singulares nus (Marcelo tiene más bici que Lena (“Marcelo tem mais bicicleta que Lena”)) e a interpretação de Volume foi a preferida para nomes massivos de substância (Marcelo tiene más água que Lena (“Marcelo tem mais água que Lena”)). Isto é, a ausência de morfema de plural (sintaxe massiva) não desencadeia uma interpretação massiva de singulares nus; singulares nus são interpretados como nomes contáveis pluralizados mesmo que eles não estejam pluralizados.Palavras-chave: Espanhol Mexicano; singulares nus; distinção contável/massiva; tarefa de julgamento de quantidade.

Quantity judgment and the mass-count distinction across languages: Advances, problems, and future directions for research

We review advances in the experimental study of the mass-count distinction and highlight problems that have emerged. First, we lay out what we see to be the scientific enterprise of studying the syntax and semantics of mass-count distinction, and the assumptions we believe must be made if additional progress is to occur, especially as the empirical facts continue to grow in number and complexity. Second, we discuss the new landscape of cross-linguistic results that has been created by widespread use of the quantity judgment task, and what these results tell us about the nature of the mass-count distinction. Finally, we discuss the relationship between the mass-count distinction and non-linguistic cognition, and in particular the object-substance distinction.

Quantity judgment and the mass-count distinction across languages: Advances, problems, and future directions for research

We review advances in the experimental study of the mass-count distinction and highlight problems that have emerged. First, we lay out what we see to be the scientific enterprise of studying the syntax and semantics of mass-count distinction, and the assumptions we believe must be made if additional progress is to occur, especially as the empirical facts continue to grow in number and complexity. Second, we discuss the new landscape of cross-linguistic results that has been created by widespread use of the quantity judgment task, and what these results tell us about the nature of the mass-count distinction. Finally, we discuss the relationship between the mass-count distinction and non-linguistic cognition, and in particular the object-substance distinction.

Who has more? The influence of linguistic form on quantity judgments

Quantity judgment tasks have been increasingly used within and across languages as a diagnostic for noun semantics. Overwhelmingly, results show that notionally atomic nouns (Who has more cats?) are counted, while notionally non-atomic nouns (Who has more milk?) are measured by volume. There are two primary outliers to the strict atomicity-tracking pattern. First, some nouns, like furniture, show primarily cardinality-based results in some studies, indicating atomicity, but nevertheless show systematic non-cardinality judgments in other studies, with comparison based instead on value/utility. Second, it has been reported that speakers of the Amazonian language Yudja favor cardinality-based quantity comparison for all nouns regardless of notional atomicity. In the current study, we show that both of these patterns arise in naïve English speakers in the absence of clear linguistic cues to atomicity, and suggest that the absence or mis-diagnosis of linguistic cues may be behind the reported outliers to atomicity-tracking.

Language, thought, and real nouns

We test the claim that acquiring a mass-count language, like English,causes speakers to think differently about entities in the world, relativeto speakers of classifier languages like Japanese. We use three tasks toassess this claim: object-substance rating, quantity judgment, and wordextension. Using the first two tasks, we present evidence that learningmass-count syntax has little effect on the interpretation of familiar nounsbetween Japanese and English, and that speakers of these languages do notdivide up referents differently along an individuation continuum, asclaimed in some previous reports (Gentner & Boroditsky, 2001). Instead, weargue that previous cross-linguistic differences (Imai & Gentner, 1997) areattributable to “lexical statistics” (Gleitman & Papafragou, 2005).Speakers of English are more likely to think that a novel ambiguousexpression like “the blicket” refers to a kind of object (relative tospeakers of Japanese) because speakers of English are likely to assume that“blicket” is a count noun rather than a mass noun, based on the relativefrequency of each kind of word in English. This is confirmed by testingMandarin-English bilinguals with a word extension task. We find thatbilinguals tested in English with mass-count ambiguous syntax extend novelwords like English monolinguals (and assume that a word like “blicket”refers to a kind of object). In contrast, bilinguals tested in Mandarin aresignificantly more likely to extend novel words by material. Thus, onlinelexical statistics, rather than non-linguistic thought, mediate cross-linguistic differences in word extension. We suggest that speakers ofMandarin, English, and Japanese draw on a universal set of lexicalmeanings, and that mass-count syntax allows speakers of English to selectamong these meanings.