Publications

The acquisition of quantification across languages: Some predictions

Authors
Napoleon Katsos, (...), María Tania Barberán Recalde, et al.
Book Title
Proceedings of the 36th Boston University Conference on Language Development
Editors
A. K. Biller, E. Y. Chung, & A. Kimball
Year
2012
Pages
258 - 268
DOI
Publisher
Cascadilla Press
Links

In this paper we review factors that are expected to affect the order of acquisition of quantifiers across languages. We draw a distinction between language-wide and language-specific factors as well as factors that relate to the biological and social profile of the learner (such as gender, socio-economic status and schooling). We then propose predictions for what cross-linguistically similar patterns arise. This exposition provides the theoretical background against which a major empirical project has been undertaken, with the goal of documenting the extent to which the acquisition of quantifiers proceeds uniformly across languages. Here we summarize the scope of the project, the specific hypotheses under test, and other factors that must be considered in analysing the implications of these investigations for the interface between linguistic and non-linguistic cognition.