Early Acquisition of Quantifiers in Basque
Following the debate on the pragmatic/logical interpretation of quantifiers, the aim of this study is to test the acquisition and interpretation of six quantifiers (guztiak ‘all’, batere ez ‘none’, batzuk ‘some’, gehienak ‘most’, guztiak ez ‘not all’ and batzuk ez ‘some not’) by Basque 4/5-year-old children. In fact, this is a transversal study, since it presents the results obtained in one session by 20 children. The results of this study lead to the following conclusions: (i) Adults resort more consistently to pragmatics rather than to logic when having to interpret those quantifiers; (ii) Children resort more consistently to logic rather than pragmatics when interpreting those quantifiers; (iii) Age seems to have an effect in the acquisition of natural quantifiers; (iv) Children follow a pattern of quantificational comprehension.