Choosing quantity over quality: syntax guides interpretive preferences for novel superlatives
Acquiring the correct meanings of number words (e.g., seven, forty-two) is challenging, as such words fail to describe salient properties of individuals or objects in their environment, referring rather to properties of sets of such objects or individuals. Previous research has revealed a critical role for language itself in how children acquire number word meanings, however attempts to pinpoint precisely the strong linguistic cues has proved challenging. We propose a novel "syntactic bootstrapping" hypothesis in which categorizing a novel word as a determiner leads to quantity-based interpretations. The results of a word learning task with 4 year olds indicates that this hypothesis is on the right track.
Wellwood, A., D. Odic, J. Halberda, and J. Lidz. (2012). Choosing quantity over quality: syntax guides interpretive preferences for novel superlatives. Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society annual meeting.