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The plural counts: Inconsistent grammatical number hinders numerical development in preschoolers - A cross-linguistic
Maciej Haman1, Katarzyna Lipowska1, Mojtaba Soltanlou2
1Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland.
Cognition
|February 8, 2023
Summary
Grammatical number systems influence children's numerical development beyond early stages. Complex grammar, like in Polish, delays numerical understanding compared to simpler systems, such as German.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Linguistics
Background:
- Grammatical number inflection's role in early numerical development is known.
- Influence of grammatical structure on later numerical development remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the impact of grammatical number paradigms on complex numerical development.
- Compare numerical development in Polish-speaking (complex grammar) and German-speaking (simpler grammar) children.
Main Methods:
- Tested 151 Polish and 123 German kindergarteners on symbolic numerical comparison.
- Assessed counting skills (Give-a-Number, count-list), non-symbolic to symbolic mapping, and working memory.
- Categorized children into subset-knowers, CP-knowers-non-mappers, and CP-knowers-mappers based on tasks.
Main Results:
- Polish children reached the CP-knowers stage later than German children, despite similar non-numerical skills.
- Polish children performed worse on numerical comparison tasks even after achieving the CP-knowers stage.
- Significant differences observed in spatial-numerical mapping between the two language groups.
Conclusions:
- Grammatical number paradigms influence numerical representation and processing beyond early word acquisition.
- Linguistic structures impact symbolic number development in later childhood stages.
- Language's role in numerical cognition extends to more complex developmental phases.
Keywords:
Cross-linguistic differencesGrammatical numberNumerical developmentNumerosity-to-number mappingPreschoolersSymbolic number comparisonMore Related Videos
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