ABSTRACT
In terms of their semantic and pragmatic properties, number expressions (one, two, three…) have standardly been considered similar to quantifiers (some, a few, all). For instance, both kinds of expression form a scale: typically, an assertion containing a weaker member of the scale (Some/Two of the dwarfs loved Snow White) can be used to implicate that the stronger term of the scale doesn’t apply (Not all/No more than two of the dwarfs loved Snow White). We report here results from two experiments with young speakers of Modern Greek which support the opposite conclusion: namely, that number terms and quantifiers behave differently in terms of the scalar inferences they support. We discuss implications of these findings for linguistic theories of the semantics/pragmatics of numerals, as well as for developmental theories of the acquisition of number words.
