ABSTRACT
Quantifiers such as a lot, a few and not many are used by speakers “when information about quantities is known only vaguely, or with a low level of accuracy, or when the speaker does not need to be precise” (Moxey and Sanford, 1993a). They do not, however, correspond to specific amounts – quantities, or proportions within a specified range – independently of the context to which they currently apply (Moxey and Sanford, 1993b). The magnitudes that they imply are nevertheless of interest as mese are presumably one influence on their use by an author and are at least part of what is conveyed to the recipient of the communication. A few and not many denote the same proportion of a reference set when participants state the percentage they think is implied by statements such as: “…[he] spoke about the effects of education cuts on British Universities. A few/not many of his audience were convinced by his conclusions” Moxey and Sanford (1993a). But the two quantifiers are not thereby equivalent. They focus attention differently, as illustrated by two contrasting examples: “A few fans went to the match. They enjoyed it greatly”, and “Not many fans went to the match. They watched it on TV instead”. The former picks out the subset of fans who did not go, the latter the complement of that subset, those who did attend.
