Did language give us numbers? : Symbolic thinking and the emergence of systematic numerical cognition

  • What role does language play in the development of numerical cognition? In the present paper I argue that the evolution of symbolic thinking (as a basis for language) laid the grounds for the emergence of a systematic concept of number. This concept is grounded in the notion of an infinite sequence and encompasses number assignments that can focus on cardinal aspects ("three pencils"), ordinal aspects ("the third runner"), and even nominal aspects ("bus #3"). I show that these number assignments are based on a specific association of relational structures, and that it is the human language faculty that provides a cognitive paradigm for such an association, suggesting that language played a pivotal role in the evolution of systematic numerical cognition.

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Author:Heike WieseORCiDGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-1150568
URL:http://www.uni-potsdam.de/fileadmin/projects/germanistik-07/Publikationen/HWEd01.pdf
Parent Title (German):Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Edinburgh, August 1-4, 2001
Publisher:Erlbaum
Place of publication:Mahwah, NJ
Editor:Johanna D. Moore, Keith Stenning
Document Type:Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2010/04/26
Year of first Publication:2001
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2010/04/26
GND Keyword:Lexikologie
Page Number:6
First Page:1118-1
Last Page:1118-6
Source:http://www.uni-potsdam.de/fileadmin/projects/germanistik-07/Publikationen/HWEd01.pdf ; (in:) Johanna D. Moore, Keith Stenning: Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Edinburgh, August 1-4, 2001. - Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, S. 1118-1
HeBIS-PPN:225054213
Dewey Decimal Classification:4 Sprache / 40 Sprache / 400 Sprache
Sammlungen:Linguistik
Linguistik-Klassifikation:Linguistik-Klassifikation: Lexikologie/Etymologie / Lexicology/Etymology
Licence (German):License LogoDeutsches Urheberrecht

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