Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication

The paper presents experimental evidence for the over-specification of small cardinalities in referential communication. The first experiment shows that when presented with a small set (2, 3, or 4) of unique objects, the speaker includes a numeral denoting a small cardinality into the description of...

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Autores principales:	Natalia Zevakhina, Lena Pasalskaya, Alisa Chinkova
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:	over-specification informativeness referential communication reference production numerals color adjectives Psychology BF1-990
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/91cdb2a45c0341baa5a31d0ce72879fd
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:91cdb2a45c0341baa5a31d0ce72879fd2021-12-01T12:01:10ZOver-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication1664-107810.3389/fpsyg.2021.745230https://doaj.org/article/91cdb2a45c0341baa5a31d0ce72879fd2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.745230/fullhttps://doaj.org/toc/1664-1078The paper presents experimental evidence for the over-specification of small cardinalities in referential communication. The first experiment shows that when presented with a small set (2, 3, or 4) of unique objects, the speaker includes a numeral denoting a small cardinality into the description of given objects, although it is over-informative for the hearer (e.g., “three stars”). On the contrary, when presented with a large set of unique objects, the speaker does not include a numeral denoting a large cardinality into their description, so she produces a bare plural (e.g., “stars”). The effect of small cardinalities resembles the effect of over-specifying color in referential communication, which has been extensively studied in recent years (cf. Tarenskeen et al., 2015; Rubio-Fernández, 2016, among many others). This suggests that, like color, small cardinalities are absolute and salient. The second experiment demonstrates that when presented with an identical small set of monochrome objects, the speaker over-specifies a small cardinality to a much greater extent than a color. This suggests that small cardinalities are even more salient than color. The third experiment reveals that when slides are flashed on the screen one by one, highlighted objects of small cardinalities are still over-specified. We argue that a plausible explanation for the salience of small cardinalities is a subitizing effect, which is the human capacity to instantaneously grasp small cardinalities.Natalia ZevakhinaLena PasalskayaAlisa ChinkovaFrontiers Media S.A.articleover-specificationinformativenessreferential communicationreference productionnumeralscolor adjectivesPsychologyBF1-990ENFrontiers in Psychology, Vol 12 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	over-specification informativeness referential communication reference production numerals color adjectives Psychology BF1-990
spellingShingle	over-specification informativeness referential communication reference production numerals color adjectives Psychology BF1-990 Natalia Zevakhina Lena Pasalskaya Alisa Chinkova Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication
description	The paper presents experimental evidence for the over-specification of small cardinalities in referential communication. The first experiment shows that when presented with a small set (2, 3, or 4) of unique objects, the speaker includes a numeral denoting a small cardinality into the description of given objects, although it is over-informative for the hearer (e.g., “three stars”). On the contrary, when presented with a large set of unique objects, the speaker does not include a numeral denoting a large cardinality into their description, so she produces a bare plural (e.g., “stars”). The effect of small cardinalities resembles the effect of over-specifying color in referential communication, which has been extensively studied in recent years (cf. Tarenskeen et al., 2015; Rubio-Fernández, 2016, among many others). This suggests that, like color, small cardinalities are absolute and salient. The second experiment demonstrates that when presented with an identical small set of monochrome objects, the speaker over-specifies a small cardinality to a much greater extent than a color. This suggests that small cardinalities are even more salient than color. The third experiment reveals that when slides are flashed on the screen one by one, highlighted objects of small cardinalities are still over-specified. We argue that a plausible explanation for the salience of small cardinalities is a subitizing effect, which is the human capacity to instantaneously grasp small cardinalities.
format	article
author	Natalia Zevakhina Lena Pasalskaya Alisa Chinkova
author_facet	Natalia Zevakhina Lena Pasalskaya Alisa Chinkova
author_sort	Natalia Zevakhina
title	Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication
title_short	Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication
title_full	Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication
title_fullStr	Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication
title_full_unstemmed	Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication
title_sort	over-specification of small cardinalities in referential communication
publisher	Frontiers Media S.A.
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/91cdb2a45c0341baa5a31d0ce72879fd
work_keys_str_mv	AT nataliazevakhina overspecificationofsmallcardinalitiesinreferentialcommunication AT lenapasalskaya overspecificationofsmallcardinalitiesinreferentialcommunication AT alisachinkova overspecificationofsmallcardinalitiesinreferentialcommunication
_version_	1718405244637937664

Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication

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