Display options
Cite
Zevakhina N, Pasalskaya L, Chinkova A. Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication. Front Psychol. 2021;12:745230doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.745230.
Zevakhina, N., Pasalskaya, L., & Chinkova, A. (2021). Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication. Frontiers in psychology, 12745230. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.745230
Zevakhina, Natalia, et al. "Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication." Frontiers in psychology vol. 12 (2021): 745230. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.745230
Zevakhina N, Pasalskaya L, Chinkova A. Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication. Front Psychol. 2021 Nov 29;12:745230. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.745230. eCollection 2021. PMID: 34912269; PMCID: PMC8666505.
Copy Download .nbib Format: NLM
Share it on

Front Psychol. 2021 Nov 29;12:745230. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.745230. eCollection 2021.

Over-Specification of Small Cardinalities in Referential Communication.

Frontiers in psychology

Natalia Zevakhina, Lena Pasalskaya, Alisa Chinkova

Affiliations

  1. HSE University, Moscow, Russia.

PMID: 34912269 PMCID: PMC8666505 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.745230

Abstract

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.

Copyright © 2021 Zevakhina, Pasalskaya and Chinkova.

Keywords: color adjectives; informativeness; numerals; over-specification; reference production; referential communication

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

References

  1. J Psycholinguist Res. 2003 Jan;32(1):3-23 - PubMed
  2. Cognition. 2003 Jan;86(3):253-82 - PubMed
  3. Cognition. 2004 Aug;93(1):1-41 - PubMed
  4. J Exp Psychol Gen. 1982 Mar;111(1):1-22 - PubMed
  5. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform. 1978 Aug;4(3):397-410 - PubMed
  6. Cogn Sci. 2013 Mar;37(2):395-411 - PubMed
  7. Percept Psychophys. 1981 Feb;29(2):106-12 - PubMed
  8. Perception. 1976;5(3):327-34 - PubMed
  9. Science. 1988 May 6;240(4853):740-9 - PubMed
  10. Front Psychol. 2015 Nov 06;6:1703 - PubMed
  11. Am J Psychol. 1949 Oct;62(4):498-525 - PubMed
  12. Front Psychol. 2015 Jul 06;6:935 - PubMed
  13. J Exp Child Psychol. 1975 Jun;19(3):434-9 - PubMed
  14. Psychol Sci. 2008 Jun;19(6):607-14 - PubMed
  15. Front Psychol. 2016 Feb 19;7:153 - PubMed

Publication Types