Cross-Linguistic Variation and Cross-Linguistic Influence in Quantifier Interpretation

Abstract

In this study, by replicating the experiment of Stateva et al (2020) we investigate the representation of non-numerical quantifiers in Italian and Japanese, thus extending the sample of languages showing potential cross-linguistic variation. For the first time, the study also reports results which factor out the role of bilingualism in L2 acquisition of quantifiers by testing a bilingual Italian-English population examined in their L2 language (Italian). Stateva’s et al (2020) results about English showed that the quantifier some has a meaning differentiating it from its counterparts in the other languages included in the study. In our study, the results were consistent with those of Stateva et al (2020) and suggested additional support for the hypothesis raised in the Stateva et al (2020) study of a universal common pattern of processing the quantifiers across languages. In a bilingual context, the results indicate as a tendency some cross-linguistic influence though it is not prominent. As for the Japanese experiment, the results were consistent with those of Indo-European languages so far except for the quantifier some which has been treated as the quantifier few. In addition, the study raised questions including the revisitation of the methods for a non-Indoeuropean language.