Sub sections:
The semantics of counting and numbers
Semester I 2005
Prof. Cliff Goddard
cgoddard@une.edu.au
(Education 108, 20 June 2005, 12 noon)
Abstract
In this talk I will examine some classic questions about numbers and number expressions using the methodology and techniques of the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) theory. I will start by explicating how words like three, four, five, etc. are used as "props" in counting routines which set up a systematic correlation between a sequence of words and a set of objects. It is then shown how the existence of the counting procedure is used as a kind of conceptual reference point when making simple numerical statements, for instance, when saying They have five children. The paper then addresses the question of how lexically complex number words, such as fifteen, twenty-two, one hundred and ten, and so on, are built up systematically from the simpler number words. The third question is the semantic status of (natural) numbers as such, e.g. 15, 21, 110, as opposed to number words. The topic has far-reaching implications, in view of the importance of numerical cognition and the role of numbers as "mental tools".