On the Subitizing Effect in Language Contact

Abstract

Numerical cognition is an essential component of our daily life. It is the ability to process numerical quantities. In language, symbolic representations of numerical quantities are encoded by numerals. In situations of language contact, numerals are often borrowed from one language into another (Haspelmath & Tadmor, Loanwords in the world’s languages: A comparative handbook. De Gruyter Mouton, Berlin, 2009), and it has been observed that high and more abstract numerals are more prone to borrowing than lower numerals (Matras, Yaron, Language contact (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009: 202). Linguists mainly explain the higher borrowability of high numerals in sociocultural terms, for example, because of “their association with formal contexts of use” and “through intensification of economic activity” (Matras, Yaron, Language contact (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2009: 200). We propose an alternative explanation, informed by cognitive science, showing that low numerals are more resistant to borrowing than high numerals because they are more deeply anchored in cognition.