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ERIC Number: EJ1451558
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 26
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0163-853X
EISSN: EISSN-1532-6950
Available Date: N/A
Strategic Use of English Quantifiers in the Reporting of Quantitative Information
Vinicius Macuch Silva; Alexandra Lorson; Michael Franke; Chris Cummins; Bodo Winter
Discourse Processes: A Multidisciplinary Journal, v61 n10 p498-523 2024
This study investigates how quantifiers are used strategically to serve different argumentative goals. We report two experiments on how English speakers describe the results of school exams when being instructed to frame their descriptions either as a good or bad outcome. Experiment 1 shows that participants have clear preferences for specific quantifier combinations in this task. Experiment 2 shows that, in situations where producing descriptions that meet one's argumentative goals is difficult (i.e. framing very bad outcomes positively), participants tend to use quantifiers that are informationally weaker than other salient alternatives. Experiment 2 also shows that people have a bias to frame outcomes positively, even when the task asks them to frame them negatively. Put together, these results shed light on the question of how language users strategically explore different linguistic strategies to communicate quantity in pragmatically favorable ways, including how quantifiers are used vis-`a-vis other lexical expressions of quantity.
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Data File: URL: https://osf.io/g6bep/
Author Affiliations: N/A