22.4594, Qs: Number Mistakes', Language and Numeracy

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LINGUIST List: Vol-22-4594. Thu Nov 17 2011. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 22.4594, Qs: Number Mistakes', Language and Numeracy

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1)
Date: 17-Nov-2011
From: Bernhard Fisseni [bernhard.fisseni at uni-due.de]
Subject: Number Mistakes', Language and Numeracy


-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2011 10:19:24
From: Bernhard Fisseni [bernhard.fisseni at uni-due.de]
Subject: Number Mistakes', Language and Numeracy

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Dear fellow linguists,

we would be grateful for your help on two questions regarding 
language and numeracy.

NAMES FOR 'NUMBER MISTAKES'

We are looking for names of mistakes regarding numbers, esp. 
confusion of digits. Examples of such terms are German 
''Zahlendreher'' and Spanish ''baile de números'', which (at least 
prototypically) refer to mistakes such as (saying, writing) ''34'' instead 
of ''43''.

Do you know such a term in any languages? We would be interested in 
the following aspects:

- (What is the term, and in which language/s is it used?)
- What do these terms prototypically or normatively refer to?
 Is there an extension of the concept (such as 'general number
 mistake'), at least in less formal registers?
- Is the term register-specific?
- In what order with respect to the 'digits' are names of numbers
 expressed in the respective language/s (and, if the number
 names are not based on the decimal system, what is the base)?
- (Hints to lexicon entries are also appreciated very much,
 and even more so authentic examples or pointers to them.)

We would also welcome corresponding comments on ''Zahlendreher'' 
and ''baile de números''.


LITERATURE ON LANGUAGE AND NUMERACY

We would also appreciate pointers to research literature on the relation 
between linguistic structure and number mistakes. We are aware of the 
work by Nuerk and others (e.g. Zuber et al. 2009), but we have not 
been able to find articles with a more linguistic focus, or comparing 
different languages.


Of course, we gladly provide more research context if you are 
interested.


Grateful for any hints.
Kind Regards,

Benedikt Loewe, Universiteit van Amsterdam <b.loewe at uva.nl>
Bernhard Fisseni, Universiteit van Amsterdam / Universitaet Duisburg-
Essen <bernhard.fisseni at uni-due.de>
Bernhard Schroeder, Universitaet Duisburg-Essen
<bernhard.schroeder at uni-due.de>



Reference:

J. Zuber, S. Pixner, K. Moeller, H.-C. Nuerk. 2009. On the language 
specificity of basic number processing: Transcoding in a language with 
inversion and its relation to working memory capacity. Journal of 
Experimental Child Psychology 102 (2009), 60-77. 

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science
                     Psycholinguistics
                     Syntax





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