THE LINGUISTIC EXPRESSION OF QUANTITY ACROSS LANGUAGES

Abstract

To summarize what we have discussed, we can conclude that the concept of quantity, as an element of cognition, has evolved through several stages and has reached its today’s form. The various phases in the development of this concept, from sensory perception to abstract visualization, are still evident in modern language.

When examining how quantity is expressed in language, one important aspect to consider is that, when the number of items in a set is small enough to fit within the first decimal range, it is processed more quickly through emotional and visual imagery. Most researchers agree that people can understand and remember certain sets of objects without needing to attentively count them.

The development of different forms of the concept of quantity is closely linked to the progression of cognitive understanding, following the natural laws of cognitive development. "Evidence from the ethnography of primitive societies, as well as data from diverse languages around the world, suggests that the stages of quantitative comprehension in human perception are mainly the same across different cultures, aside from minor differences." The typological research of world languages helps not only to clarify the stages of the concept of quantity in Turkish cognition but also to trace the origins of numbers, which are linguistic representations of quantity, and the development of plural suffixes. The scope of typological linguistics in this area is large. This phenomenon, observed in Azerbaijani Turkish, is similarly present in other Turkic languages.

When it comes to expressing the concept of quantity, Turkish languages are on par with other advanced languages worldwide and are not behind in terms of the variety of ways the concept is conveyed. The fact that Turkish languages can represent a wide range of quantities also reflects the advancement of the quantitative category in Turkish thought and the overall development of these languages.