Exact and Approximate Arithmetic in an Amazonian Indigene Group

TLDR

The relationship between language and arithmetic ability is uncertain, raising the question of whether calculation can occur without linguistic support. The study aimed to clarify how language relates to arithmetic by examining numerical cognition in speakers of Mundurukú, an Amazonian language with a very small lexicon of number words. Researchers assessed numerical cognition in Mundurukú speakers, whose language contains only a few number words. Mundurukú speakers can compare and add large approximate numbers beyond their naming range but fail at exact arithmetic beyond 4 or 5, indicating a distinction between nonverbal approximation and language-based counting.

Abstract

Is calculation possible without language? Or is the human ability for arithmetic dependent on the language faculty? To clarify the relation between language and arithmetic, we studied numerical cognition in speakers of Mundurukú, an Amazonian language with a very small lexicon of number words. Although the Mundurukú lack words for numbers beyond 5, they are able to compare and add large approximate numbers that are far beyond their naming range. However, they fail in exact arithmetic with numbers larger than 4 or 5. Our results imply a distinction between a nonverbal system of number approximation and a language-based counting system for exact number and arithmetic.