The influence of the place-value structure of the Arabic number ...

ABSTRACT
The mental number line of children is usually assumed to be language-independent;
however, this independency has not yet been studied. In this cross-cultural study we examined
the influence of language properties on a non-verbal version of the number-line task in
Italian- and German-speaking first grade children. The essential difference between the two
languages concerns the inversion property of most German multi-digit numbers (e.g., 48
“eight-and-forty”), whereas in Italian number-words no inversion is found. The analysis
revealed two language-specific differences in the number line task: (1) generally, the
estimates of Italian children were more accurate than those of Austrian children, even when
controlling for general cognitive abilities. (2) Italian children performed particularly better
when inversion errors led to large estimation errors. In conclusion, these findings indicate that
the organization of children’s mental number-line is indeed influenced by language properties
even in non-verbal settings.
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