Quantitative Denotations of Common Terms as a Function of Background

Language has many words like 'few,' 'some,' and 'many,' that denote quantity more or less precisely. Words and phrases are often used as substitutes for numbers in estimating magnitudes of all kinds. The information conveyed by such terms varies with context and personal factors. Thus Many died in the Cocoanut Grove disaster refers to dozens, or hundreds at most, whereas Many died in the Second Battle of the Marne is a statement about hundreds of thousands. The number meant by the word 'many' obviously differs in the two contexts which must be known if the estimates are to be correctly interpreted. Words with quantitative denotations are also employed to communicate evaluative judgments based largely on subjective or emotional states. If strong emotional biases are operative in forming judgments even quantitative terms may be greatly altered in meaning. Thus the society matron who asserts that 'nobody' attended a party given by a rival does not mean that not a single person attended or even that the number of guests was small, but that no one of social importance or from her set attended. Evidently the information and meanings conveyed by language depend upon more than the information conveyed by individual words, phrases, or even sentences.