Don’t overthink! Round number expressions are interpreted sharp

The interpretation of round numerals inspired two competing hypotheses. The first, the preferred-approximation hypothesis, claims that round numerals are more likely to be interpreted as approximate, while sharp numerals are interpreted as precise by default (Krifka, 2002, 2007). This hypothesis is based on the idea that addressees recognize that speakers can use round numerals for approximation more readily than sharp ones, and, therefore, derive the approximate interpretation through rational inferencing. The second hypothesis, the precise-by-default hypothesis, holds that all numerals, round and sharp alike, are interpreted as precise by default (Ariel, 2021; Ariel & Levshina, 2024). The present study investigates the relationship between round counting numerals and approximation through four experiments that directly compare round and sharp numerals across different experimental settings. Our findings show that participants do recognize speakers’ license to use round numerals imprecisely more than sharp ones. However, this preference does not lead them to actually interpret round numerals imprecisely. We offer several explanations for this gap.