Pieter A. M. Seuren
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199559473
- eISBN:
- 9780191721137
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199559473.003.0008
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics
A new definition is given of sign, sentence meaning, and word meaning. The qualia problem is discussed and all lexical words are considered predicates. A way out is shown for the problem of the ...
More
A new definition is given of sign, sentence meaning, and word meaning. The qualia problem is discussed and all lexical words are considered predicates. A way out is shown for the problem of the synonymous circle in the description of lexical meanings. The views of Katz, Fodor, and Pustejovsky are discussed, as is the theory of lexical decomposition. The importance of prototypicality in word meaning is emphasized.Less
A new definition is given of sign, sentence meaning, and word meaning. The qualia problem is discussed and all lexical words are considered predicates. A way out is shown for the problem of the synonymous circle in the description of lexical meanings. The views of Katz, Fodor, and Pustejovsky are discussed, as is the theory of lexical decomposition. The importance of prototypicality in word meaning is emphasized.
William Ickes
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195372953
- eISBN:
- 9780199893317
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195372953.003.0006
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Among the factors that contribute to perceptions that a face is physically attractive are its overall proportion, its “averageness”/prototypically, and the presence of features which — for one's ...
More
Among the factors that contribute to perceptions that a face is physically attractive are its overall proportion, its “averageness”/prototypically, and the presence of features which — for one's gender — are ideally sized in relation to each other. Being physically attractive in our culture confers many advantages, including greater popularity with peers, greater desirability as a dating partner, and preferential treatment in hiring, salary, and court decisions. In initial, mixed-sex interactions, women's physical attractiveness has a strong and pervasive positive impact. Men's physical attractiveness has an impact too, affecting how positive and intimate these interactions are. In general, people appear to disclose more to physically attractive opposite-sex strangers than to physically unattractive ones.Less
Among the factors that contribute to perceptions that a face is physically attractive are its overall proportion, its “averageness”/prototypically, and the presence of features which — for one's gender — are ideally sized in relation to each other. Being physically attractive in our culture confers many advantages, including greater popularity with peers, greater desirability as a dating partner, and preferential treatment in hiring, salary, and court decisions. In initial, mixed-sex interactions, women's physical attractiveness has a strong and pervasive positive impact. Men's physical attractiveness has an impact too, affecting how positive and intimate these interactions are. In general, people appear to disclose more to physically attractive opposite-sex strangers than to physically unattractive ones.
PAUL BOERSMA
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199274796
- eISBN:
- 9780191705861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199274796.003.0009
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This chapter addresses the result that ‘ideal’ forms found in experiments on prototypicality judgments often become peripheral within the corpus distribution of their grammatical category. It shows ...
More
This chapter addresses the result that ‘ideal’ forms found in experiments on prototypicality judgments often become peripheral within the corpus distribution of their grammatical category. It shows that a bidirectional model of phonetic perception and production solves the paradox. In that model, corpus frequency shows the production process, whereas prototypicality judgments naturally obtain from a simpler process — the inverted perception process.Less
This chapter addresses the result that ‘ideal’ forms found in experiments on prototypicality judgments often become peripheral within the corpus distribution of their grammatical category. It shows that a bidirectional model of phonetic perception and production solves the paradox. In that model, corpus frequency shows the production process, whereas prototypicality judgments naturally obtain from a simpler process — the inverted perception process.
John M. Anderson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199608317
- eISBN:
- 9780191732034
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199608317.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology, Phonetics / Phonology
This book explores the consequences for syntax of assuming that language is substantively based, or grounded, in extralinguistic cognition and perception. Groundedness does not just apply to the ...
More
This book explores the consequences for syntax of assuming that language is substantively based, or grounded, in extralinguistic cognition and perception. Groundedness does not just apply to the categories of syntax, like verb and noun, but also to other aspects of syntactic structure. Thus hierarchization (dependency), linearity, and phonological expression of categories, especially by intonation, are grammaticalizations of, respectively, cognitive salience, our perception of time, and our perception of sound. The major linguistic module of syntax is characterized by a set of categories based on distinctions in the perceived ontological status of what the categories represent, and this basis determines the distribution of categories, defined by category members that are prototypical. This is familiar from the tradition of notional grammar. Submodules in syntax are characterized by the substance they grammaticalize. The first part of the book traces the development in the twentieth century of anti-notionalism, culminating in the autonomy of syntax assumption. Subsequently the book addresses various syntactic phenomena, many of them involving the fundamental notion of finiteness, that illustrate the need to appeal to grounding. Among other things, groundedness permits a lexicalist approach that enables the syntax to dispense with structural mutations such as category change, and the invocation of ‘empty categories’, or of ‘universal grammar’ in general.Less
This book explores the consequences for syntax of assuming that language is substantively based, or grounded, in extralinguistic cognition and perception. Groundedness does not just apply to the categories of syntax, like verb and noun, but also to other aspects of syntactic structure. Thus hierarchization (dependency), linearity, and phonological expression of categories, especially by intonation, are grammaticalizations of, respectively, cognitive salience, our perception of time, and our perception of sound. The major linguistic module of syntax is characterized by a set of categories based on distinctions in the perceived ontological status of what the categories represent, and this basis determines the distribution of categories, defined by category members that are prototypical. This is familiar from the tradition of notional grammar. Submodules in syntax are characterized by the substance they grammaticalize. The first part of the book traces the development in the twentieth century of anti-notionalism, culminating in the autonomy of syntax assumption. Subsequently the book addresses various syntactic phenomena, many of them involving the fundamental notion of finiteness, that illustrate the need to appeal to grounding. Among other things, groundedness permits a lexicalist approach that enables the syntax to dispense with structural mutations such as category change, and the invocation of ‘empty categories’, or of ‘universal grammar’ in general.
Elena Tribushinina
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199641635
- eISBN:
- 9780191760020
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199641635.003.0014
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Psycholinguistics / Neurolinguistics / Cognitive Linguistics, Semantics and Pragmatics
This chapter tests the predictions of three hypotheses about the acquisition of spatial adjectives—semantic feature hypothesis, haphazard example hypothesis, and best exemplar hypothesis—against ...
More
This chapter tests the predictions of three hypotheses about the acquisition of spatial adjectives—semantic feature hypothesis, haphazard example hypothesis, and best exemplar hypothesis—against longitudinal data from Dutch. The results suggest that none of the existing hypotheses can fully accommodate the naturalistic longitudinal data. An alternative usage-based approach is introduced in order to overcome the shortcomings of the three existing models. I claim that children store specific adjective–noun/object pairings from the input and start by reproducing these prefabs with the same communicative function as in the language they hear around them. This explains why relative frequencies of spatial adjectives in child speech are strongly correlated with child-directed speech and why children often use spatial adjectives to express contrast. After having stored a critical mass of exemplars, toddlers start generalizing over the specific instances. This stage is characterized by the formation of abstract semantic categories and by overgeneralization (combinability) errors.Less
This chapter tests the predictions of three hypotheses about the acquisition of spatial adjectives—semantic feature hypothesis, haphazard example hypothesis, and best exemplar hypothesis—against longitudinal data from Dutch. The results suggest that none of the existing hypotheses can fully accommodate the naturalistic longitudinal data. An alternative usage-based approach is introduced in order to overcome the shortcomings of the three existing models. I claim that children store specific adjective–noun/object pairings from the input and start by reproducing these prefabs with the same communicative function as in the language they hear around them. This explains why relative frequencies of spatial adjectives in child speech are strongly correlated with child-directed speech and why children often use spatial adjectives to express contrast. After having stored a critical mass of exemplars, toddlers start generalizing over the specific instances. This stage is characterized by the formation of abstract semantic categories and by overgeneralization (combinability) errors.
Fran Colman
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- August 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780198701675
- eISBN:
- 9780191771477
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198701675.003.0003
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
This argues against the common grouping of names with nouns, and presents previous alternative views. Names have been characterized as one of the three types of definite referring phrases: names, ...
More
This argues against the common grouping of names with nouns, and presents previous alternative views. Names have been characterized as one of the three types of definite referring phrases: names, personal pronouns, definite determiner phrases. A revised characterization in notional dependency grammar groups names with pronouns and determiners as determinatives. But names differ from other determinatives by being inherently nondefinite: they do not always refer (cf. vocative and nominations). This grouping has the major drawback (addressed in Chapter 4) that, while determiners govern nouns, the remaining names and pronouns do not govern. The argument distinguishes lexical (or typically ‘contentful’) and functional primary categories. Secondary categories reflect the prototypical notional character of a primary category. They have a role in allowing referentiality to names. They can play a part in conversion of lexical items from one primary category to another.Less
This argues against the common grouping of names with nouns, and presents previous alternative views. Names have been characterized as one of the three types of definite referring phrases: names, personal pronouns, definite determiner phrases. A revised characterization in notional dependency grammar groups names with pronouns and determiners as determinatives. But names differ from other determinatives by being inherently nondefinite: they do not always refer (cf. vocative and nominations). This grouping has the major drawback (addressed in Chapter 4) that, while determiners govern nouns, the remaining names and pronouns do not govern. The argument distinguishes lexical (or typically ‘contentful’) and functional primary categories. Secondary categories reflect the prototypical notional character of a primary category. They have a role in allowing referentiality to names. They can play a part in conversion of lexical items from one primary category to another.
Edward Weisband
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190677886
- eISBN:
- 9780190677916
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190677886.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics, Comparative Politics
This chapter studies the etiologies of genocide and mass atrocity and argues that self-exhibitionism provides a theoretical basis for interpreting the macabresque as a discrete phenomenon in mass ...
More
This chapter studies the etiologies of genocide and mass atrocity and argues that self-exhibitionism provides a theoretical basis for interpreting the macabresque as a discrete phenomenon in mass atrocity violence. It also engages social constructionism in group dynamics through the concept of prototypicality. The chapter provides a critique of methodological simulation in social and political psychology, specifically, findings that emphasize obeisance, obedience, and obsequiousness found in the works of Milgram, Zimbardo, and others. It also provides a critical survey of a wide range of theoretical perspectives on collective violence, mass atrocity, and war to demonstrate their methodological inadequacies and analytical frailties in the absence of a sustained focus on emotional psychology and the psychodynamics of desire. The analysis introduces the concept of akrasia and akratic willfulness in order to outline a theory of absolute power.Less
This chapter studies the etiologies of genocide and mass atrocity and argues that self-exhibitionism provides a theoretical basis for interpreting the macabresque as a discrete phenomenon in mass atrocity violence. It also engages social constructionism in group dynamics through the concept of prototypicality. The chapter provides a critique of methodological simulation in social and political psychology, specifically, findings that emphasize obeisance, obedience, and obsequiousness found in the works of Milgram, Zimbardo, and others. It also provides a critical survey of a wide range of theoretical perspectives on collective violence, mass atrocity, and war to demonstrate their methodological inadequacies and analytical frailties in the absence of a sustained focus on emotional psychology and the psychodynamics of desire. The analysis introduces the concept of akrasia and akratic willfulness in order to outline a theory of absolute power.