Abstract This paper argues that copular sentences without an overt copular predicate do project a VP with a phonologically null head, hence so-called “verbless” copular sentences are illusory. Data from Standard Arabic, Spanish, Maltese, Russian, Jamaican Creole, Finnish and Hungarian copular sentences are used to support this claim. It is also claimed here that variation between the habitual property vs. ad hoc property interpretations (traditionally called the individual level vs. stage level distinction) of non-verbal predicates found in copular sentences is closely related to the choice of the copula in multiple BE-system languages. Whilst the current accounts explain this variation by introducing an abstract aspectual operator or an incorporated abstract preposition in the functional layer of the copular predicate, the present proposal derives these interpretive differences from the presence or absence of an OPalt alternative state operator, which can bind the temporal variable of non-verbal predicates in two ways. Negation and temporal adverbials show scope ambiguity in copular sentences. They either take scope over the whole proposition or only over the non-verbal predicate. Such interpretive differences are demonstrated in Russian and Hungarian in Section 4 of this paper, however, they are taken to be valid cross-linguistically. These amibiguities cannot be explained under the “verbless copular sentence” account but fall out naturally from the “zero copula” analysis. The “alternative state” approach can be extended to dream narratives and other nonveridical contexts, which serve as alternative triggers. The existing analyses have nothing to say about such contexts.
{"title":"What does it take to be a copula?","authors":"G. Dalmi","doi":"10.1515/yplm-2016-0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/yplm-2016-0001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper argues that copular sentences without an overt copular predicate do project a VP with a phonologically null head, hence so-called “verbless” copular sentences are illusory. Data from Standard Arabic, Spanish, Maltese, Russian, Jamaican Creole, Finnish and Hungarian copular sentences are used to support this claim. It is also claimed here that variation between the habitual property vs. ad hoc property interpretations (traditionally called the individual level vs. stage level distinction) of non-verbal predicates found in copular sentences is closely related to the choice of the copula in multiple BE-system languages. Whilst the current accounts explain this variation by introducing an abstract aspectual operator or an incorporated abstract preposition in the functional layer of the copular predicate, the present proposal derives these interpretive differences from the presence or absence of an OPalt alternative state operator, which can bind the temporal variable of non-verbal predicates in two ways. Negation and temporal adverbials show scope ambiguity in copular sentences. They either take scope over the whole proposition or only over the non-verbal predicate. Such interpretive differences are demonstrated in Russian and Hungarian in Section 4 of this paper, however, they are taken to be valid cross-linguistically. These amibiguities cannot be explained under the “verbless copular sentence” account but fall out naturally from the “zero copula” analysis. The “alternative state” approach can be extended to dream narratives and other nonveridical contexts, which serve as alternative triggers. The existing analyses have nothing to say about such contexts.","PeriodicalId":431433,"journal":{"name":"Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting","volume":"44 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126149980","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Consonant clusters appear either lexically within morphemes or morphonotactically across morpheme boundaries. According to extant theories, their diachronic dynamics are suggested to be determined by analogical effects on the one hand as well as by their morphological signaling function on the other hand. This paper presents a mathematical model which allows for an investigation of the interaction of these two forces and the resulting diachronic dynamics. The model is tested against synchronic and diachronic language data. It is shown that the evolutionary dynamics of the cluster inventory crucially depend on how the signaling function of morphonotactic clusters is compromised by the presence of lexical items containing their morpheme internal counterparts.
{"title":"A dynamical-systems approach to the evolution of morphonotactic and lexical consonant clusters in English and Polish","authors":"Andreas Baumann, K. Kaźmierski","doi":"10.1515/yplm-2016-0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/yplm-2016-0006","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Consonant clusters appear either lexically within morphemes or morphonotactically across morpheme boundaries. According to extant theories, their diachronic dynamics are suggested to be determined by analogical effects on the one hand as well as by their morphological signaling function on the other hand. This paper presents a mathematical model which allows for an investigation of the interaction of these two forces and the resulting diachronic dynamics. The model is tested against synchronic and diachronic language data. It is shown that the evolutionary dynamics of the cluster inventory crucially depend on how the signaling function of morphonotactic clusters is compromised by the presence of lexical items containing their morpheme internal counterparts.","PeriodicalId":431433,"journal":{"name":"Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129519511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The paper discusses several methodological problems in the necessary (mostly metaphorical) transfer of concepts from one discipline (or subdiscipline) into another one, especially when interdisciplinary research demands mutual understanding in terms of translation and correspondence of concepts. After differentiating between multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity, the first is rejected and it is pleaded that the second and third should be combined. Several adequate and inadequate transfers of concepts into linguistics are dealt with, especially in the areas of morphology and language acquisition. Successful transfer is characterised by the formal transfer of new terms and their easy adaptation to already existing linguistic conceptions, especially between subdisciplines. Most often, further important differentiations of a concept cannot be transferred from the original discipline but must be added as enrichments within linguistics itself. This may lead to a split-up of concepts in different subdisciplines of linguistics. The concepts discussed are regression, self-organization, complexity, transparency vs. opacity, figure and ground, top-down processing, default, input, grammaticalisation.
{"title":"On inadequacies in transferring concepts from one to another (linguistic sub)discipline","authors":"W. Dressler","doi":"10.1515/yplm-2016-0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/yplm-2016-0002","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The paper discusses several methodological problems in the necessary (mostly metaphorical) transfer of concepts from one discipline (or subdiscipline) into another one, especially when interdisciplinary research demands mutual understanding in terms of translation and correspondence of concepts. After differentiating between multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity, the first is rejected and it is pleaded that the second and third should be combined. Several adequate and inadequate transfers of concepts into linguistics are dealt with, especially in the areas of morphology and language acquisition. Successful transfer is characterised by the formal transfer of new terms and their easy adaptation to already existing linguistic conceptions, especially between subdisciplines. Most often, further important differentiations of a concept cannot be transferred from the original discipline but must be added as enrichments within linguistics itself. This may lead to a split-up of concepts in different subdisciplines of linguistics. The concepts discussed are regression, self-organization, complexity, transparency vs. opacity, figure and ground, top-down processing, default, input, grammaticalisation.","PeriodicalId":431433,"journal":{"name":"Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121338484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article presents theoretical concepts and methodological tools from multimodal (inter)action analysis that allow the reader to gain new insight into the study of discourse and interaction. The data for this article comes from a video ethnographic study (with emphasis on the video data) of 17 New Zealand families (inter)acting with family members via skype or facetime across the globe. In all, 84 social actors participated in the study, ranging in age from infant to 84 years old. The analysis part of the project, with data collected between December 2014 and December 2015, is ongoing. The data presented here was collected in December 2014 and has gone through various stages of analysis, ranging from general, intermediate to micro analysis. Using the various methodological tools and emphasising the notion of mediation, the article demonstrates how a New Zealand participant first pays focused attention to his engagement in the research project. He then performs a semantic/pragmatic means, indicating a shift in his focused attention. Here, it is demonstrated that a new focus builds up incrementally: As the participant begins to focus on the skype (inter)action with his sister and nieces, modal density increases and he establishes an emotive closeness. At this point, the technology that mediates the interaction is only a mundane aspect, taken for granted by the participants.
{"title":"Concepts in multimodal discourse analysis with examples from video conferencing","authors":"S. Norris","doi":"10.1515/yplm-2016-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/yplm-2016-0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article presents theoretical concepts and methodological tools from multimodal (inter)action analysis that allow the reader to gain new insight into the study of discourse and interaction. The data for this article comes from a video ethnographic study (with emphasis on the video data) of 17 New Zealand families (inter)acting with family members via skype or facetime across the globe. In all, 84 social actors participated in the study, ranging in age from infant to 84 years old. The analysis part of the project, with data collected between December 2014 and December 2015, is ongoing. The data presented here was collected in December 2014 and has gone through various stages of analysis, ranging from general, intermediate to micro analysis. Using the various methodological tools and emphasising the notion of mediation, the article demonstrates how a New Zealand participant first pays focused attention to his engagement in the research project. He then performs a semantic/pragmatic means, indicating a shift in his focused attention. Here, it is demonstrated that a new focus builds up incrementally: As the participant begins to focus on the skype (inter)action with his sister and nieces, modal density increases and he establishes an emotive closeness. At this point, the technology that mediates the interaction is only a mundane aspect, taken for granted by the participants.","PeriodicalId":431433,"journal":{"name":"Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126826283","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The study of language is shared by a number of fields, including linguistics, psychology, and neurobiology. While the methods employed by these domains may overlap, they differ in the focus of their scientific inquiry, and the unique perspective of each may inform investigation within the others. We conceptualize this relationship in the context of David Marr’s information processing theory, with neurobiology as the implementational level of language, and discuss the history of the neurobiology of language from early localizationist models to the present day. Decades of electrophysiological and anatomical studies of the macaque monkey support the existence of dual streams for the processing of auditory information. More recent neuroimaging studies suggest that these streams are also present in humans, subserving speech perception and language comprehension. The development of high resolution brain imaging methods and brain stimulation has advanced our ability to study, in vivo, the structures and processes underlying the language network. For those linguists interested in studying language with consideration of the system that implements it, theories and concepts may now be meaningfully informed by neurobiology.
{"title":"The neurobiology of language: Relevance to linguistics","authors":"E. Duncan, Sarah Tune, S. Small","doi":"10.1515/yplm-2016-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/yplm-2016-0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The study of language is shared by a number of fields, including linguistics, psychology, and neurobiology. While the methods employed by these domains may overlap, they differ in the focus of their scientific inquiry, and the unique perspective of each may inform investigation within the others. We conceptualize this relationship in the context of David Marr’s information processing theory, with neurobiology as the implementational level of language, and discuss the history of the neurobiology of language from early localizationist models to the present day. Decades of electrophysiological and anatomical studies of the macaque monkey support the existence of dual streams for the processing of auditory information. More recent neuroimaging studies suggest that these streams are also present in humans, subserving speech perception and language comprehension. The development of high resolution brain imaging methods and brain stimulation has advanced our ability to study, in vivo, the structures and processes underlying the language network. For those linguists interested in studying language with consideration of the system that implements it, theories and concepts may now be meaningfully informed by neurobiology.","PeriodicalId":431433,"journal":{"name":"Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125657003","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The category of epistemic adverbs has recently received increased attention in both Anglophone and Polish linguistics, but English–Polish contrastive research in this area has so far been rather fragmentary. English and Polish grammars differ considerably in the ways they classify epistemic adverbs. The differences largely result from the different understanding of adverbs as a category, which in English grammar tends to be presented as broad and heterogeneous while in Polish grammar – rather narrow and uniform. Polish equivalents of English epistemic adverbs are classified as particles – a distinct word class with its own characteristic properties. This paper presents an overview of approaches to epistemic adverbs taken in Anglophone and Polish linguistics with the aim of identifying their convergent points and suggesting a framework for a contrastive analysis. In the case of Anglophone research, the focus is largely on discourse studies because epistemic adverbs are usually seen as a discourse category. In Polish linguistics, however, they are analysed within different theoretical frameworks, which is why the discussion will not be limited to one specific methodological school. Reference is also made to more general issues, such as the treatment of adverbs as a category.
{"title":"Linguistic concepts across languages: The category of epistemic adverbs in English and Polish","authors":"Agata Rozumko","doi":"10.1515/yplm-2016-0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/yplm-2016-0009","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The category of epistemic adverbs has recently received increased attention in both Anglophone and Polish linguistics, but English–Polish contrastive research in this area has so far been rather fragmentary. English and Polish grammars differ considerably in the ways they classify epistemic adverbs. The differences largely result from the different understanding of adverbs as a category, which in English grammar tends to be presented as broad and heterogeneous while in Polish grammar – rather narrow and uniform. Polish equivalents of English epistemic adverbs are classified as particles – a distinct word class with its own characteristic properties. This paper presents an overview of approaches to epistemic adverbs taken in Anglophone and Polish linguistics with the aim of identifying their convergent points and suggesting a framework for a contrastive analysis. In the case of Anglophone research, the focus is largely on discourse studies because epistemic adverbs are usually seen as a discourse category. In Polish linguistics, however, they are analysed within different theoretical frameworks, which is why the discussion will not be limited to one specific methodological school. Reference is also made to more general issues, such as the treatment of adverbs as a category.","PeriodicalId":431433,"journal":{"name":"Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting","volume":"2 4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128136713","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The point of departure for the following study is Patel and Daniele (2003), who suggested that the rhythm of a culture’s language is reflected in its instrumental music. The former study used the normalised pairwise variability index (henceforth nPVI), a measure of temporal patterning in speech, to compare the variability of vocalic duration in recorded speech samples with the variability of note duration in music notation on the example of English and French speech and classical music. The aim of this experiment is to test whether the linguistic rhythm conventionalised in the language of a community affects the rhythm in the musical practice of that community, by focusing on English and Polish speech and classical, as well as folk music. The nPVI values were obtained from a set of English and Polish recorded news-like sentences, and from musical notation of English and Polish classical and folk musical themes. The results suggest that reflections of Polish speech rhythm may be more apparent in folk music than in classical music, though more data are needed to test this idea. This initial study suggests that the method used might bring more fruitful results when comparing speech rhythm with less formalized and more traditional musical themes.
{"title":"Comparing rhythm in speech and music: The case of English and Polish","authors":"Mateusz Jekiel","doi":"10.1515/yplm-2015-0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/yplm-2015-0003","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The point of departure for the following study is Patel and Daniele (2003), who suggested that the rhythm of a culture’s language is reflected in its instrumental music. The former study used the normalised pairwise variability index (henceforth nPVI), a measure of temporal patterning in speech, to compare the variability of vocalic duration in recorded speech samples with the variability of note duration in music notation on the example of English and French speech and classical music. The aim of this experiment is to test whether the linguistic rhythm conventionalised in the language of a community affects the rhythm in the musical practice of that community, by focusing on English and Polish speech and classical, as well as folk music. The nPVI values were obtained from a set of English and Polish recorded news-like sentences, and from musical notation of English and Polish classical and folk musical themes. The results suggest that reflections of Polish speech rhythm may be more apparent in folk music than in classical music, though more data are needed to test this idea. This initial study suggests that the method used might bring more fruitful results when comparing speech rhythm with less formalized and more traditional musical themes.","PeriodicalId":431433,"journal":{"name":"Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115495577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract The theory of embodiment (Lakoff and Johnson 2003; Gibbs et al. 2004) explains the origin of meaning by postulating that thought is influenced by sensorimotor experience (Robbins and Aydede 2009). However, the relation between the body, mind and environment is not unidirectional. Not only do we derive information from the world, but we are also able to use it as an extension of the mind through epistemic actions, strategies that minimize the cognitive load by offloading it onto the environment (Kirsh and Maglio 1994). This paper investigates the potential of gesture as epistemic action. 12 blind and severely visually impaired children and young adults, as well as a control group of 7 young adults were interviewed for the purpose of the study. Participants were asked to explain a set of abstract and concrete concepts while their speech and gestures were recorded. If gesture indeed plays a role in reducing the mental load by externalizing thought, more gestures should be produced for concepts that are more difficult to describe (in this case: abstract, intangible concepts). Qualitative data analysis, as well as simple statistical analyses of gesture type, number and gesture per word rates show that abstract concepts do not generate more gestures, but do prompt blind and visually impaired speakers to use simulation gestures. These gestures constitute reenactments of situations associated with a given concept by the respondent. They are also thought to confirm the embodied cognition hypothesis (Hostetter and Alibali 2008). A number of examples demonstrates that abstract concepts in blind children are strongly grounded in their experience of real-world situations. Findings suggest that gesture is not merely a tool for communication, but a way of extending the capabilities of the mind.
化身理论(Lakoff and Johnson 2003;Gibbs et al. 2004)通过假设思维受到感觉运动经验的影响来解释意义的起源(Robbins and Aydede 2009)。然而，身心与环境之间的关系并不是单向的。我们不仅从世界中获取信息，而且我们还能够通过认知行为将其作为思维的延伸，通过将其卸载到环境中的认知负荷最小化的策略(Kirsh和Maglio 1994)。本文研究了手势作为认知行为的潜力。为了研究的目的，采访了12名失明和严重视力受损的儿童和年轻人，以及7名对照组的年轻人。参与者被要求解释一系列抽象和具体的概念，同时他们的语言和手势被记录下来。如果手势确实通过外化思想在减少心理负荷方面发挥了作用，那么对于更难描述的概念(在这种情况下是抽象的、无形的概念)，应该产生更多的手势。定性数据分析以及手势类型、手势数量和每字手势率的简单统计分析表明，抽象概念不会产生更多的手势，但会促使盲人和视障人士使用模拟手势。这些手势构成了被调查者对与给定概念相关的情景的再现。它们也被认为证实了具身认知假说(Hostetter and Alibali 2008)。许多例子表明，盲童的抽象概念是建立在他们对现实世界的经验基础上的。研究结果表明，手势不仅是交流的工具，而且是扩展思维能力的一种方式。
{"title":"Thoughts on the table: Gesture as a tool for thinking in blind and visually impaired children","authors":"Anna Jelec, D. Jaworska","doi":"10.1515/yplm-2015-0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/yplm-2015-0004","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The theory of embodiment (Lakoff and Johnson 2003; Gibbs et al. 2004) explains the origin of meaning by postulating that thought is influenced by sensorimotor experience (Robbins and Aydede 2009). However, the relation between the body, mind and environment is not unidirectional. Not only do we derive information from the world, but we are also able to use it as an extension of the mind through epistemic actions, strategies that minimize the cognitive load by offloading it onto the environment (Kirsh and Maglio 1994). This paper investigates the potential of gesture as epistemic action. 12 blind and severely visually impaired children and young adults, as well as a control group of 7 young adults were interviewed for the purpose of the study. Participants were asked to explain a set of abstract and concrete concepts while their speech and gestures were recorded. If gesture indeed plays a role in reducing the mental load by externalizing thought, more gestures should be produced for concepts that are more difficult to describe (in this case: abstract, intangible concepts). Qualitative data analysis, as well as simple statistical analyses of gesture type, number and gesture per word rates show that abstract concepts do not generate more gestures, but do prompt blind and visually impaired speakers to use simulation gestures. These gestures constitute reenactments of situations associated with a given concept by the respondent. They are also thought to confirm the embodied cognition hypothesis (Hostetter and Alibali 2008). A number of examples demonstrates that abstract concepts in blind children are strongly grounded in their experience of real-world situations. Findings suggest that gesture is not merely a tool for communication, but a way of extending the capabilities of the mind.","PeriodicalId":431433,"journal":{"name":"Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126105452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Vitevitch, Rutherford Goldstein, Cynthia S. Q. Siew, Nichol Castro
Abstract Network science is an emerging discipline drawing from sociology, computer science, physics and a number of other fields to examine complex systems in economical, biological, social, and technological domains. To examine these complex systems, nodes are used to represent individual entities, and links are used to represent relationships between entities, forming a web-like structure, or network, of the entire system. The structure that emerges in these complex networks influences the dynamics of that system. We provide a short review of how this mathematical approach has been used to examine the structure found in the phonological lexicon, and of how subsequent psycholinguistic investigations demonstrate that several of the structural characteristics of the phonological network influence various language-related processes, including word retrieval during the recognition and production of spoken words, recovery from instances of failed lexical retrieval, and the acquisition of word-forms. This approach allows researchers to examine the lexicon at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels, holding much promise for increasing our understanding of language-related processes and representations.
{"title":"Using complex networks to understand the mental lexicon","authors":"M. Vitevitch, Rutherford Goldstein, Cynthia S. Q. Siew, Nichol Castro","doi":"10.1515/yplm-2015-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/yplm-2015-0007","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Network science is an emerging discipline drawing from sociology, computer science, physics and a number of other fields to examine complex systems in economical, biological, social, and technological domains. To examine these complex systems, nodes are used to represent individual entities, and links are used to represent relationships between entities, forming a web-like structure, or network, of the entire system. The structure that emerges in these complex networks influences the dynamics of that system. We provide a short review of how this mathematical approach has been used to examine the structure found in the phonological lexicon, and of how subsequent psycholinguistic investigations demonstrate that several of the structural characteristics of the phonological network influence various language-related processes, including word retrieval during the recognition and production of spoken words, recovery from instances of failed lexical retrieval, and the acquisition of word-forms. This approach allows researchers to examine the lexicon at the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels, holding much promise for increasing our understanding of language-related processes and representations.","PeriodicalId":431433,"journal":{"name":"Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129476150","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract This article introduces a new measure of linguistic complexity which is based on the dual nature of the linguistic sign. Complexity is analyzed as consisting of three components, namely the conceptual complexity (complexity of the signified), the formal complexity (complexity of the signifier) and the form-meaning correspondence complexity. I describe a way of plotting the form-meaning relationship on a graph with two tiers (the form tier and the meaning tier) and apply a complexity measure from graph theory (average vertex degree) to assess the complexity of such graphs. The proposed method is illustrated by estimating the complexity of full noun phrases (determiner + adjective + noun) in English, Swedish, and German. I also mention the limitations and the problems which might arise when using this method.
{"title":"An application of graph theory to linguistic complexity","authors":"A. Piperski","doi":"10.1515/yplm-2015-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1515/yplm-2015-0005","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article introduces a new measure of linguistic complexity which is based on the dual nature of the linguistic sign. Complexity is analyzed as consisting of three components, namely the conceptual complexity (complexity of the signified), the formal complexity (complexity of the signifier) and the form-meaning correspondence complexity. I describe a way of plotting the form-meaning relationship on a graph with two tiers (the form tier and the meaning tier) and apply a complexity measure from graph theory (average vertex degree) to assess the complexity of such graphs. The proposed method is illustrated by estimating the complexity of full noun phrases (determiner + adjective + noun) in English, Swedish, and German. I also mention the limitations and the problems which might arise when using this method.","PeriodicalId":431433,"journal":{"name":"Yearbook of the Poznan Linguistic Meeting","volume":"67 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2014-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125026076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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