How efficiency shapes human language
Cognitive science applies diverse tools and perspectives to study human language.
Recently, an exciting body of work has examined linguistic phenomena through the lens of …
Recently, an exciting body of work has examined linguistic phenomena through the lens of …
Systematic mappings of sound to meaning: A theoretical review
DA Haslett, ZG Cai - Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 2024 - Springer
The form of a word sometimes conveys semantic information. For example, the iconic word
gurgle sounds like what it means, and busy is easy to identify as an English adjective …
gurgle sounds like what it means, and busy is easy to identify as an English adjective …
Sound–meaning association biases evidenced across thousands of languages
DE Blasi, S Wichmann… - Proceedings of the …, 2016 - National Acad Sciences
It is widely assumed that one of the fundamental properties of spoken language is the
arbitrary relation between sound and meaning. Some exceptions in the form of nonarbitrary …
arbitrary relation between sound and meaning. Some exceptions in the form of nonarbitrary …
Quantifying social semantics: An inclusive definition of socialness and ratings for 8388 English words
It has been proposed that social experience plays an important role in the grounding of
concepts, and socialness has been proffered as a fundamental organisational principle …
concepts, and socialness has been proffered as a fundamental organisational principle …
The linguistic dimensions of concrete and abstract concepts: lexical category, morphological structure, countability, and etymology
The distinction between abstract and concrete concepts is fundamental to cognitive
linguistics and cognitive science. This distinction is commonly operationalized through …
linguistics and cognitive science. This distinction is commonly operationalized through …
Weighing up the evidence for sound symbolism: Distributional properties predict cue strength
It is well-established that there are relationships between word meaning and certain letters
or phonemes, a phenomenon known as sound symbolism. Most sound symbolism studies …
or phonemes, a phenomenon known as sound symbolism. Most sound symbolism studies …
Emotion from the sound of a word: Statistical relationships between surface form and valence of English words influence lexical access and memory.
It is generally accepted that a word's emotional valence (ie, whether a word is perceived as
positive, negative, or neutral) influences how it is accessed and remembered. There is also …
positive, negative, or neutral) influences how it is accessed and remembered. There is also …
Communicating abstract meaning: Concepts revealed in words and gestures
L Zdrazilova, DM Sidhu… - … Transactions of the …, 2018 - royalsocietypublishing.org
Abstract words refer to concepts that cannot be directly experienced through our senses (eg
truth, morality). How we ground the meanings of abstract words is one of the deepest …
truth, morality). How we ground the meanings of abstract words is one of the deepest …
The concreteness advantage in lexical decision does not depend on perceptual simulations.
Abstract words are typically more difficult to identify than concrete words in lexical-decision,
word-naming, and recall tasks. This behavioral advantage, known as the concreteness …
word-naming, and recall tasks. This behavioral advantage, known as the concreteness …
Historical evolution of concrete and abstract language revisited
B Snefjella, M Généreux, V Kuperman - Behavior research methods, 2019 - Springer
This paper investigates the historical (1850s–2000s) evolution of semantics in the English
language using contemporaneous, decade-specific computational estimates of word …
language using contemporaneous, decade-specific computational estimates of word …