Language in the BrainLanguage Processing in the Brain

Word Meanings

Twas bryllyg, and the slythy tovesDid gyre and gymble in the wabe:All mimsy were the borogoves;And the mome raths outgrabe.

Word Meanings

Twas bryllyg, and the slythy tovesDid gyre and gymble in the wabe:All mimsy were the borogoves;And the mome raths outgrabe.

● What part of speech is slithy? Toves? Gyre? Gymble?● How do we know?● What is a tove?● What is slithy? Why does it seem to mean that

Word Meanings

● We use context to guess meaning

Sound Symbolism

● Which word means a pounding action?– fosh, bosh

Sound Symbolism

● Which word means a pounding action?– foff, boff

Sound Symbolism

● Which word means a pounding action?– foff, boff

● Did these words influence that?– banged, beaten, battered, bruised, blistered and

bashed

Sound Symbolism

● Which word means relates to shining?– glafe, slafe

Sound Symbolism

● Which word means relates to shining?– glafe, slafe

● Did the words influence it?– glow, gleam, glimmer, glare, glisten, glitter

Sound Symbolism

● Which word means a hard, abrupt action?– flum, flump

Sound Symbolism

● Which word means a hard, abrupt action?– flum, flump

● Did these words influence that?– stamp, stomp, tamp, tromp, tramp

Sound Symbolism

● Which word means graceful movement?– flafe, trafe

Sound Symbolism

● Which word means graceful movement?– flafe, trafe

● Do these words influence that?– fly, flit, flicker, flutter

Meaning

● So meaning doesn't just come from a definition in a dictionary– sound sometimes have meaning– context in sentence gives meaning

Fixed word meaning

● Word meaning are clear and unambiguous

Fixed word meaning

● Word meaning are clear and unambiguous● The boundaries between one word and

another don't overlap

Fixed word meaning

● Word meaning are clear and unambiguous● The boundaries between one word and

another don't overlap● If this is true there should be no debate

– Is a carrot a fruit?– Is lettuce a fruit?– Is a tomato a fruit?

Fixed word meaning

● Word meaning are clear and unambiguous● The boundaries between one word and

another don't overlap● If this is true there should be no debate

– Is Utah Lake a pond or a lake?– Is the Great Salt Lake a lake or a pond?

Fixed word meaning

● Idea is that there is a set a criteria that must be met

– Plato's definition of man: a featherless biped

Fixed word meaning

● Idea is that there is a set a criteria that must be met

– Plato's definition of man: a featherless biped

– Diogenes brought a plucked chicken to class and said “Behold I've brought you a man”

Fixed word meaning

● Idea is that there is a set a criteria that must be met (necessary and sufficient conditions)

– Plato's definition of man: a featherless biped

– Diogenes brought a plucked chicken to class and said “Behold I've brought you a man”

– Plato added to his definition “with broad flat nails”

Fixed word meaning

● Is having wings crucial to being a bird?

Fixed word meaning

● Is having wings crucial to being a bird?● What is a bird without wings?

Fixed word meaning

● Can you understand a meaning without knowing what the criteria are?

● Of course

Fixed word meaning

● Fixed meaning suggest that all members of a category are equal

● People rate things in the same category as being better or worse examples of it

– Cow is a better farm animal than a goose

Fixed word meaning

● Fixed meaning suggest that all members of a category are equal

● But, people rate things in the same category as being better or worse examples of it

– Cow is a better farm animal than a goose

Fuzzy word meaning

● What age is old?

Fuzzy word meaning

● What age is old?● What is cutoff point?

Fuzzy word meaning

● What age is old?● What is cutoff point?● Is a million years old?

– for a person?

Fuzzy word meaning

● What age is old?● What is cutoff point?● Is a million years old?

– for a person?– for a rock?

Fuzzy word meaning

● What age is old?● What is cutoff point?● Is a million years old?

– for a person?– for a rock?– for a planet?

Fuzzy word meaning

● Polysemy

– Old lady

– Old friend

– Big, old shovel

– Good old Bob

– Old rival

Fuzzy word meaning

● At what point is person tall?● Is meaning categorical or continuous?

Word meaning

● Does 'paper' literally mean 'paper'?

Word meaning

● Does 'paper' literally mean 'paper'?● Is a word for a referent the referent itself?

Word meaning

● Does 'paper' literally mean 'paper'?● Is a word for a referent the referent itself?● Words and their referents are mediated by

concepts– referent > concept > word

Word meaning

● If words are their referents, what do these words refer to?– her, it, they, those

Word meaning

● If words are their referents, what do these words refer to?– her, it, they, those, Bob

● What are the referents of stealth, tacky, existence, invisible force?

Are meanings images?

● It doesn't work for abstract things● If it did, you couldn't apply it to instances you'd

never seen before– same person, different shirt– same person seen from helicopter– same person after horrific car accident– same person without makeup (or with)

Are meanings sets of criteria?

● This object is an X because it has– characteristic A– characteristic B– not characteristic C

Are meanings sets of criteria?

● This object is an X because it has– characteristic A– characteristic B– not characteristic C

● Hard to apply to abstract things

Are meanings family resemblances?

● No need for all things word refers to to have something in common

Are meanings family resemblances?

● What is a book?

Are meanings family resemblances?

● What is a book?– Writing: is a blank journal a book?– Pages: is a scroll a book?– Is a kindle version a book?– Is microfilm a book?– Is a monument with writing on it a book?

Are meanings family resemblances?

● What is a book?– Writing: is a blank journal a book?– Pages: is a scroll a book?– Is a kindle version a book?– Is microfilm a book?– Is a monument with writing on it a book?

● What about “book”– to move fast– to process into jail

What is a machine?

What is sound?

If we can't specify meaning, how can we communicate so well?

Prototype Theory

● Prototype: the instance of a word have most or all characteristic of word's meaning

Prototype Theory

● Prototype: the instance of a word have most or all characteristic of word's meaning, the ideal exemplar

● Some instances are closer to the prototype and others are farther away

Prototype Theory

● We store an average of all the members of a category and decide if an object is a part of that category by deciding how close it is to the average typical member

● Prototypes assume family resemblances

Category A Category B

The Prototype

Prototype Theory

● You categorize things by comparing them to prototype

● The prototype may be an actual instance or may be an abstraction

Prototype Theory

● Categorization experiment (Eleanor Rosch)

● Rate things on how good an example the thing is

– Bird: sparrow > owl > penguin

– Clothes: shirt > shoe > apron

– Furniture: chair > bed > shelf > telephone

Prototype Theory

● Experiment

– Is a robin a bird?

– Is a goose a computer?

– Is a chair furniture?

– Is a cow a bird?

– Is an ostrich a bird?

– Is a rug furniture?

– Is corn a vegetable?

Prototype Theory

● Experiment

– Is a robin a bird (fast response)

– Is an ostrich a bird (slower response)

Prototype Theory

● Experiment

– Is a robin a bird (fast response)

– Is an ostrich a bird (slower response)

– Is a chair furniture (fast response)

– Is a rug furniture (slower response)

Exemplar Theory

● Category membership not dependent on relationship to one prototype

Resemblance Theories: Prototype vs. Exemplar The Standard = The acting representative of the category

The “standard” prototype

A prototype is an abstract representation that is derived from the “center of mass” of the features of all the objects in the category.

The “standard” exemplar

An exemplar is a concrete representation. A specific instance that happens to be the most active in memory. More typical members tend to be the most active, on average.

Exemplar Theory

● Category membership not dependent on relationship to one prototype

● All, or many members are stored. New members are judged according to similarity with other members

● Every instance of a category is stored—when we see a new member of a category, we check how close it is to every other member to decide what it is (i.e., a bird or a mammal)

Exemplar Theory

● The more members it matches, the more likely to be seen as a member

– This explains gradient nature

Exemplar Theory

● Members that are frequently seen/used are more central

– robin versus penguin

– retriever versus Portuguese water dog

Exemplar versus Prototype Theory

● What happens when the most common member of a category is not the most typical member

● Prototype and Exemplar theories make different predictions:

● Prototype: Most Typical > Most Common● Exemplar: Most Common > Most Typical

● Type versus token frequency● Type is more important to exemplar theory

Exemplar Theory

● Often, evidence for prototype is also evidence for exemplar theory

Exemplar Theory

● Evidence for exemplar theory

– Prototypes are usually the most frequent member

– LDT

• words spoken by the same voice prime faster than words spoken by different voices

• words spoken in the same dialect prime faster than words spoken in different dialects