Demonstrative Reference and Semantic Space: A Large-Scale Demonstrative Choice Task Study

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Roberta Rocca¹  Mikkel Wallentin¹ 

[1] Department of Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University;Interacting Minds Centre, Aarhus University;Psychoinformatics Lab, Department of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin, United States;Center of Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Aarhus University Hospital

关键词: language;    semantics;    spatial demonstratives;    manipulability;    the Demonstrative Choice Task;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00629

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Spatial demonstratives (words like this and that ) have been thought to primarily be used for carving up space into a peripersonal and extrapersonal domain. However, when given a noun out of context and asked to couple it with a demonstrative, speakers tend to choose this for words denoting manipulable objects (small, harmless, and inanimate), while non-manipulable objects (large, harmful, and animate) are more likely to be coupled with that . Here, we extend these findings using the Demonstrative Choice Task (DCT) procedure and map demonstrative use along a wide spectrum of semantic features. We conducted a large-scale ( N = 2197) DCT experiment eliciting demonstratives for 506 words, rated across 65 + 11 perceptually and cognitively relevant semantic dimensions. We replicated the finding that demonstrative choice is influenced by object manipulability. Demonstrative choice was furthermore found to be related to a set of additional semantic factors, including valence, arousal, loudness, motion, time and more generally, the self. Importantly, demonstrative choices were highly structured across participants, as shown by a strong correlation detected in a split-sample comparison of by-word demonstrative choices. We argue that the DCT may be used to map a generalized semantic space anchored in the self of the speaker, the self being an extension of the body beyond physical space into a multidimensional semantic space.

【 授权许可】

CC BY