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

Frontiers in Psychology

Mikkel Wallentin¹  Roberta Rocca⁴ 

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

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

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00629

来源: DOAJ

【 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】

Unknown