Conceptual complexity and the evolution of the lexicon
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Natural languages are filled with regularities. Where do these regularities come from? A parsimonious explanation is that these regularities emerge as a consequence of pressures within the broader context in which language is used: Communication among many cognitive systems. In this dissertation, I consider one particular regularity as a case study in how the dynamics of language use might shape language structure. Specifically, I focus on a bias in natural language to map long words on to conceptually complex meanings and short words on to conceptually simple meanings, or a complexity bias. Across a series of experimental and corpus studies, I explore whether languages and their speakers have a complexity bias, what conceptual complexity is, and what pressures might have lead to this bias over the course of language evolution. In the final chapter, I consider a broader range of linguistic phenomena and examine how aspects of language use might influence these structures.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2016 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Lewis, Molly L |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Psychology. |
| Primary advisor | Frank, Michael C, (Professor of human biology) |
| Thesis advisor | Frank, Michael C, (Professor of human biology) |
| Thesis advisor | Goodman, Noah |
| Thesis advisor | Markman, Ellen M |
| Advisor | Goodman, Noah |
| Advisor | Markman, Ellen M |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Molly L. Lewis. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Psychology. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2016. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2016 by Molly Lawrence Lewis
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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