language science
@priap.bsky.social
phonologist in search of new frameworks in syntax
Paraphrasing the follow abstract:
Science must be systematic or methodological in order to be rational. But equally, we must recognise our inherent tendency to lose our object if out work becomes excessively instrumental. Hence, we must constantly radicalise our methods.
Science must be systematic or methodological in order to be rational. But equally, we must recognise our inherent tendency to lose our object if out work becomes excessively instrumental. Hence, we must constantly radicalise our methods.
February 24, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Paraphrasing the follow abstract:
Science must be systematic or methodological in order to be rational. But equally, we must recognise our inherent tendency to lose our object if out work becomes excessively instrumental. Hence, we must constantly radicalise our methods.
Science must be systematic or methodological in order to be rational. But equally, we must recognise our inherent tendency to lose our object if out work becomes excessively instrumental. Hence, we must constantly radicalise our methods.
'Forms, Mechanisms & Roles of Iconicity in Spoken Language (review)'
Argues:
— Multimodal bihemispheric comm. system has phylogenetic + ontogenetic advantages
— Aids lang learning + processing
— Iconicity as integral, not a marginal phenomenon
(Open access: doi.org/10.1177/00332941241310119) 🐦🐦
Argues:
— Multimodal bihemispheric comm. system has phylogenetic + ontogenetic advantages
— Aids lang learning + processing
— Iconicity as integral, not a marginal phenomenon
(Open access: doi.org/10.1177/00332941241310119) 🐦🐦
December 22, 2024 at 5:34 PM
'Forms, Mechanisms & Roles of Iconicity in Spoken Language (review)'
Argues:
— Multimodal bihemispheric comm. system has phylogenetic + ontogenetic advantages
— Aids lang learning + processing
— Iconicity as integral, not a marginal phenomenon
(Open access: doi.org/10.1177/00332941241310119) 🐦🐦
Argues:
— Multimodal bihemispheric comm. system has phylogenetic + ontogenetic advantages
— Aids lang learning + processing
— Iconicity as integral, not a marginal phenomenon
(Open access: doi.org/10.1177/00332941241310119) 🐦🐦
Thinking about the systematicity of fast, slow, casual, and careful speech alternations but also what syntactic 'errors' reveal.
Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. †22. Pragmatics and Beyond New Series, 125, 13-34.
Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. †22. Pragmatics and Beyond New Series, 125, 13-34.
![“Harvey Sacks often spoke of the possibility of ‘order at all points’, and in one of his lectures (Sacks, 1966 [1992:I:238]) tells us that 'we’re dealing with something real and powerful. And not just grossly powerful, like, it provides for the rate of industrial development, but it provides for little tiny things that God might have overlooked, perhaps’ … (I have a feeling that Sacks’ specifically formulating this sort of material as something he found 'enormously amusing’, or had 'a fascination’ with, was dealing with their on-the-face-of-it utter trivialness, even for the sort of mundane stuff he was known to work with. These 'little tiny things’ were perhaps beginning to be just a bit too tiny for comfort.)”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:f6htgft4zebgllfmetmz7hvr/bafkreidxe2rkzhucdwomzgcnlghivsct736fyvrmy5mjefkgddhbgp73wq@jpeg)
December 7, 2024 at 1:33 AM
Thinking about the systematicity of fast, slow, casual, and careful speech alternations but also what syntactic 'errors' reveal.
Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. †22. Pragmatics and Beyond New Series, 125, 13-34.
Jefferson, G. (2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. †22. Pragmatics and Beyond New Series, 125, 13-34.
SOV languages tend to show fewer overt arguments in the clause
– Example of communicative efficiency (as maximisation of accessibility)
– SOV means longer sum dependencies than SVO, so fewer arguments = reduced memory
(CogLing Antwerp abstract: benecla.com/wp-content/u...) 🐦🐦
– Example of communicative efficiency (as maximisation of accessibility)
– SOV means longer sum dependencies than SVO, so fewer arguments = reduced memory
(CogLing Antwerp abstract: benecla.com/wp-content/u...) 🐦🐦
December 5, 2024 at 5:06 AM
SOV languages tend to show fewer overt arguments in the clause
– Example of communicative efficiency (as maximisation of accessibility)
– SOV means longer sum dependencies than SVO, so fewer arguments = reduced memory
(CogLing Antwerp abstract: benecla.com/wp-content/u...) 🐦🐦
– Example of communicative efficiency (as maximisation of accessibility)
– SOV means longer sum dependencies than SVO, so fewer arguments = reduced memory
(CogLing Antwerp abstract: benecla.com/wp-content/u...) 🐦🐦
Made modified ยำส้มโอ since as I'm allergic to nuts and shellfish.
Turned out delicious and I definitely wanted to add shredded chicken.
Turned out delicious and I definitely wanted to add shredded chicken.
December 4, 2024 at 4:48 PM
Made modified ยำส้มโอ since as I'm allergic to nuts and shellfish.
Turned out delicious and I definitely wanted to add shredded chicken.
Turned out delicious and I definitely wanted to add shredded chicken.
Overreliance on English hinders cognitive science
– premature claims of universality (due to over-sampling of English speakers)
– limited cognitive constructs being examined (due to the use of English as a meta-language)
(doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.09.015) 🐦🐦
– premature claims of universality (due to over-sampling of English speakers)
– limited cognitive constructs being examined (due to the use of English as a meta-language)
(doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.09.015) 🐦🐦
December 4, 2024 at 2:42 PM
Overreliance on English hinders cognitive science
– premature claims of universality (due to over-sampling of English speakers)
– limited cognitive constructs being examined (due to the use of English as a meta-language)
(doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.09.015) 🐦🐦
– premature claims of universality (due to over-sampling of English speakers)
– limited cognitive constructs being examined (due to the use of English as a meta-language)
(doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.09.015) 🐦🐦
Chapter on sign languages by Deaf linguist Carol Padden in the new Open Encyclopaedia of Cognitive Science, edited by Asifa Majid and Michael C Frank.
(oecs.mit.edu/pub/l60gyowl) 🐦🐦
(oecs.mit.edu/pub/l60gyowl) 🐦🐦
December 4, 2024 at 2:09 PM
Chapter on sign languages by Deaf linguist Carol Padden in the new Open Encyclopaedia of Cognitive Science, edited by Asifa Majid and Michael C Frank.
(oecs.mit.edu/pub/l60gyowl) 🐦🐦
(oecs.mit.edu/pub/l60gyowl) 🐦🐦
'Humans and great apes visually track event roles in similar ways'
Evidence role cognition is prelinguistic
- Inanim food triggered early bias to agents
- Anim agents easier to ID w/ inanim patients
- Agent bias may benefit survival, trophic interact'ns
(doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002857) 🐦🐦
Evidence role cognition is prelinguistic
- Inanim food triggered early bias to agents
- Anim agents easier to ID w/ inanim patients
- Agent bias may benefit survival, trophic interact'ns
(doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002857) 🐦🐦
December 3, 2024 at 6:46 PM
'Humans and great apes visually track event roles in similar ways'
Evidence role cognition is prelinguistic
- Inanim food triggered early bias to agents
- Anim agents easier to ID w/ inanim patients
- Agent bias may benefit survival, trophic interact'ns
(doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002857) 🐦🐦
Evidence role cognition is prelinguistic
- Inanim food triggered early bias to agents
- Anim agents easier to ID w/ inanim patients
- Agent bias may benefit survival, trophic interact'ns
(doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002857) 🐦🐦
Children only rely on MEP (Mutual Exclusivity Principle = assume that novel words have distinct meanings) if novel words are focalized
'Why Do Children Think Words Are Mutually Exclusive?'
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
'Why Do Children Think Words Are Mutually Exclusive?'
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
November 30, 2024 at 10:21 PM
Children only rely on MEP (Mutual Exclusivity Principle = assume that novel words have distinct meanings) if novel words are focalized
'Why Do Children Think Words Are Mutually Exclusive?'
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
'Why Do Children Think Words Are Mutually Exclusive?'
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
Demonstratives may have emerged early in evolution of language to serve a combination of spatial, social, and functional needs
'Spatial communication systems and action'
(doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.002) 🐦🐦
'Spatial communication systems and action'
(doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.002) 🐦🐦
November 30, 2024 at 9:19 PM
Demonstratives may have emerged early in evolution of language to serve a combination of spatial, social, and functional needs
'Spatial communication systems and action'
(doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.002) 🐦🐦
'Spatial communication systems and action'
(doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.10.002) 🐦🐦
Reuse & combinat'n of existing words (= the 2 main lexicalization strategies): constrained by a tradeoff between precision v. word length (= two competing communicative pressures)
'Word reuse and combination support efficient communication of emerging concepts'
(doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2406971121) 🐦🐦
'Word reuse and combination support efficient communication of emerging concepts'
(doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2406971121) 🐦🐦
November 30, 2024 at 9:13 PM
Reuse & combinat'n of existing words (= the 2 main lexicalization strategies): constrained by a tradeoff between precision v. word length (= two competing communicative pressures)
'Word reuse and combination support efficient communication of emerging concepts'
(doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2406971121) 🐦🐦
'Word reuse and combination support efficient communication of emerging concepts'
(doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2406971121) 🐦🐦
Evidence of some recombination, nestedness, and non-adjacent dependencies in the calls of common marmosets
'Beyond bigrams: call sequencing in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) vocal system'
(doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240218) 🐦🐦
'Beyond bigrams: call sequencing in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) vocal system'
(doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240218) 🐦🐦
November 26, 2024 at 9:50 AM
Evidence of some recombination, nestedness, and non-adjacent dependencies in the calls of common marmosets
'Beyond bigrams: call sequencing in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) vocal system'
(doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240218) 🐦🐦
'Beyond bigrams: call sequencing in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) vocal system'
(doi.org/10.1098/rsos.240218) 🐦🐦
'How language evolves depends on how language is learned'
Lang evolves differently in groups where some individuals have language impairment
Main outcomes:
- more innovative elements
- reduced communicative success
- reduced convergence
(doi.org/10.1111/cogs.70011) 🐦🐦
Lang evolves differently in groups where some individuals have language impairment
Main outcomes:
- more innovative elements
- reduced communicative success
- reduced convergence
(doi.org/10.1111/cogs.70011) 🐦🐦
November 26, 2024 at 9:46 AM
'How language evolves depends on how language is learned'
Lang evolves differently in groups where some individuals have language impairment
Main outcomes:
- more innovative elements
- reduced communicative success
- reduced convergence
(doi.org/10.1111/cogs.70011) 🐦🐦
Lang evolves differently in groups where some individuals have language impairment
Main outcomes:
- more innovative elements
- reduced communicative success
- reduced convergence
(doi.org/10.1111/cogs.70011) 🐦🐦
Evidence for domain general cognitive mechanisms behind language?
Other animals may lack language—and other human-distinct behavioural traits—due to poor performance remembering sequences of stimuli.
'A sequence bottleneck for animal intelligence and language?'
(www.cell.com/action/showP...) 🐦🐦
Other animals may lack language—and other human-distinct behavioural traits—due to poor performance remembering sequences of stimuli.
'A sequence bottleneck for animal intelligence and language?'
(www.cell.com/action/showP...) 🐦🐦
November 26, 2024 at 9:43 AM
Evidence for domain general cognitive mechanisms behind language?
Other animals may lack language—and other human-distinct behavioural traits—due to poor performance remembering sequences of stimuli.
'A sequence bottleneck for animal intelligence and language?'
(www.cell.com/action/showP...) 🐦🐦
Other animals may lack language—and other human-distinct behavioural traits—due to poor performance remembering sequences of stimuli.
'A sequence bottleneck for animal intelligence and language?'
(www.cell.com/action/showP...) 🐦🐦
Cross-linguistically interjections that are similar iconic by nature
🗣️ Nonling vocal'ns have distinct vowel patterns
🗣️ Only 'pain' robust: wide falling dipth, open vowels like [a]
🗣️'Disgust': central schwa-like vowels
🗣️'Joy': front vowels like [i]
(doi.org/10.1121/10.0032454) 🐦🐦
🗣️ Nonling vocal'ns have distinct vowel patterns
🗣️ Only 'pain' robust: wide falling dipth, open vowels like [a]
🗣️'Disgust': central schwa-like vowels
🗣️'Joy': front vowels like [i]
(doi.org/10.1121/10.0032454) 🐦🐦
November 26, 2024 at 9:39 AM
Cross-linguistically interjections that are similar iconic by nature
🗣️ Nonling vocal'ns have distinct vowel patterns
🗣️ Only 'pain' robust: wide falling dipth, open vowels like [a]
🗣️'Disgust': central schwa-like vowels
🗣️'Joy': front vowels like [i]
(doi.org/10.1121/10.0032454) 🐦🐦
🗣️ Nonling vocal'ns have distinct vowel patterns
🗣️ Only 'pain' robust: wide falling dipth, open vowels like [a]
🗣️'Disgust': central schwa-like vowels
🗣️'Joy': front vowels like [i]
(doi.org/10.1121/10.0032454) 🐦🐦
'Linguistic intuitions are about communicativeness, not grammaticalness'
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
November 26, 2024 at 9:19 AM
'Linguistic intuitions are about communicativeness, not grammaticalness'
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
Are orthographic representations a subcomponent of phonological representation? Adults attune to novel-language prosody but interference from text!
'Tuning in to a novel language is easier without orthography' looks at Czech speakers with Māori
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
'Tuning in to a novel language is easier without orthography' looks at Czech speakers with Māori
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
November 26, 2024 at 9:17 AM
Are orthographic representations a subcomponent of phonological representation? Adults attune to novel-language prosody but interference from text!
'Tuning in to a novel language is easier without orthography' looks at Czech speakers with Māori
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
'Tuning in to a novel language is easier without orthography' looks at Czech speakers with Māori
(PsyArXiv preprint: osf.io/preprints/ps...) 🐦🐦
Had a lovely weekend with family. We made matcha shortbread cookies. Hope everyone did as well.
November 24, 2024 at 11:38 PM
Had a lovely weekend with family. We made matcha shortbread cookies. Hope everyone did as well.
Articulatory 'semblance' is definitely part of it but the robustness of any given iconic phenomena must necessarily be multifactorial!
November 24, 2024 at 11:28 PM
Articulatory 'semblance' is definitely part of it but the robustness of any given iconic phenomena must necessarily be multifactorial!
