INSPIRE: The underpinnings of Semantic change: A Linguistic, Cognitive, and Information-Theoretic Investigation

INSPIRE：语义变化的基础：语言学、认知和信息理论研究

• 批准号: 1248100
• 负责人: Maria Pinango
• 金额: $ 72.97万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-10-01 至 2018-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1248100&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: INSPIRE; underpinnings; Semantic; change; Linguistic

This INSPIRE award is partially funded by the Communication and Information Foundations Program of the Computing and Communications Foundations Division in the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering (CISE/CCF) and the Linguistics Program of the Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences Division in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences (SBE/BCS).It is a well-established fact that meanings associated with linguistic expressions evolve in systematic ways across time. But we have little concrete understanding of the cognitive and communicative basis of such systematic change. Central to the proposed research are two questions: a) Does the constrained and trajectorial nature of semantic change derive from the organizational properties of the neurocognitive system? b) How precisely is the actuation and the implementation of instances of such changes rooted in the dynamics of rational communication? By simultaneously addressing these questions from the perspectives of linguistic structure, conceptual structure, brain-functional structure, and communication structure, the investigators hope to develop a cognitively grounded, experimentally viable, and mathematically informed theory of semantic change.Two cross-linguistically well-attested paths of change have been identified as being especially relevant in probing the potential connections between language, cognition and communication: (a) the path whereby locative expressions diachronically evolve to express possession, ultimately evolving into dative case markers; (b) the path whereby copulas or linking verbs arise from posture verbs (e.g., sit, stand) to encode the distinction between incidental/temporary and essential/permanent attribution of properties, generalizing at a later stage to encode both types of attribution. On the one hand, by experimentally studying the processing and neurological aspects of these semantic notions, the team will probe the interface between language and cognition -- specifically the connection to percept-based and non-percept-based dimensions of the conceptual system. These results will facilitate a better understanding of the cognitive pathways that organize the infrastructure of the conceptual system, particularly the prefrontal cortex. On the other hand, insights obtained from formal linguistic models, semantic change phenomena, and cognitive psychology, will be combined with ideas from engineering and statistics to formulate at least the beginnings of a probabilistic theory of semantic information, which models how information is exchanged in linguistic discourse.As envisaged, this project promises to have broader impact at two levels: First, it will liberate phenomena conventionally restricted to one small subfield in Linguistics and transform them into tools for investigating the fundamental mechanisms from which they emerge, making them relevant for Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, and Information Theory. It will also open up direct channels for a possible synthesis between the rich (but relatively messy) empirical facts of real language and abstract theories of communication, paving a path towards a Semantic Information Theory. Second, it will afford a cleaner understanding of how cognitive pathways guide the evolution of language in the linguistically typical (i.e., neurocognitively healthy) population. This, in turn, has direct implications for research on linguistically atypical populations. In both these ways, the project will redefine the boundaries between linguistics, information theory, cognitive science, and neuroscience and lead to new methodologies for studying semantics, cognition and information. The proposed research will also lead to the creation of a novel educational and research approach: the study of language change from an information-theoretic and neurocognitive perspective.

该INSPIRE奖部分由计算机与信息科学与工程局（CISE/CCF）的计算与通信基金会部门的通信和信息基础计划以及行为和认知科学局的语言学计划以及在社会，行为和经济科学（SBE/BCS）。这是一个公认的事实，与语言表达相关的含义随着时间的流逝而随着系统的方式发展。但是，我们对这种系统变化的认知和交流基础几乎没有具体的理解。拟议研究的核心是两个问题：a）语义变化的约束和轨迹性质是否来自神经认知系统的组织特性？ b）源自理性沟通动态的这种变化实例的驱动和实例的精确程度？ 通过同时从语言结构，概念结构，脑功能官能结构和沟通结构的角度解决这些问题，研究人员希望开发一种认知上扎根的，实验性的可行和数学上知情的语义变化理论。已确认的变化路径已被确定为在探测语言，认知和交流之间的潜在联系时特别相关：（a）位置表达式在短时形式发展以表达所有权的路径，最终演变为指示性案例标记； （b）copulas或链接动词的路径是由姿势动词（例如坐下，站立）产生的，以编码属性的偶然/临时和必需/永久归因之间的区别，并在以后的阶段进行概括以编码两种类型的属性。一方面，通过实验研究这些语义概念的处理和神经系统方面，团队将探究语言和认知之间的接口 - 特别是与基于感知和基于知觉的概念系统维度的联系。这些结果将有助于更好地了解组织概念系统基础设施的认知途径，尤其是前额叶皮层。另一方面，从形式的语言模型，语义变化现象和认知心理学获得的见解将与工程和统计学的思想相结合，至少要制定语义信息的概率理论的开始，这些概率是在其中如何交换信息的信息。如所设想的那样，该项目有望在两个层面上产生更广泛的影响：首先，它将传统地将现象限制在语言学中的一个小子场中，并将其转变为研究它们出现的基本机制的工具，使它们与之相关，使其具有相关性认知科学，神经科学和信息理论。它还将开辟直接渠道，以实现真实语言的丰富（但相对杂乱）的经验事实和交流的抽象理论之间的综合，为语义信息理论铺平了道路。其次，它将对认知途径如何指导语言典型（即神经认知健康）人群的语言演变有更清晰的了解。反过来，这对对语言非典型人群的研究具有直接影响。通过这两种方式，该项目将重新定义语言学，信息理论，认知科学和神经科学之间的界限，并导致研究语义，认知和信息的新方法。拟议的研究还将导致创建一种新颖的教育和研究方法：从信息理论和神经认知的角度来研究语言的研究。