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TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20260308T030000 RDATE:20261101T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20270314T030000 RDATE:20271107T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20280312T030000 RDATE:20281105T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20290311T030000 RDATE:20291104T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20300310T030000 RDATE:20301103T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20310309T030000 RDATE:20311102T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20320314T030000 RDATE:20321107T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20330313T030000 RDATE:20331106T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20340312T030000 RDATE:20341105T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20350311T030000 RDATE:20351104T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20360309T030000 RDATE:20361102T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20370308T030000 RDATE:20371101T010000 TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 TZNAME:America/New_York EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:9ccd54f76ea4301f6ec325af1f01f81f CATEGORIES:RuCCS Colloquia:Fall 2019 CREATED:20190618T160627 SUMMARY:"Information processing and cross-linguistic universals",Ted Gibson (MIT, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences) LOCATION:Busch Campus\, Psych 105 DESCRIPTION:
Abstract: Finding explanatio ns for the observed variation in human languages is the primary goal of lin guistics, and promises to shed light on the nature of human cognition. One particularly attractive set of explanations is functional in nature, h olding that language universals are grounded in the known properties of hum an information processing. The idea is that lexicons and grammars of langua ges have evolved so that language users can communicate using words an d sentences that are relatively easy to produce and comprehend. In this talk, I summarize results from explorations in two linguistic domai ns, from an information-processing point of view. First, in the lexical domain, I show that word lengths are optimized on average acco rding to predictability in context, as would be expected under an informati on theoretic analysis. I then apply a simple information theory analys is to the language for color. The number of color terms varies d rastically across languages. Yet despite these differences, certain terms ( e.g., red) are prevalent, which has been attributed to perceptual sali ence. Our work provides evidence for an alternative hypothesis: The use of color terms depends on communicative needs. Across languages, fr om the hunter-gatherer Tsimane’ people of the Amazon to students in Bo ston, warm colors are communicated more efficiently than cool colors. This cross-linguistic pattern reflects the color statistics of the world: O bjects (what we talk about) are typically warm-colored, and backgrounds are cool-colored. Communicative needs also explain why the number of color ter ms varies across languages: Cultures vary in how useful color is. Indu strialization, which creates objects distinguishable solely based on color, increases color usefulness. Finally, in the realm of syntax, I show that a ll the world’s languages that we can currently analyze minimize syntac tic dependency lengths to some degree, as would be expected under informati on processing considerations.
Recommended Reading:
Gibson, E., Futrell, R., Piantadosi, S.T., Dautrich e, I., Mahowald, K., Bergen, L. & Levy, R. (2019). How Efficiency Shapes Human Language. Tren ds in Cognitive Science
Gibson, E., Futrell, R., Jara-Ettinger, J ., Mahowald, K., Bergen, L., Ratnasingam, S., Gibson, M., Piantadosi, S.T., & Conway, B.R. (2017). Color nam ing across languages reflects color use. Proceedings of the Nation al Academy of Sciences” 114(40): 10785-10790.
Futrell, R., Mahowald, K., & Gibson, E. (2015). Large-scale evidence of dependency length minimization in 37 languages. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112(33): 10336-10341. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1502134112.
DTSTAMP:20240328T124101 DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20191029T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20191029T143000 SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR