Quantifiers satisfying semantic universals are simpler
| Autor: | Jakub Szymanik, Leendert van Maanen, Paul Lodder, Iris van de Pol, Shane Steinert-Threlkeld |
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| Přispěvatelé: | ILLC (FNWI), Logic and Computation (ILLC, FNWI/FGw), ILLC (FGw) |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Grammar
media_common.quotation_subject cognitive science generalized quantifiers minimal description length Monotonic function semantic universals logical grammar complexity Problem of universals Domain (mathematical analysis) Linguistics Variation (linguistics) Simple (abstract algebra) Natural language media_common Mathematics |
| Zdroj: | Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, vol 43, iss 43 43rd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (CogSci 2021): Comparative Cognition Animal Minds : Vienna, Austria, 26-29 July 2021, 2, 756-762 |
| Popis: | Author(s): van de Pol, Iris; Lodder, Paul; van Maanen, Leendert; Steinert-Threlkeld, Shane; Szymanik, Jakub | Abstract: Despite wide variation among natural languages, there are linguistic properties thought to be universal to all or almost all natural languages. Here, we consider universals at the semantic level, in the domain of quantifiers, which are given by the properties of monotonicity, quantity, and conservativity. We investigate whether these universals might be explained by differences in complexity. We generate a large collection of quantifiers, based on a simple yet expressive grammar, and compute both their complexities and whether they adhere to these universal properties. We find that quantifiers satisfying semantic universals are less complex: they have a shorter minimal description length. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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