Download or read book The evolution of grounded spatial language written by Michael Spranger and published by Language Science Press. This book was released on 2016-06-15 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents groundbreaking robotic experiments on how and why spatial language evolves. It provides detailed explanations of the origins of spatial conceptualization strategies, spatial categories, landmark systems and spatial grammar by tracing the interplay of environmental conditions, communicative and cognitive pressures. The experiments discussed in this book go far beyond previous approaches in grounded language evolution. For the first time, agents can evolve not only particular lexical systems but also evolve complex conceptualization strategies underlying the emergence of category systems and compositional semantics. Moreover, many issues in cognitive science, ranging from perception and conceptualization to language processing, had to be dealt with to instantiate these experiments, so that this book contributes not only to the study of language evolution but to the investigation of the cognitive bases of spatial language as well.
Download or read book Space in Languages written by Maya Hickmann and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2006-05-16 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Space is presently the focus of much research and debate across disciplines, including linguistics, anthropology, psychology, and philosophy. One strong feature of this collection is to bring together theoretical and empirical contributions from these varied scientific traditions, with the collective aim of addressing fundamental questions at the forefront of the current literature: the nature of space in language, the linguistic relativity of space, the relation between spatial language and cognition. Linguistic analyses highlight the multidimensional and heterogeneous nature of space, while also showing the existence of a set of types, parameters, and principles organizing the considerable diversity of linguistic systems and accounting for mechanisms of diachronic change. Findings concerning spatial perception and cognition suggest the existence of two distinct systems governing linguistic and non-linguistic representations, that only partially overlap in some pathologies, but they also show the strong impact of language-specific factors on the course of language acquisition and cognitive development.
Download or read book Spatial Language and Dialogue written by Kenny R. Coventry and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2009-04-23 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers how people talk about the location of objects and places. Spatial language has occupied many researchers across diverse fields, such as linguistics, psychology, GIScience, architecture, and neuroscience. However, the vast majority of work in this area has examined spatial language in monologue situations, and often in highly artificial and restricted settings. Yet there is a growing recognition in the language research community that dialogue rather than monologue should be a starting point for language understanding. Hence, the current zeitgeist in both language research and robotics/AI demands an integrated examination of spatial language in dialogue settings. The present volume provides such integration for the first time and reports on the latest developments in this important field. Written in a way that will appeal to researchers across disciplines from graduate level upwards, the book sets the agenda for future research in spatial conceptualization and communication.
Download or read book The Acquisition of Spatial Relations in a Second Language written by Angelika Becker and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 1997-05-23 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the third to appear in the SIBIL series based on results from the European Science Foundation's Additional Activity on the second language acquisition of adult immigrants. It analyses from a longitudinal and cross-linguistic perspective the acquisition of the linguistic means to express spatial relations in the target languages English, French and German. Learners' progress in the expression of spatial relations is closely followed over a period of 30 months using a wide range of oral data, and the factors determining both the specifics of individual source/target language pairings, and the general characteristics of all cases of acquisition studied, are carefully described. In particular, a basic system for the expression of spatial relations common to all learners from all language backgrounds is identified. The book is of particular significance for the field of second language acquisition in that this is the first time that results are presented in English on the acquisition of L2 means to express the basic cognitive — and communicational — category of space from a comparative linguistic point of view.
Download or read book Spatial Language written by Kenny R. Coventry and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-14 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: People constantly talk to each other about experience or knowledge resulting from spatial perception; they describe the size, shape, orientation and position of objects using a wide range of spatial expressions. The semantic treatment of such expressions presents particular challenges for natural language processing. The meaning representation used must be capable of distinguishing between fine-grained sense differences and ambiguities grounded in our experience and perceptual structure. While there have been many different approaches to the representation and processing of spatial expressions, most computational characterisations have been restricted to particularly narrow problem domains. The chapters in the present volume reflect a commitment to the development of cognitively informed computational treatments of spatial language and spatial representation. Therefore the chapters present computational work, empirical work, or a combination of both. The book will appeal to all those interested in spatial language and spatial representation, whether they work in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, cognitive psychology or linguistics.
Download or read book The Spatial Language of Time written by Kevin Ezra Moore and published by John Benjamins Publishing Company. This book was released on 2014-05-15 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Spatial Language of Time presents a crosslinguistically valid state-of-the-art analysis of space-to-time metaphors, using data mostly from English and Wolof (Africa) but additionally from Japanese and other languages. Metaphors are analyzed in terms of their most direct motivation by basic human experiences (Grady 1997a; Lakoff & Johnson 1980). This motivation explains the crosslinguistic appearance of certain metaphors, but does not say anything about temporal metaphor systems that deviate from the types documented here. Indeed, we observe interesting culture- and language-specific metaphor phenomena. Refining earlier treatments of temporal metaphor and adapting to temporal experience Levinson’s (2003) idea of frames of reference, the author proposes a contrast between perspective-neutral and perspective-specific frames of reference in temporal metaphor that has important crosslinguistic ramifications for the temporal semantics of FRONT/BEHIND expressions. This book refines the cognitive-linguistic approach to temporal metaphor by analyzing the extensive temporal structure in what has been considered the source domain of space, and showing how temporal metaphors can be better understood by downplaying the space-time dichotomy and analyzing metaphor structure in terms of conceptual frames. This book is of interest to linguists, psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and others who may have wondered about relationships between space and time.
Download or read book The Categorization of Spatial Entities in Language and Cognition written by Michel Aurnague and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite a growing interest for space in language, most research has focused on spatial markers specifying the static or dynamic relationships among entities (verbs, prepositions, postpositions, case markings ). Little attention has been paid to the very properties of spatial entities, their status in linguistic descriptions, and their implications for spatial cognition and its development in children. This topic is at the center of this book, that opens a new field by sketching some major theoretical and methodological directions for future research on spatial entities. Brought together linguistic descriptions of spatial systems, formal accounts of linguistic data, and experimental findings from psycholinguistic studies, all couched within a wide cross-linguistic perspective. Such an interdisciplinary approach provides a rich overview of the many questions that remain unanswered in relation to spatial entities, while also throwing a new light on previous research focusing on related topics concerning space and/or the relation between language and cognition.
Download or read book Language Learning Environments written by Phil Benson and published by Multilingual Matters. This book was released on 2021-06-04 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first in-depth examination of the application of theories of space to issues of second language learning. The author introduces the work of key thinkers on the theory of space and place and the relevance of their ideas to second language acquisition (SLA). He also outlines a new conceptual framework and set of terms for researching SLA that centre on the idea of 'language learning environments'. The book considers the spatial contexts in which language learning takes place and investigates how these spatial contexts are transformed into individualised language learning environments, as learners engage with a range of human and nonhuman, and physical and nonphysical, resources in their daily lives. Revisiting linguistics and language learning theory from a spatial perspective, the book demonstrates that the question of where people learn languages is equally as important as that of how they do so. This work is essential reading for any researcher wishing to research the role of the environment as an active player in SLA.
Download or read book Multidisciplinary Approaches to Understanding Early Development of Spatial Skills Advances in Linguistic Behavioral and Neuroimaging studies written by Hui Li and published by Frontiers Media SA. This book was released on 2021-06-04 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Human Semantic Potential written by Terry Regier and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on ideas from cognitive linguistics, connectionism, and perception, The Human Semantic Potential describes a connectionist model that learns perceptually grounded semantics for natural language in spatial terms. Languages differ in the ways in which they structure space, and Regier's aim is to have the model perform its learning task for terms from any natural language. The system has so far succeeded in learning spatial terms from English, German, Russian, Japanese, and Mixtec. The model views simple movies of two-dimensional objects moving relative to one another and learns to classify them linguistically in accordance with the spatial system of some natural language. The overall goal is to determine which sorts of spatial configurations and events are learnable as the semantics for spatial terms and which are not. Ultimately, the model and its theoretical underpinnings are a step in the direction of articulating biologically based constraints on the nature of human semantic systems. Along the way Regier takes up such substantial issues as the attraction and the liabilities of PDP and structured connectionist modeling, the problem of learning without direct negative evidence, and the area of linguistic universals, which is addressed in the model itself. Trained on spatial terms from different languages, the model permits observations about the possible bases of linguistic universals and interlanguage variation.
Download or read book Imagery Language and Visuo Spatial Thinking written by Michel Denis and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2012-10-12 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagery, Language and Visuo-Spatial Thinking discusses the remarkable human ability to use mental imagery in everyday life: from helping plan actions and routes to aiding creative thinking; from making sense of and remembering our immediate environment to generating pictures in our minds from verbal descriptions of scenes or people. The book also considers the important theme of how individuals differ in their ability to use imagery. With contributions from leading researchers in the field, this book will be of interest to advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in cognitive psychology, cognitive science and cognitive neuropsychology.
Download or read book Language Acquisition and Conceptual Development written by Melissa Bowerman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-01-11 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading scholars examine the relationship between child language acquisition and cognitive development.
Download or read book Spatial Cognition VI Learning Reasoning and Talking about Space written by Christian Freksa and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-09-10 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Spatial Cognition, Spatial Cognition 2008, held in Freiburg, Germany, in September 2008. The 27 revised full papers presented together with 3 invited lectures were carefully reviewed and selected from 54 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on spatial orientation, spatial navigation, spatial learning, maps and modalities, spatial communication, spatial language, similarity and abstraction, concepts and reference frames, as well as spatial modeling and spatial reasoning.
Download or read book Language and Space written by Paul Bloom and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 15 essays in this volume bring together research and theoretical viewpoints in the areas of psychology, linguistics, anthropology, and neuroscience, presenting a synthesis across these diverse domains. Throughout, authors address and debate each others arguments and theories.
Download or read book The Spatial Foundations of Cognition and Language written by Kelly S. Mix and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents recent research on the role of space as a mechanism in language use and learning. Experimental psychologists, computer scientists, robotocists, linguists, and researchers in child language consider the nature and applications of this research and its implications for understanding the processes involved in language acquisition.
Download or read book Spatial Representation written by Barbara Landau and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-08-23 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our experience of the spatial world is a unitary one; we perceive objects and layouts, we remember them and act on them, and we can even talk about them with ease. Despite this impression of seamlessness, spatial representations in human adults appear to be specialized in domain-dependent manner, engaging different properties and computational mechanisms for different functions. In this book, the authors present evidence that this domain-specific specialization in cognitive function emerges early in development and is reflected in patterns of breakdown that occur under genetic defect. The authors focus on spatial representation in children and adults with Williams syndrome, a relatively rare genetic syndrome that gives rise to an unusual profile of severely impaired spatial representation together with spared language. Results from a variety of spatial domains -- including object representation, motion perception, action, navigation, and spatial language -- appear to display a strikingly uneven profile of sparing and deficit within spatial representations, consistent with the idea that specialization of function drives development and breakdown. These findings raise a crucial question: Can specific genes target specific aspects of cognitive structure? Looking deeper into the patterns of performance across spatial domains, the book explores the notion that understanding patterns of normal development across domains is crucial to understanding unusual development. Using insights from normal development, the authors propose a speculative hypothesis that explains the emergence of the William syndrome profile, and how complex cognitive outcomes can arise from the deletion of a small set of genes.
Download or read book Space in Language and Linguistics written by Peter Auer and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2013-11-27 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together three perspectives on language and space that are quite well-researched within themselves, but which so far are lacking productive interconnections. Specifically, the book aims to interconnect the following research areas: Language, space, and geography Grammar, space, and cognition Language and interactional spaces The contributions in this book cover geographical language variation within and across languages, language use in stationary and mobile interactional spaces, computer-mediated communication, and spatial reasoning across languages. This range of issues showcases the thematic and methodological breadth of research on language and space. In order to identify interconnections, the respective contributions are accompanied by commentaries that highlight common threads.
