The semantics of spatial demonstratives

TY - GEN

T1 - The semantics of spatial demonstratives

AU - Wallentin, Mikkel

AU - Rocca, Roberta

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - Spatial demonstratives (words like this and that) are thought to primarily be used for carving up space into a peripersonal and extrapersonal domain. However, when given a noun out of context and asked to couple it with a demonstrative, speakers tend to use this for manipulable objects (small, harmless, inanimate), while non-manipulable objects (large, harmful, animate) are more likely to be coupled with that. Here, we extend these findings and map demonstrative use along a wide spectrum of semantic features. We conducted a large-scale (N = 2197) experiment eliciting demonstratives for 506 words, rated across 65+11 perceptually and cognitively relevant semantic dimensions. We replicated the findings that demonstrative choice is influenced by object manipulability. Demonstrative choice was additionally found to be related to a set of semantic factors, including valence, arousal, loudness, motion, time and more generally, the self. Importantly, demonstrative choices were highly structured across participants, as shown by a strong correlation detected in a split-sample comparison of by-word demonstrative distribution.

AB - Spatial demonstratives (words like this and that) are thought to primarily be used for carving up space into a peripersonal and extrapersonal domain. However, when given a noun out of context and asked to couple it with a demonstrative, speakers tend to use this for manipulable objects (small, harmless, inanimate), while non-manipulable objects (large, harmful, animate) are more likely to be coupled with that. Here, we extend these findings and map demonstrative use along a wide spectrum of semantic features. We conducted a large-scale (N = 2197) experiment eliciting demonstratives for 506 words, rated across 65+11 perceptually and cognitively relevant semantic dimensions. We replicated the findings that demonstrative choice is influenced by object manipulability. Demonstrative choice was additionally found to be related to a set of semantic factors, including valence, arousal, loudness, motion, time and more generally, the self. Importantly, demonstrative choices were highly structured across participants, as shown by a strong correlation detected in a split-sample comparison of by-word demonstrative distribution.

KW - language

KW - semantics

KW - spatial demonstratives

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85139524609

M3 - Article in proceedings

SP - 605

EP - 610

BT - Proceedings for the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

A2 - Denison, S.

A2 - Mack, M.

A2 - Xu, Y.

A2 - Armstrong, B.C.

PB - Cognitive Science Society

T2 - CogSci 2020 Virtual Meeting

Y2 - 29 July 2020 through 1 August 2020

ER -