New Perspectives in Semantic Typology

24 Avril 2012

Conférence scientifique

Are semantic categories determined primarily by universal principles (such as perceptual and cognitive predispositions), or are they relatively free to vary (depending on cultural, environmental and historical circumstances)? Despite the long history of this question, there is still little consensus on what the answer might be. Previously established semantic universals are regularly challenged, and the outcome has still to be determined. In this talk, I outline the major approaches to semantic typology today, focussing in particular on the extension-based approach where the emphasis is on referential meaning.

In this approach, the starting point is an etic grid of stimuli – a set of pictures, videoclips, sounds, etc – which vary along a number of parameters. The stimuli are used to elicit speaker descriptions from a range of geographically, genetically and typologically diverse languages. The descriptions are then analyzed using multivariate statistics which extract recurrent categorisation strategies found across languages, as well as identifying unusual patterns. They also quantify how much structure – if any – is shared across languages and thus answer how much similarity there really is within a domain. Drawing on recent evidence across different domains, from simple sensations (e.g., colour, olfaction) to complex dynamic events (e.g., walking, putting), I show where cognitive predispositions play a strong role, and where they fail to mould linguistic meaning.

Intervenants / conférenciers:
Dr. Asifa Majid

Organisation:
Institut de plurilinguisme
Adresse: Rue de Morat 24,  1700 Fribourg  
Email: susanne.obermayer@unifr.ch    T: 026 305 61 73    
Web: http://www.institut-plurilinguisme.ch/fr/manifestations/20121/24-avril-2012-conference-asifa-majid

Date et heure: 24 Avril 2012 17:15

Lieu: K0.02 (Institut de plurilinguisme, Rue de Morat 24, Fribourg)

Rubrique: Langues,littératures et bilinguisme,Sprachen, Literaturen und Zweisprachigkeit

  abonnement RSS        annoncer un événement       tout le memento