Galit W. Sassoon

A Typology of Multidimensional Adjectives

This paper presents corpus-based evidence for a typology of multidimensional adjectives, like for example, healthy and sick. The interpretation of the latter is sensitive to multiple dimensions, such as blood pressure, pulse, sugar, cancer, etc. The study investigated the frequency of exception phrases, which operate on an implicit universal quantifier over adjectival dimensions, as in healthy, except for a slight cold, and not sick, except for high cholesterol. On the emerging typology, adjectives classify by the way their dimensions are glued together to create a single, uniform interpretation. The default interpretation of adjectives such as healthy involves implicit universal quantification over dimensions (dimension conjunction), while that of adjectives such as sick involves existential quantification (dimension disjunction). In adjectives like intelligent, the force of quantification over dimensions is context relative. Moreover, the paper presents support to the hypotheses that antonym polarity and modifier distribution guide our choice of quantifiers over dimensions in different adjectives. Thus, this research sheds new light on the nature of negative antonymy in multidimensional adjectives, and on the distribution of degree modifiers and exception phrases among multidimensional antonyms. Finally, it raises new questions pertaining to multidimensional comparisons.

Vagueness, gradability and typicality : the interpretation of adjectives and nouns

This book presents a study of the connections between vagueness and gradability, and their different manifestations in adjectives (morphological gradability effects) and nouns (typicality effects). It addresses two opposing theoretical approaches from within formal semantics and cognitive psychology.

Logic, Language and Meaning

This book contains the revised papers presented at the Amsterdam Colloquium 2009, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in December 2009. The 41 refereed and revised contributions presented together with the revised abstracts of 5 invited talks are organized in five sections: the first section contains extended abstracts of the talks given by the invited speakers; the second, third and fourth sections contain invited and submitted contributions to the three thematic workshops hosted by the colloquium: the Workshop on Implicature and Grammar, the Workshop on Natural Logic, and the Workshop on Vagueness; the final section consists of submissions to the general program. The topics covered range from descriptive (syntactic and semantic analyses of all kinds of expressions) to theoretical (logical and computational properties of semantic theories, philosophical foundations, evolution and learning of language).

Gradability, Vagueness, and Scale Structure: From the Armchair to the Lab

In this chapter we present an overview of three main issues that have surrounded the study of gradable properties—vagueness, measurement, and dimensionality—and how they have been pursued from the perspectives of philosophy, linguistics, and psychology. We then provide a brief summary of each chapter in the volume, together with a guide to how the chapters relate to each other thematically.

Dimension Accessibility as a Predictor of Morphological Gradability

Existing formal theories represent the interpretations of gradable predicates in terms of single scalar dimensions. This paper presents a new approach, which aims to cover morphological gradability in multidimensional adjectives and nouns. Following psychological theories, nouns are assumed to be associated with dimension sets, like adjectives. Degree constructions are proposed to involve quantification on dimensions. This approach correlates the acceptability of a given noun or adjective in comparison constructions with its type of characteristic categorization criterion (i.e., whether, as a default, its dimensions combine into a single criterion via quantifiers or other operations). A preliminary study confirms the predicted correlation. Directions for future research are proposed.

Lexical Acquisition through Acquisition order

It is often noted in the literature that typical instances of categories denoted by lexical items are acquired earlier than atypical instances. Yet, a line of empirical studies that were left relatively unnoticed provide evidence to an additional generalization. These studies show that early acquired members are often interpreted as typical of their category, thereby forming a basis for generalizations concerning the dimensions identifying category members. Based on this evidence, I propose a new intra-domain bootstraping mechanism, which I call the Learning Bias. I propose that the bootstrapping of the meaning of simple and complex category type expressions like bird, tall and tall bird, is based on the order in which their early acquired members are classified. I review existing evidence supporting the hypothesis that the Learning Bias is at work in children of different ages, of both typical and atypical populations, and it remains operative in adults. The Learning Bias affects both linguistic and nonlinguistic categories, therefore being a domain-general learning mechanism. Finally, I propose that the reviewed data indirectly supports the lexical bootstrapping hypothesis. Along the paper, I draw attention to open questions and details, and provide concrete proposals for future research on the topics discussed.

The Inhabitants of Vagueness Models

As part of the common practice of experimental research in cognitive psychology, objects are systematically represented by clusters of property values. Individuals correspond to points in an n-dimensional space, for some number n, where each dimension (axis) is some scalar property. For example, the set of possible individuals presented as stimuli in a given experiment can be represented with the two-dimensional space generated from the scalar properties denoted by red and long, or from the dimensions color and shape, the latter seen as nominal-scale properties, assigning to entities values such as “red,” “blue,” “square” and “circle.” The result is a set of individuals including a red square, a blue square, etc. Many other examples can be found in, for instance, Murphy (2002).