Niche as a determinant of word fate in online groups

Patterns of word use both reflect and influence a myriad of human activities and interactions. Like other entities that are reproduced and evolve, words rise or decline depending upon a complex interplay between {their intrinsic properties and the environments in which they function}. Using Internet discussion communities as model systems, we define the concept of a word niche as the relationship between the word and the characteristic features of the environments in which it is used. We develop a method to quantify two important aspects of the size of the word niche: the range of individuals using the word and the range of topics it is used to discuss. Controlling for word frequency, we show that these aspects of the word niche are strong determinants of changes in word frequency. Previous studies have already indicated that word frequency itself is a correlate of word success at historical time scales. Our analysis of changes in word frequencies over time reveals that the relative sizes of word niches are far more important than word frequencies in the dynamics of the entire vocabulary at shorter time scales, as the language adapts to new concepts and social groupings. We also distinguish endogenous versus exogenous factors as additional contributors to the fates of words, and demonstrate the force of this distinction in the rise of novel words. Our results indicate that short-term nonstationarity in word statistics is strongly driven by individual proclivities, including inclinations to provide novel information and to project a distinctive social identity.Comment: Supporting Information is available here: http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchSingleRepresentation.action?uri=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0019009.s00

EFFECTS OF SEMANTIC ROLE PREDICTABILITY ON REFERENTIAL FORM CHOICE IN EMOTION EVENTS WITH IMPLICIT CAUSALITY

Referential predictability has been shown to affect comprehension of ambiguous referents. However, the effects of predictability on pronoun production are not as evident. Many models of language production posit that reduced linguistic forms are used when referents are more predictable (e.g. Levy & Jaeger, 2007), yet in several studies using emotion events with implicit causality (e.g. Jacob impressed Dave because…), the predictability of the implicit cause had no effect on pronoun use (Fukumura & van Gompel, 2010; Kehler & Rohde, 2013). In contrast, other studies using transfer events (e.g. Jacob gave the book to Dave…) have found an effect of goal predictability on pronoun use (Arnold, 2001; Rosa & Arnold, 2017). Why is there a difference across verb types? Has the effect of referential predictability on pronoun use in emotion events with implicit causality been missed previously? In a novel story retelling paradigm (Part One), speakers did use more pronouns to refer to implicit causes versus non-causes, in support of a previously unobserved effect of referential predictability for implicit causes in emotion events. Further, these findings suggest that previous null findings for this event type were possibly due to different methodological requirements across verb types, suggesting avenues for future investigation. Part Two directly tested whether the semantic roles for the emotion events used in Part One affect judgments of who will be mentioned next, and found that they do, but that these judgments depend on the availability of the causal coherence relation. Importantly, the increased pronoun use for more predictable implicit causes further supports a role for referential predictability in a model of pronoun production. Finally, Part Three investigated production facilitation, through measures of planning and production, as a mechanism through which predictability might affect referential form choice. While more predictable implicit causes were produced faster, there was no effect of production facilitation on referential form choice.Master of Scienc

Semantic Role Predictability Affects Referential Form

Referential form variation, such as the choice between she and Sally, is an important component of meaningful language use. Speakers generally use reduced forms, such as pronouns or zeros, to refer the person who is the topic of the conversation, and who can be assumed to be in the center of attention. Speakers use more specific forms such as names to introduce people for the first time, or to talk about someone who hasn't been mentioned recently (Arnold, 1998; Brennan, 1995; Givon, 1983). The current set of studies examined whether predictability of being referred to also affects referential form. Some (Arnold, 2001) argue that more predictable referents are referred to with reduced forms, but others (Fukumura & van Gompel, 2010; Rohde & Kehler, 2014) argue predictability does not play a role in determining referential form. The current studies manipulated the predictability of pairs of characters in computerized and in-person story-continuation paradigms. Predictability was manipulated using Goal-Source verbs, which make the referent that was in the Goal position more predictable than the Source. In three experiments speakers used more reduced referring expressions when talking about the Goal referent as compared to the Source, in addition to the expected Subject effect. These results suggest that both predictability and topicality information influence referential form.Doctor of Philosoph

Integrating pragmatic reasoning in an efficiency-based theory of utterance choice

This thesis explores new methods of accounting for discourse-level linguistic phenomena, using computational modeling. When communicating, efficient speakers frequently choose to either omit, or otherwise reduce the length of their utterances wherever possible. Frameworks such as Uniform Information Density (UID) have argued that speakers preferentially reduce or omit those elements that are more predictable in context, and easier to recover. However, these frameworks have nothing to say about the effects of a linguistic choice on how a message is interpreted. I run 3 experiments which show that while UID posits no specific consequences to being "overinformative" (including more information in an utterance than is necessary), in fact overinformativeness can trigger pragmatic inferences which alter comprehenders' background beliefs about the world. In this case, I show that the Rational Speech Act (RSA) model, which models back-and-forth pragmatic reasoning between speakers and comprehenders, predicts both efficiency-based utterance choices, as well as any consequent change in perceived meaning. I also provide evidence that it's critical to model communication as a lossy process (which UID assumes), which allows the RSA model to account for phenomena that it otherwise is not able to. I further show that while UID predicts increased use of pronouns when referring to more contextually predictable referents, existing research does not unequivocally support this. I run 2 experiments which fail to show evidence that speakers use reduced expressions for predictable elements. In contrast to UID and similar frameworks, the RSA model can straightforwardly predict the results that have been observed to date. In the end, I argue that the RSA model is a highly attractive alternative for modeling speaker utterance choice at the discourse level. When it reflects communication as a lossy process, it is able to predict the same predictability-driven utterance reduction that UID does. However, by additionally modeling back-and-forth pragmatic reasoning, it successfully models utterance choice phenomena that simpler frameworks cannot account for.Diese Arbeit erforscht neue Methoden, linguistische Phänomene auf Gesprächsebene per Computermodellierung zu erfassen. Effiziente Sprecher:innen entscheiden sich bei der Kommunikation häufig dazu, wenn immer es möglich ist, Äußerungen entweder ganz auszulassen oder aber ihre Länge zu reduzieren. Modelle wie Uniform Information Density (UID) argumentieren, dass Sprecher:innen vorzugsweise diejenigen Elemente auslassen, die im jeweiligen Kontext vorhersagbarer und einfacher wiederherzustellen sind. Allerdings sagen diese Modelle nichts über die Auswirkungen einer linguistischen Entscheidung bezüglich der Interpretation einer Nachricht aus. Ich führe drei Experimente durch, die zeigen, dass wenngleich UID keine spezifischen Auswirkungen von "Überinformation" (einer Äußerung mehr Information als nötig geben) postuliert, Überinformationen doch pragmatische Schlussfolgerungen, die das gedankliche Weltmodell der Versteher:innen ändern können, auslöst. Für diesen Fall zeige ich, dass das Rational-Speech-Act-Modell (RSA), welches pragmatische Hin-und-Her-Schlussfolgerungen zwischen Sprecher:innen und Versteher:innen modelliert, sowohl effizienzbasierte Äußerungsauswahl als auch jegliche resultierende Verständnisänderung vorhersagt. Ich liefere auch Anhaltspunkte dafür, dass es entscheidend ist, Kommunikation als verlustbehafteten Prozess zu modellieren (wovon UID ausgeht), was es dem RSA-Modell erlaubt, Phänomene einzubeziehen, wozu es sonst nicht in der Lage wäre. Weiterhin zeige ich, dass obschon UID beim Bezug auf kontextuell vorhersagbarere Bezugswörter eine erhöhte Nutzung von Pronomen vorhersagt, dies von existierender Forschung nicht einstimmig gestützt wird. Ich führe zwei Experimente durch, die keine Anhaltspunkte dafür, dass Sprecher:innen reduzierte Ausdrücke für vorhersagbare Elemente verwenden, finden. Im Gegensatz zu UID und ähnlichen Modellen kann dass RSA-Modell direkt die bislang beobachteten Resultate vorhersagen. Schließlich lege ich dar, warum das RSA-Modell eine höchst attraktive Alternative zur Modellierung von Sprachäußerungsentscheidungen auf Gesprächsebene ist. Wenn es Kommunikation als einen verlustbehafteten Prozess widerspiegelt, kann es dieselbe vorhersagebasierte Äußerungsreduktion vorhersagen wie auch UID. Modelliert man jedoch zusätzlich pragmatische Hin-und-Her-Schlussfolgerungen, modelliert RSA erfolgreich Phänomene bei Äußerungsentscheidungen, die einfachere Modelle nicht abbilden können.German Research Foundation (DFG) as part of SFB 1102 - Information Density and Linguistic Encoding (IDeaL

Diachrony of differential argument marking

While there are languages that code a particular grammatical role (e.g. subject or direct object) in one and the same way across the board, many more languages code the same grammatical roles differentially. The variables which condition the differential argument marking (or DAM) pertain to various properties of the NP (such as animacy or definiteness) or to event semantics or various properties of the clause. While the main line of current research on DAM is mainly synchronic the volume tackles the diachronic perspective. The tenet is that the emergence and the development of differential marking systems provide a different kind of evidence for the understanding of the phenomenon. The present volume consists of 18 chapters and primarily brings together diachronic case studies on particular languages or language groups including e.g. Finno-Ugric, Sino-Tibetan and Japonic languages. The volume also includes a position paper, which provides an overview of the typology of different subtypes of DAM systems, a chapter on computer simulation of the emergence of DAM and a chapter devoted to the cross-linguistic effects of referential hierarchies on DAM

Differential object indexing in Bulgarian - The role of discourse prominence and predictability

In this study, I argue that object reduplication in Bulgarian is a special encoding strategy that is concerned with discourse management and primarily used to mark (perceived) deviances from expectations with respect to the status of referents in discourse. In particular, I adopt a new perspective by capturing the phenomenon under discussion as a form of differential object marking with a person index, i.e., differential object indexing (DOI). Based on theoretical considerations, corpus evidence and a comprehensive empirical investigation, I reject the interpretation of Bulgarian DOI as a topic marker and suggest a functional explanation in terms of discourse prominence. In addition, I emphasize the role of predictability as a relevant dimension underlying this type of differential marking. I present evidence from acceptability judgment studies and web-based experiments suggesting that DOI in Bulgarian is typically used to (re-)activate or clarify the discourse prominence status of a less prominent referent. In terms of processing, I present the results from an ERP experiment and a visual cueing web-experiment showing that the presence of an object index during online processing modulates (discourse-based) expectations, initiates discourse updating and interacts with (visually induced) salience of a referent. Throughout this study, I elaborate on the association of discourse prominence and language-related predictability with more general cognitive mechanisms, such as attention and predictions

COMMUNICATING ENVIRONMENTAL MIGRATION. Strategic Representations in the Discourse of International Organisations and News Discourse

This thesis is based on a corpus-assisted Ecolinguistic Discourse study and explores the discourse on environmental migration of international organisations and selected newspaper outlets. It is based on the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis and adopts a socio-cultural approach to the study of discourse and its relationship with socio-cultural behaviour. It has a major focus on representations of the ecological and humanitarian aspects of environmental migration. The study investigates and discusses written representations of environmental migration, migrant and host communities, and the role of the climate and environment in this phenomenon. More specifically, it focuses on representations shaped by authoritative international organisations and newspaper outlets, two \u201cvoices\u201d which are often representative of dominant discourses on this phenomenon. The methodology adopted for the analysis is based on corpus-assisted eco-critical discourse analysis of two specialised self-collected corpora: the International Organisations Corpus (IOC), a collection of open-access publications published by international intergovernmental organisations; and the News Corpus (NC), a corpus of English-language newspaper articles from international media outlets. Corpus-analysis tools are used to interrogate the dataset according to specific criteria and research questions. The study aims at raising awareness on the complexity of communication about environmental migration, and on how the language used by different stakeholders for different publics construes specific viewpoints of this phenomenon and may impact on how it is dealt with. The discourse of international organisations and media discourse instantiate social and power-related variables, promoting specific ideological constructs and value systems. It therefore plays an influential role in knowledge-building and information-delivery processes, and it most likely influences the way environmental migration is understood and approached by either exacerbating xenophobic and intolerant behaviours or promoting partnership-oriented and inclusive reception of migrant people and actions in their favour. The analysis explores the extent to which the discourse of selected newspaper and official international organisations construct similar understandings of environmental migration; these two discourses are very influential and can impact on people\u2019s understanding of this complex and controversial phenomenon. The discourses of the two corpora are multi-faceted and complementary. The discourse on environmental migration of the IOC promotes a proactive attitude towards environmental migration, encouraging practices and behaviours that should grant safety and wellbeing for all; however, these practices are often disregarded and represented as aspiring to. The discourse of the NC, instead, represents the present and future state of affairs as an impending ecological and humanitarian catastrophe. Both discourses evoke problematic future scenarios, but at the same time they do not promote a real transition towards innovative socio-ecological systems of living; rather, they seem to imply the need for preserving an unethical status quo. These representations often contribute to partial or superficial knowledge about migrants and origin communities, rather than promoting their wellbeing. An eco-cultural biocentric framework for understanding and communicating environmental migration in an innovative way is the first step to deal with it with a renewed mind-set that values partnership between communities, and the wellbeing of the eco-system.This thesis is based on a corpus-assisted Ecolinguistic Discourse study and explores the discourse on environmental migration of international organisations and selected newspaper outlets. It is based on the theoretical framework of Critical Discourse Analysis and adopts a socio-cultural approach to the study of discourse and its relationship with socio-cultural behaviour. It has a major focus on representations of the ecological and humanitarian aspects of environmental migration. The study investigates and discusses written representations of environmental migration, migrant and host communities, and the role of the climate and environment in this phenomenon. More specifically, it focuses on representations shaped by authoritative international organisations and newspaper outlets, two \u201cvoices\u201d which are often representative of dominant discourses on this phenomenon. The methodology adopted for the analysis is based on corpus-assisted eco-critical discourse analysis of two specialised self-collected corpora: the International Organisations Corpus (IOC), a collection of open-access publications published by international intergovernmental organisations; and the News Corpus (NC), a corpus of English-language newspaper articles from international media outlets. Corpus-analysis tools are used to interrogate the dataset according to specific criteria and research questions. The study aims at raising awareness on the complexity of communication about environmental migration, and on how the language used by different stakeholders for different publics construes specific viewpoints of this phenomenon and may impact on how it is dealt with. The discourse of international organisations and media discourse instantiate social and power-related variables, promoting specific ideological constructs and value systems. It therefore plays an influential role in knowledge-building and information-delivery processes, and it most likely influences the way environmental migration is understood and approached by either exacerbating xenophobic and intolerant behaviours or promoting partnership-oriented and inclusive reception of migrant people and actions in their favour. The analysis explores the extent to which the discourse of selected newspaper and official international organisations construct similar understandings of environmental migration; these two discourses are very influential and can impact on people\u2019s understanding of this complex and controversial phenomenon. The discourses of the two corpora are multi-faceted and complementary. The discourse on environmental migration of the IOC promotes a proactive attitude towards environmental migration, encouraging practices and behaviours that should grant safety and wellbeing for all; however, these practices are often disregarded and represented as aspiring to. The discourse of the NC, instead, represents the present and future state of affairs as an impending ecological and humanitarian catastrophe. Both discourses evoke problematic future scenarios, but at the same time they do not promote a real transition towards innovative socio-ecological systems of living; rather, they seem to imply the need for preserving an unethical status quo. These representations often contribute to partial or superficial knowledge about migrants and origin communities, rather than promoting their wellbeing. An eco-cultural biocentric framework for understanding and communicating environmental migration in an innovative way is the first step to deal with it with a renewed mind-set that values partnership between communities, and the wellbeing of the eco-system

Topics, presuppositions, and theticity: An empirical study of verb-subject clauses in Albanian, Greek, and Serbo-Croat

LoC Class: PG9522, LoC Subject Headings: Albanian language--Clauses, Greek language/Modern--Clauses, Serbo-Croatian language--Clause

Topics, Presuppositions, and Theticity: An Empirical Study of Verb-Subject Clauses in Albanian, Greek, and Serbo-Croat

Verb-Subject order is often claimed to be the surface expression of thetic utterances, which are supposed to be ontologically different from the classical Aristotelian categoric type: thetic utterances are not divided in two parts (subject and predicate, topic and comment), but represent the information they convey as a cognitive whole. The purpose of the present study is to offer a detailed description of the clauses with this word order in Albanian, Greek, and Serbo-Croat, in which the verb-subject strategy is a very prominent one, and, based on these data, to reexamine the postulates of the theory of two basic utterance types. The results may be subsumed in two claims: (1) The equation "VS = thetic" does not hold true, because subject postponement is a distinctive feature of at least three constructions, which I labeled Inversion, VsX-Construction and vS-Construction. Of these, only the latter resembles what is usually called thetic. (2) The existence of a non-categoric utterance type does not automatically follow from the existence of vS-Construction, since this construction also displays a specific kind of topic-comment articulation, explainable in terms of certain word order and intonation rules of the three languages in question