Evolution of polysemous word senses from metaphorical mappings

What forces have shaped the evolution of the lexicon? Lan-guages evolve under the pressure of having to communicatean unbounded set of ideas using a finite set of linguistic struc-tures. This suggests why the transmission of ideas should becompressed such that one word will develop multiple senses.Previous theory also suggests how a word might develop newsenses: Abstract concepts may be construed in terms of moreconcrete concepts. Here, we bring these two perspectives to-gether to examine metaphorical extensions of English wordmeanings over the past millennium, analyzing how sensesfrom a source domain are extended to new ones in a target do-main. Using empirical and computational methods, we foundthat metaphorical mappings are highly systematic and can beexplained in terms of a compact set of variables. Our workshows how metaphor can provide a cognitive device for com-pressing emerging ideas into an existing lexicon

Between versus Within-Language Differences in Linguistic Categorization

Cross-linguistic research has shown that boundaries for lexical categories differ from language to language. The aim of this study is to explore these differences between languages in relation to the categorization differences within a language. Monolingual Dutch- (N=400) and French-speaking (N=300) Belgian adults provided lexical category judgments for three lexical categories that are roughly equivalent in Dutch and French. Each category was represented by good, borderline, and bad examples. A mixture modeling approach enabled us to identify latent groups of categorizers within a language and to evaluate cross-linguistic variation in relation to within- language variation. We found complex patterns of lexical variation within as well as between language groups. Even within a seemingly homogeneous group of speakers sharing the same mother tongue, latent groups of categorizers display a variability that resembles patterns of lexical variation found at a cross-linguistic level of comparison

The Real Deal: What Judgments of "Really" Reveal About How People Think About Artifacts

In two experiments we investigate what drives judgments of what an artifact really is and what these judgments reveal about how people think about artifacts. We contrast an essentialist perspective with a pragmatics perspective. Results from both experiments favor the pragmatics perspective that judgments of really reflect how well properties of the object match properties evoked by the name in question

Gradable nouns as concepts without prototypes

Non-copy-edited preprint. To appear in L. McNally, E. Castroviejo-Miró, and G. Sassoon (eds). The Semantics of Gradability, Vagueness and Scale Structure. Language, Cognition and Mind series. Springer

Genomic Relationships, Novel Loci, and Pleiotropic Mechanisms across Eight Psychiatric Disorders

Genetic influences on psychiatric disorders transcend diagnostic boundaries, suggesting substantial pleiotropy of contributing loci. However, the nature and mechanisms of these pleiotropic effects remain unclear. We performed analyses of 232,964 cases and 494,162 controls from genome-wide studies of anorexia nervosa, attention-deficit/hyper-activity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and Tourette syndrome. Genetic correlation analyses revealed a meaningful structure within the eight disorders, identifying three groups of inter-related disorders. Meta-analysis across these eight disorders detected 109 loci associated with at least two psychiatric disorders, including 23 loci with pleiotropic effects on four or more disorders and 11 loci with antagonistic effects on multiple disorders. The pleiotropic loci are located within genes that show heightened expression in the brain throughout the lifespan, beginning prenatally in the second trimester, and play prominent roles in neurodevelopmental processes. These findings have important implications for psychiatric nosology, drug development, and risk prediction.Peer reviewe

The role of familiarity in determining typicality

Bibliography: leaves 24-26Supported in part by the National Institute of Education under contract no. HEW-NIE-C-400-76-011