Iconicity vs. Systematicity in Artificial Language Learning
نویسندگان
چکیده
A foundational assumption in linguistics has been that words and their meanings are arbitrarily related; however, this position has been challenged recently. Experiments have shown that both systematic (where similar objects have similar labels) and iconic (words ‘resemble’ the objects they label) associations between words and objects facilitate learning. However, these two literatures remain confounded: the degree to which increased learnability is driven by iconicity rather than systematicity has not been disentangled. Here we present the results of two studies testing the differences in learnability between artificial lexica that are either conventionally systematic, or both systematic and cross-modally iconic. In the first study we find that both conventional and iconic systematic lexicons are equally learnable, but iconic mappings provide an early learnability advantage. In the second study we find that the presence of sound-symbolic associations for one dimension can interfere with the learning of conventional associations on another dimension.
منابع مشابه
Arbitrariness, Iconicity, and Systematicity in Language.
The notion that the form of a word bears an arbitrary relation to its meaning accounts only partly for the attested relations between form and meaning in the languages of the world. Recent research suggests a more textured view of vocabulary structure, in which arbitrariness is complemented by iconicity (aspects of form resemble aspects of meaning) and systematicity (statistical regularities in...
متن کاملQuantifying Iconicity’s Contribution during Language Acquisition: Implications for Vocabulary Learning
Previous research found that iconicity—the motivated correspondence between word form and meaning—contributes to expressive vocabulary acquisition. We present two new experiments with two different databases and with novel analyses to give a detailed quantification of how iconicity contributes to vocabulary acquisition across development, including both receptive understanding and production. T...
متن کاملThe Origins of Arbitrariness in Language
Human language exhibits mainly arbitrary relationships between the forms and meanings of words. Why would this be so? In this paper I argue that arbitrariness becomes necessary as the number of words increases. I also discuss the effectiveness of competitive learning for acquiring lexicons that are arbitrary in this sense. Finally, I consider some implications of this perspective for arbitrarin...
متن کاملHow the Hands Cue the Mind: The Effects of Iconicity and Enactment on Sign Language Acquisition
Iconicity is a powerful cue to symbolic meaning. However, it is unclear from previous research whether language learners benefit from iconicity. Prior research indicates that the motor system supports language acquisition, suggesting that iconicity expressed via this modality may be particularly salient. The present study investigates the effects of iconicity and enactment on the acquisition of...
متن کاملThe bridge of iconicity: from a world of experience to the experience of language
Iconicity, a resemblance between properties of linguistic form (both in spoken and signed languages) and meaning, has traditionally been considered to be a marginal, irrelevant phenomenon for our understanding of language processing, development and evolution. Rather, the arbitrary and symbolic nature of language has long been taken as a design feature of the human linguistic system. In this pa...
متن کامل