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Coevolution of Lexical Meaning and Pragmatic Use.


ABSTRACT: According to standard linguistic theory, the meaning of an utterance is the product of conventional semantic meaning and general pragmatic rules on language use. We investigate how such a division of labor between semantics and pragmatics could evolve under general processes of selection and learning. We present a game-theoretic model of the competition between types of language users, each endowed with certain lexical representations and a particular pragmatic disposition to act on them. Our model traces two evolutionary forces and their interaction: (i) pressure toward communicative efficiency and (ii) transmission perturbations during the acquisition of linguistic knowledge. We illustrate the model based on a case study on scalar implicatures, which suggests that the relationship between underspecified semantics and pragmatic inference is one of coevolution.

SUBMITTER: Brochhagen T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6586156 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Coevolution of Lexical Meaning and Pragmatic Use.

Brochhagen Thomas T   Franke Michael M   van Rooij Robert R  

Cognitive science 20181007 8


According to standard linguistic theory, the meaning of an utterance is the product of conventional semantic meaning and general pragmatic rules on language use. We investigate how such a division of labor between semantics and pragmatics could evolve under general processes of selection and learning. We present a game-theoretic model of the competition between types of language users, each endowed with certain lexical representations and a particular pragmatic disposition to act on them. Our mo  ...[more]

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