Silent gesture and noun phrase universals

Marieke Schouwstra, Simon Kirby, Jennifer Culbertson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

In this paper we investigate a hypothesized cognitive bias for isomorphic mappings between conceptual structure and linear order in the noun phrase. This bias has been proposed as a possible explanation for a striking asymmetry in the typology of the noun phrase–linear orders which place the adjective closest to the noun, then the numeral, then the demonstrative, are over-represented in the world’s languages. Previous experimental work has provided evidence that an isomorphism bias affects English-speaking learners’ inferences about the relative order of modifiers in an artificial language. Here, we use the silent gesture paradigm to explore whether the isomorphism bias influences spontaneous gestures innovated by participants in a modality with which they have relatively little prior experience. We find that gesture string order largely conforms to the same striking pattern found in noun phrase typology, supporting the role of the isomorphism bias in shaping the emergence of language (and language-like) systems.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society
Pages3095-3100
Publication statusPublished - 29 Jul 2017

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • silent gesture
  • noun phrase
  • word order
  • linguistic universals
  • cognitive biases

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Silent gesture and noun phrase universals'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this