How similar are semantic categories in closely related languages? A comparison of cutting and breaking in four Germanic languages
(2007) In Cognitive Linguistics 18(2). p.179-194- Abstract
- Are the semantic categories of very closely related languages the same? We present a new methodology for addressing this question. Speakers of English, German, Dutch and Swedish described a set of video clips depicting cutting and breaking events. The verbs elicited were then subjected to cluster analysis, which groups scenes together based on similarity (determined by shared verbs). Using this technique, we find that there are surprising differences among the languages in the number of categories, their exact boundaries, and the relationship of the terms to one another[--]all of which is circumscribed by a common semantic space.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1611763
- author
- Majid, Asifa ; Gullberg, Marianne LU ; van Staden, Mirjam and Bowerman, Melissa
- publishing date
- 2007
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- categorization, verb semantics, Swedish, Dutch, German, English, Germanic languages, cut and break, separation events, cluster analysis, semantic map
- in
- Cognitive Linguistics
- volume
- 18
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 179 - 194
- publisher
- Mouton de Gruyter
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:34848844026
- ISSN
- 1613-3641
- DOI
- 10.1515/COG.2007.007
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Linguistics and Phonetics (015010003)
- id
- 440c99eb-7943-4091-b1fd-8847e8750e09 (old id 1611763)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-04 07:34:11
- date last changed
- 2022-04-15 19:09:41
@article{440c99eb-7943-4091-b1fd-8847e8750e09, abstract = {{Are the semantic categories of very closely related languages the same? We present a new methodology for addressing this question. Speakers of English, German, Dutch and Swedish described a set of video clips depicting cutting and breaking events. The verbs elicited were then subjected to cluster analysis, which groups scenes together based on similarity (determined by shared verbs). Using this technique, we find that there are surprising differences among the languages in the number of categories, their exact boundaries, and the relationship of the terms to one another[--]all of which is circumscribed by a common semantic space.}}, author = {{Majid, Asifa and Gullberg, Marianne and van Staden, Mirjam and Bowerman, Melissa}}, issn = {{1613-3641}}, keywords = {{categorization; verb semantics; Swedish; Dutch; German; English; Germanic languages; cut and break; separation events; cluster analysis; semantic map}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{2}}, pages = {{179--194}}, publisher = {{Mouton de Gruyter}}, series = {{Cognitive Linguistics}}, title = {{How similar are semantic categories in closely related languages? A comparison of cutting and breaking in four Germanic languages}}, url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5143697/3912711.pdf}}, doi = {{10.1515/COG.2007.007}}, volume = {{18}}, year = {{2007}}, }