BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:ILLC Website X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/Amsterdam BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/Amsterdam X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/Amsterdam BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0200 TZNAME:CEST DTSTART:19700329T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0200 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:CET DTSTART:19701025T030000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT UID:/NewsandEvents/Archives/2020/newsitem/12074/18 -December-2020-DIP-Colloquium-Wataru-Uegaki DTSTAMP:20201215T144732 SUMMARY:DIP Colloquium, Wataru Uegaki ATTENDEE;ROLE=Speaker:Wataru Uegaki DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20201218T160000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/Amsterdam:20201218T173000 LOCATION:Online, via Zoom DESCRIPTION:Abstract: In this talk, I argue that the model of semantic universals and variation in terms of complexity/informativeness trade-off (Kem p & Regier, 2012; Regier et al., 2015; Kemp et al. , 2018) is applicable to the domain of Boolean con nectives. In particular, I propose that the model explains the cross-linguistic absence of the conne ctive NAND, once we incorporate the theoretical in sights from Horn (1972) (cf. also Katzir and Singh , 2013). The lack of NAND follows if languages opt imise the trade-off between (a) simplicity of the lexicon mea- sured by the number of propositional logic symbols necessary to express the meaning of the connectives and (b) informativeness of the lex icon measured by how much it facilitates accurate transfer of information, given scalar implicature. This model is essentially a reformulation of the explanations proposed by Horn (1972) and Katzir an d Singh (2013), but has advantages over them in tw o respects: it rules out several unattested invent ories that are not ruled out by Horn/K&S and it ca n be generalised to possible languages consisting of connectives among all 16 boolean connectives, n ot just the four ‘corners’ of the square of opposi tion, i.e., AND, OR, NOR, and NAND. X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:\n
Abstract:
\
n In this talk, I argue that the model of semanti
c universals and variation in terms of complexity/
informativeness trade-off (Kemp & Regier, 2012
; Regier et al., 2015; Kemp et al., 2018) is appli
cable to the domain of Boolean connectives. In par
ticular, I propose that the model explains the cro
ss-linguistic absence of the connective NAND, once
we incorporate the theoretical insights from Horn
(1972) (cf. also Katzir and Singh, 2013). The lac
k of NAND follows if languages optimise the trade-
off between (a) simplicity of the lexicon mea- sur
ed by the number of propositional logic symbols ne
cessary to express the meaning of the connectives
and (b) informativeness of the lexicon measured by
how much it facilitates accurate transfer of info
rmation, given scalar implicature. This model is e
ssentially a reformulation of the explanations pro
posed by Horn (1972) and Katzir and Singh (2013),
but has advantages over them in two respects: it r
ules out several unattested inventories that are n
ot ruled out by Horn/K&S and it can be general
ised to possible languages consisting of connectiv
es among all 16 boolean connectives, not just the
four ‘corners’ of the square of opposition, i.e.,
AND, OR, NOR, and NAND.