define semantics in psychology: The Psychology of Language David Ludden, 2015-01-06 Breaking through the boundaries of traditional psycholinguistics textbooks, The Psychology of Language: An Integrated Approach takes an integrated, cross-cultural approach that weaves the latest developmental and neuroscience research into every chapter. Separate chapters on bilingualism and sign language and integrated coverage of the social aspects of language acquisition and language use provide a breadth of coverage not found in other texts. In addition, rich pedagogy in every chapter and an engaging conversational writing style help students understand the connections between core psycholinguistic material and findings from across the psychological sciences. |
define semantics in psychology: Semantics Robert A. Hipkiss, 2014-07-10 The subject of semantics has been appropriated by various disciplines including linguistic philosophy, logic, cognitive psychology, anthropological linguistics, and computer technology. As a result, it is difficult to define the study of semantics as an actual discipline without discovering what each field using a semantic approach to its subject matter has contributed to the understanding of what words mean. This volume is a result of those discoveries. Primarily an introductory work, this volume outlines the approaches that various disciplines have taken to the subject, attempts to show their relationships and their limitations, and presents the more important aspects of each approach -- from psychosemantics to artificial intelligence -- using pertinent source material from psychology, philosophy, logic, linguistics, and sociology. For individuals coming to the study of semantics for the first time, or those who are interested in what the overall study may offer beyond their specialization, this volume will provide a helpful overview of the subject. |
define semantics in psychology: Philosophy In The Flesh George Lakoff, 1999-10-08 What are human beings like? How is knowledge possible? What is truth? Where do moral values come from? Questions like these have stood at the center of Western philosophy for centuries. In addressing them, philosophers have made certain fundamental assumptions-that we can know our own minds by introspection, that most of our thinking about the world is literal, and that reason is disembodied and universal-that are now called into question by well-established results of cognitive science. It has been shown empirically that:Most thought is unconscious. We have no direct conscious access to the mechanisms of thought and language. Our ideas go by too quickly and at too deep a level for us to observe them in any simple way.Abstract concepts are mostly metaphorical. Much of the subject matter of philosopy, such as the nature of time, morality, causation, the mind, and the self, relies heavily on basic metaphors derived from bodily experience. What is literal in our reasoning about such concepts is minimal and conceptually impoverished. All the richness comes from metaphor. For instance, we have two mutually incompatible metaphors for time, both of which represent it as movement through space: in one it is a flow past us and in the other a spatial dimension we move along.Mind is embodied. Thought requires a body-not in the trivial sense that you need a physical brain to think with, but in the profound sense that the very structure of our thoughts comes from the nature of the body. Nearly all of our unconscious metaphors are based on common bodily experiences.Most of the central themes of the Western philosophical tradition are called into question by these findings. The Cartesian person, with a mind wholly separate from the body, does not exist. The Kantian person, capable of moral action according to the dictates of a universal reason, does not exist. The phenomenological person, capable of knowing his or her mind entirely through introspection alone, does not exist. The utilitarian person, the Chomskian person, the poststructuralist person, the computational person, and the person defined by analytic philosopy all do not exist.Then what does?Lakoff and Johnson show that a philosopy responsible to the science of mind offers radically new and detailed understandings of what a person is. After first describing the philosophical stance that must follow from taking cognitive science seriously, they re-examine the basic concepts of the mind, time, causation, morality, and the self: then they rethink a host of philosophical traditions, from the classical Greeks through Kantian morality through modern analytic philosopy. They reveal the metaphorical structure underlying each mode of thought and show how the metaphysics of each theory flows from its metaphors. Finally, they take on two major issues of twentieth-century philosopy: how we conceive rationality, and how we conceive language. |
define semantics in psychology: The Meaning of Meaning Charles Kay Ogden, Ivor Armstrong Richards, 1959 |
define semantics in psychology: Introducing Semantics Nick Riemer, 2010-03-25 An introduction to the study of meaning in language for undergraduate students. |
define semantics in psychology: Compositionality and Concepts in Linguistics and Psychology James A. Hampton, Yoad Winter, 2017-09-19 By highlighting relations between experimental and theoretical work, this volume explores new ways of addressing one of the central challenges in the study of language and cognition. The articles bring together work by leading scholars and younger researchers in psychology, linguistics and philosophy. An introductory chapter lays out the background on concept composition, a problem that is stimulating much new research in cognitive science. Researchers in this interdisciplinary domain aim to explain how meanings of complex expressions are derived from simple lexical concepts and to show how these meanings connect to concept representations. Traditionally, much of the work on concept composition has been carried out within separate disciplines, where cognitive psychologists have concentrated on concept representations, and linguists and philosophers have focused on the meaning and use of logical operators. This volume demonstrates an important change in this situation, where convergence points between these three disciplines in cognitive science are emerging and are leading to new findings and theoretical insights. This book is open access under a CC BY license. |
define semantics in psychology: Semantics James R. Hurford, Brendan Heasley, 1983-04-28 Introduces the major elements of semantics in a simple, step-by-step fashion. Sections of explanation and examples are followed by practice exercises with answers and comment provided. |
define semantics in psychology: Knowledge of Meaning Richard K. Larson, Gabriel Segal, 1995 Current textbooks in formal semantics are all versions of, or introductions to, the same paradigm in semantic theory: Montague Grammar. Knowledge of Meaning is based on different assumptions and a different history. It provides the only introduction to truth- theoretic semantics for natural languages, fully integrating semantic theory into the modern Chomskyan program in linguistic theory and connecting linguistic semantics to research elsewhere in cognitive psychology and philosophy. As such, it better fits into a modern graduate or undergraduate program in linguistics, cognitive science, or philosophy. Furthermore, since the technical tools it employs are much simpler to teach and to master, Knowledge of Meaning can be taught by someone who is not primarily a semanticist. Linguistic semantics cannot be studied as a stand-alone subject but only as part of cognitive psychology, the authors assert. It is the study of a particular human cognitive competence governing the meanings of words and phrases. Larson and Segal argue that speakers have unconscious knowledge of the semantic rules of their language, and they present concrete, empirically motivated proposals about a formal theory of this competence based on the work of Alfred Tarski and Donald Davidson. The theory is extended to a wide range of constructions occurring in natural language, including predicates, proper nouns, pronouns and demonstratives, quantifiers, definite descriptions, anaphoric expressions, clausal complements, and adverbs. Knowledge of Meaning gives equal weight to philosophical, empirical, and formal discussions. It addresses not only the empirical issues of linguistic semantics but also its fundamental conceptual questions, including the relation of truth to meaning and the methodology of semantic theorizing. Numerous exercises are included in the book. |
define semantics in psychology: A Course in Semantics Daniel Altshuler, Terence Parsons, Roger Schwarzschild, 2019-09-03 An introductory text in linguistic semantics, uniquely balancing empirical coverage and formalism with development of intuition and methodology. This introductory textbook in linguistic semantics for undergraduates features a unique balance between empirical coverage and formalism on the one hand and development of intuition and methodology on the other. It will equip students to form intuitions about a set of data, explain how well an analysis of the data accords with their intuitions, and extend the analysis or seek an alternative. No prior knowledge of linguistics is required. After mastering the material, students will be able to tackle some of the most difficult questions in the field even if they have never taken a linguistics course before. After introducing such concepts as truth conditions and compositionality, the book presents a basic symbolic logic with negation, conjunction, and generalized quantifiers, to serve as the basis for translation throughout the book. It then develops a detailed compositional semantics, covering quantification (scope and binding), adverbial modification, relative clauses, event semantics, tense and aspect, as well as pragmatic phenomena, notably deictic pronouns and narrative progression. A Course in Semantics offers a large and diverse set of exercises, interspersed throughout the text; those labeled “Important practice and looking ahead” prepare students for material to come; those labeled “Thinking about ” invite students to think beyond the content of the book. |
define semantics in psychology: Understanding Semantics Sebastian Loebner, 2014-04-23 This series provides approachable, yet authoritative, introductions to all the major topics in linguistics. Ideal for students with little or no prior knowledge of linguistics, each book carefully explains the basics, emphasising understanding of the essential notions rather than arguing for a particular theoretical position. Understanding Semantics offers a complete introduction to linguistic semantics. The book takes a step-by-step approach, starting with the basic concepts and moving through the central questions to examine the methods and results of the science of linguistic meaning. Understanding Semantics unites the treatment of a broad scale of phenomena using data from different languages with a thorough investigation of major theoretical perspectives. It leads the reader from their intuitive knowledge of meaning to a deeper understanding of the use of scientific reasoning in the study of language as a communicative tool, of the nature of linguistic meaning, and of the scope and limitations of linguistic semantics. Ideal as a first textbook in semantics for undergraduate students of linguistics, this book is also recommended for students of literature, philosophy, psychology and cognitive science. |
define semantics in psychology: Design for Thinking Albert Upton, 1965 |
define semantics in psychology: Semantic Structures Ray S. Jackendoff, 1992-04-22 Semantic Structures is a large-scale study of conceptual structure and its lexical and syntactic expression in English that builds on the system of Conceptual Semantics described in Ray Jackendoff's earlier books Semantics and Cognition and Consciousness and the Computational Mind. Jackendoff summarizes the relevant arguments in his two previous books, setting out the basic parameters for the formalization of meaning, and comparing his mentalistic approach with Fodor's Language of Thought hypothesis. He then takes up the Problem of Meaning, extending the range of semantic fields encompassed by the Conceptual Semantics formalism, and the Problem of Correspondence, formalizing the relation between semantic and syntactic structure. Both of these problems must be fully addressed in order to develop a general theory of language that is concerned with syntax and semantics and their points of connection. Few books on lexical semantics present such a comprehensive analysis of such a wide range of phenomena from a unified perspective. Besides discussing the conceptual structures of hundreds of words and constructions, Jackendoff extends and deepens the theory to come to grips with such crucial issues as roles and marking; arguments, modifiers, and adjuncts; binding and control; and the thematic linking hierarchy. |
define semantics in psychology: Semantics and Psychology of Spirituality Heinz Streib, Ralph W. Hood, Jr., 2015-10-16 This book examines what people mean when they say they are “spiritual”. It looks at the semantics of “spirituality”, the visibility of reasons for “spiritual” preference in biographies, in psychological dispositions, in cultural differences between Germany and the US, and in gender differences. It also examines the kind of biographical consequences that are associated with “spirituality”. The book reports the results of an online-questionnaire filled out by 773 respondents in Germany and 1113 in the US, personal interviews with a selected group of more than 100 persons, and an experiment. Based on the data collected, it reports results that are relevant for a number of scientific and practical disciplines. It makes a contribution to the semantics of everyday religious language and to the cross-cultural study of religion and to many related fields as well, because “spirituality” is evaluated in relation to personality, mysticism, well-being, religious styles, generativity, attachment, biography and atheism. The book draws attention to the – new and ever changing – ways in which people give names to their ultimate concern and symbolize their experiences of transcendence. |
define semantics in psychology: Analyzing meaning Paul R. Kroeger, 2019 This book provides an introduction to the study of meaning in human language, from a linguistic perspective. It covers a fairly broad range of topics, including lexical semantics, compositional semantics, and pragmatics. The chapters are organized into six units: (1) Foundational concepts; (2) Word meanings; (3) Implicature (including indirect speech acts); (4) Compositional semantics; (5) Modals, conditionals, and causation; (6) Tense & aspect. Most of the chapters include exercises which can be used for class discussion and/or homework assignments, and each chapter contains references for additional reading on the topics covered. As the title indicates, this book is truly an INTRODUCTION: it provides a solid foundation which will prepare students to take more advanced and specialized courses in semantics and/or pragmatics. It is also intended as a reference for fieldworkers doing primary research on under-documented languages, to help them write grammatical descriptions that deal carefully and clearly with semantic issues. The approach adopted here is largely descriptive and non-formal (or, in some places, semi-formal), although some basic logical notation is introduced. The book is written at level which should be appropriate for advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students. It presupposes some previous coursework in linguistics, but does not presuppose any background in formal logic or set theory. |
define semantics in psychology: Concepts, Frames and Cascades in Semantics, Cognition and Ontology Sebastian Löbner, Thomas Gamerschlag, Tobias Kalenscher, Markus Schrenk, Henk Zeevat, 2021-05-28 This open access book presents novel theoretical, empirical and experimental work exploring the nature of mental representations that support natural language production and understanding, and other manifestations of cognition. One fundamental question raised in the text is whether requisite knowledge structures can be adequately modeled by means of a uniform representational format, and if so, what exactly is its nature. Frames are a key topic covered which have had a strong impact on the exploration of knowledge representations in artificial intelligence, psychology and linguistics; cascades are a novel development in frame theory. Other key subject areas explored are: concepts and categorization, the experimental investigation of mental representation, as well as cognitive analysis in semantics. This book is of interest to students, researchers, and professionals working on cognition in the fields of linguistics, philosophy, and psychology. |
define semantics in psychology: The Psychology of Language Trevor A. Harley, 2013-12-16 This thorough revision and update of the popular second edition contains everything the student needs to know about the psychology of language: how we understand, produce, and store language. |
define semantics in psychology: Syntactic Structures Noam Chomsky, 2020-05-18 No detailed description available for Syntactic Structures. |
define semantics in psychology: Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning Norbert M. Seel, 2011-10-05 Over the past century, educational psychologists and researchers have posited many theories to explain how individuals learn, i.e. how they acquire, organize and deploy knowledge and skills. The 20th century can be considered the century of psychology on learning and related fields of interest (such as motivation, cognition, metacognition etc.) and it is fascinating to see the various mainstreams of learning, remembered and forgotten over the 20th century and note that basic assumptions of early theories survived several paradigm shifts of psychology and epistemology. Beyond folk psychology and its naïve theories of learning, psychological learning theories can be grouped into some basic categories, such as behaviorist learning theories, connectionist learning theories, cognitive learning theories, constructivist learning theories, and social learning theories. Learning theories are not limited to psychology and related fields of interest but rather we can find the topic of learning in various disciplines, such as philosophy and epistemology, education, information science, biology, and – as a result of the emergence of computer technologies – especially also in the field of computer sciences and artificial intelligence. As a consequence, machine learning struck a chord in the 1980s and became an important field of the learning sciences in general. As the learning sciences became more specialized and complex, the various fields of interest were widely spread and separated from each other; as a consequence, even presently, there is no comprehensive overview of the sciences of learning or the central theoretical concepts and vocabulary on which researchers rely. The Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning provides an up-to-date, broad and authoritative coverage of the specific terms mostly used in the sciences of learning and its related fields, including relevant areas of instruction, pedagogy, cognitive sciences, and especially machine learning and knowledge engineering. This modern compendium will be an indispensable source of information for scientists, educators, engineers, and technical staff active in all fields of learning. More specifically, the Encyclopedia provides fast access to the most relevant theoretical terms provides up-to-date, broad and authoritative coverage of the most important theories within the various fields of the learning sciences and adjacent sciences and communication technologies; supplies clear and precise explanations of the theoretical terms, cross-references to related entries and up-to-date references to important research and publications. The Encyclopedia also contains biographical entries of individuals who have substantially contributed to the sciences of learning; the entries are written by a distinguished panel of researchers in the various fields of the learning sciences. |
define semantics in psychology: Clinical Linguistics David Crystal, 2013-06-29 This volume is one in a series of monographs being issued under the general title of Disorders of Human Communication. Each monograph deals in detail with a particular aspect of vocal communication and its disorders, and is written by internationally distinguished experts. Therefore, the series will provide an authoritative source of up-to-date scientific and clinical informa tion relating to the whole field of normal and abnormal speech communication, and as such will succeed the earlier monumental work Handbuch der Stimm und Sprachheilkunde by R. Luchsinger and G. E. Arnold (last issued in 1970). This series will prove invaluable for clinicians, teachers and research workers in phoniatrics and logopaedics, phonetics and linguistics, speech pathology, otolaryngology, neurology and neurosurgery, psychology and psychiatry, paediatrics and audiology. Several of the monographs will also be useful to voice and singing teachers, and to their pupils. G. E. Arnold, Jackson, Miss. F. Winckel, Berlin B. D. Wyke, London Preface This book tries to illustrate the practice as well as the principles involved in applying linguistics to the analysis of language disability. In writing it, I have as sumed an audience of professional speech and hearing clinicians who have had little or no formal training in linguistics. Each Chapter therefore begins with a resu me of the main theoretical and descriptive principles needed in order to carry out a clinical linguistic analysis. The relevance oflanguage acquisition studies is a major theme within this resume. |
define semantics in psychology: Semantics Robert A. Hipkiss, 1995 The subject of semantics has been appropriated by various disciplines including linguistic philosophy, logic, cognitive psychology, anthropological linguistics, and computer technology. As a result, it is difficult to define the study of semantics as an actual discipline without discovering what each field using a semantic approach to its subject matter has contributed to the understanding of what words mean. This volume is a result of those discoveries. Primarily an introductory work, this volume outlines the approaches that various disciplines have taken to the subject, attempts to show their relationships and their limitations, and presents the more important aspects of each approach -- from psychosemantics to artificial intelligence -- using pertinent source material from psychology, philosophy, logic, linguistics, and sociology. For individuals coming to the study of semantics for the first time, or those who are interested in what the overall study may offer beyond their specialization, this volume will provide a helpful overview of the subject. |
define semantics in psychology: The Oxford Handbook of Culture and Psychology Jaan Valsiner, 2012-03-08 The goal of cultural psychology is to explain the ways in which human cultural constructions -- for example, rituals, stereotypes, and meanings -- organize and direct human acting, feeling, and thinking in different social contexts. A rapidly growing, international field of scholarship, cultural psychology is ready for an interdisciplinary, primary resource. Linking psychology, anthropology, sociology, archaeology, and history, The Oxford Handbook of Culture and Psychology is the quintessential volume that unites the variable perspectives from these disciplines. Comprised of over fifty contributed chapters, this book provides a necessary, comprehensive overview of contemporary cultural psychology. Bridging psychological, sociological, and anthropological perspectives, one will find in this handbook: - A concise history of psychology that includes valuable resources for innovation in psychology in general and cultural psychology in particular - Interdisciplinary chapters including insights into cultural anthropology, cross-cultural psychology, culture and conceptions of the self, and semiotics and cultural connections - Close, conceptual links with contemporary biological sciences, especially developmental biology, and with other social sciences - A section detailing potential methodological innovations for cultural psychology By comparing cultures and the (often differing) human psychological functions occuring within them, The Oxford Handbook of Culture and Psychology is the ideal resource for making sense of complex and varied human phenomena. |
define semantics in psychology: The Oxford Handbook of Psycholinguistics M. Gareth Gaskell, Gerry Altmann, 2007 The ability to communicate through spoken and written language is one of the defining characteristics of the human race, yet it remains a deeply mysterious process. The young science of psycholinguistics attempts to uncover the mechanisms and representations underlying human language. This interdisciplinary field has seen massive developments over the past decade, with a broad expansion of the research base, and the incorporation of new experimental techniques such as brain imaging and computational modelling. The result is that real progress is being made in the understanding of the key components of language in the mind. The Oxford Handbook of Psycholinguistics brings together the views of 75 leading researchers in psycholinguistics to provide a comprehensive and authoritative review of the current state of the art in psycholinguistics. With almost 50 chapters written by experts in the field, the range and depth of coverage is unequalled. The contributors are eminent in a wide range of fields, including psychology, linguistics, human memory, cognitive neuroscience, bilingualism, genetics, development and neuropsychology. Their contributions are organised into six themed sections, covering word recognition, the mental lexicon, comprehension and discourse, language production, language development, and perspectives on psycholinguistics. The breadth of coverage, coupled with the accessibility of the short chapter format should make the handbook essential reading for both students and researchers in the fields of psychology, linguistics and neuroscience. |
define semantics in psychology: Neurobiology of Language Gregory Hickok, Steven L. Small, 2015-08-15 Neurobiology of Language explores the study of language, a field that has seen tremendous progress in the last two decades. Key to this progress is the accelerating trend toward integration of neurobiological approaches with the more established understanding of language within cognitive psychology, computer science, and linguistics. This volume serves as the definitive reference on the neurobiology of language, bringing these various advances together into a single volume of 100 concise entries. The organization includes sections on the field's major subfields, with each section covering both empirical data and theoretical perspectives. Foundational neurobiological coverage is also provided, including neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, genetics, linguistic, and psycholinguistic data, and models. - Foundational reference for the current state of the field of the neurobiology of language - Enables brain and language researchers and students to remain up-to-date in this fast-moving field that crosses many disciplinary and subdisciplinary boundaries - Provides an accessible entry point for other scientists interested in the area, but not actively working in it – e.g., speech therapists, neurologists, and cognitive psychologists - Chapters authored by world leaders in the field – the broadest, most expert coverage available |
define semantics in psychology: Grammar and Conceptualization Ronald W. Langacker, 2010-12-14 Grammar and Conceptualization documents some major developments in the theory of cognitive grammar during the last decade. By further articulating the framework and showing its application to numerous domains of linguistic structure, this book substantiates the claim that lexicon, morphology, and syntax form a gradation consisting of assemblies of symbolic structures (form-meaning pairings). |
define semantics in psychology: The Psychology of the Language Learner Zoltán Dörnyei, 2014-04-04 The scope of individual learner differences is broad, yet there is no current, comprehensive, and unified volume that provides an overview of the considerable amount of research conducted on various language learner differences, until now. |
define semantics in psychology: Handbook of the Neuroscience of Language Brigitte Stemmer, Harry A. Whitaker, 2008-04-29 In the last ten years the neuroscience of language has matured as a field. Ten years ago, neuroimaging was just being explored for neurolinguistic questions, whereas today it constitutes a routine component. At the same time there have been significant developments in linguistic and psychological theory that speak to the neuroscience of language. This book consolidates those advances into a single reference. The Handbook of the Neuroscience of Language provides a comprehensive overview of this field. Divided into five sections, section one discusses methods and techniques including clinical assessment approaches, methods of mapping the human brain, and a theoretical framework for interpreting the multiple levels of neural organization that contribute to language comprehension. Section two discusses the impact imaging techniques (PET, fMRI, ERPs, electrical stimulation of language cortex, TMS) have made to language research. Section three discusses experimental approaches to the field, including disorders at different language levels in reading as well as writing and number processing. Additionally, chapters here present computational models, discuss the role of mirror systems for language, and cover brain lateralization with respect to language. Part four focuses on language in special populations, in various disease processes, and in developmental disorders. The book ends with a listing of resources in the neuroscience of language and a glossary of items and concepts to help the novice become acquainted with the field. Editors Stemmer & Whitaker prepared this book to reflect recent developments in neurolinguistics, moving the book squarely into the cognitive neuroscience of language and capturing the developments in the field over the past 7 years. - History section focuses on topics that play a current role in neurolinguistics research, aphasia syndromes, and lesion analysis - Includes section on neuroimaging to reflect the dramatic changes in methodology over the past decade - Experimental and clinical section reflects recent developments in the field |
define semantics in psychology: The Mental Lexicon Gonia Jarema, Gary Libben, 2007-07-01 This volume reflects a consensus that the investigation of words in the mind offers a unique opportunity to understand both human language ability and general human cognition. It brings together key perspectives on the fundamental nature of the representation and processing of words in the mind. This thematic volume covers a wide range of views on the fundamental nature of representation and processing of words in the mind and a range of views on the investigative techniques that are most likely to reveal that nature. It provides an overview of issues and developments in the field. It uncovers the processes of word recognition. It develops new models of lexical processing. |
define semantics in psychology: Semantics Robert A. Hipkiss, 2014-07-10 The subject of semantics has been appropriated by various disciplines including linguistic philosophy, logic, cognitive psychology, anthropological linguistics, and computer technology. As a result, it is difficult to define the study of semantics as an actual discipline without discovering what each field using a semantic approach to its subject matter has contributed to the understanding of what words mean. This volume is a result of those discoveries. Primarily an introductory work, this volume outlines the approaches that various disciplines have taken to the subject, attempts to show their relationships and their limitations, and presents the more important aspects of each approach -- from psychosemantics to artificial intelligence -- using pertinent source material from psychology, philosophy, logic, linguistics, and sociology. For individuals coming to the study of semantics for the first time, or those who are interested in what the overall study may offer beyond their specialization, this volume will provide a helpful overview of the subject. |
define semantics in psychology: Meaning: the Dynamic Turn Jaroslav Peregrin, 2021-07-26 This book, based on a conference held in Prague in September 2001, presents a study of the theories of formal semantics of natural language. The collected papers address, from various sides, the foundational questions of the dynamic theories of meaning. It helps to understand more than just the technical side of dynamic semantics. |
define semantics in psychology: Cognitive Semantics Jens S. Allwood, Peter Gärdenfors, 1999 Toward the end of the 20th century, there is both a dissatisfaction with existing formal semantic theories and a wish to preserve insights from other semantic traditions. Cognitive semantics, the latest of the major trends which have dominated the century, attempts to do this by focusing on meaning as a cognitive phenomenon. This book provides different perspectives on meaning as a cognitive phenomenon. Jens Allwood presents an approach where meaning is analyzed in terms of context sensitive cognitive operations. Peter Gärdenfors examines the relationship between cognitive semantics and standard formal extensional and intensional semantics. Peter Harder discusses the relation between functionalism and cognitive semantics. Sören Sjöström and +ke Viberg extend a cognitive semantic approach to new empirical domains like vision and physical contact. Elisabeth Engberg Pedersen extends the use of cognitive semantics even further in order to analyze deaf sign language and, finally, Kenneth Holmqvist and Jordan Zlatev discuss two different possibilities of implementing a cognitive semantic approach using computer programs. The variety of perspectives on cognitive semantics make this book suitable as course material. |
define semantics in psychology: The Roots of Verbal Meaning John Beavers, Andrew Koontz-Garboden, 2020 This book explores possible and impossible word meanings, with a specific focus on the meanings of verbs. It presents a new theory of possible root meanings and their interaction with event templates that produces a new typology of possible verbs, with semantic and grammatical properties determined not just by templates, but also by roots. |
define semantics in psychology: Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders Fred R. Volkmar, 2016 |
define semantics in psychology: Logical Form in Natural Language William G. Lycan, 1984 Logical Form in Natural Language clearly explains and defends the truth-theoretic method in semantics first developed by Donald Davidson to analyze logical forms of sentences of natural language. |
define semantics in psychology: The Geometry of Meaning Peter Gärdenfors, 2014-01-17 A novel cognitive theory of semantics that proposes that the meanings of words can be described in terms of geometric structures. |
define semantics in psychology: Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology Jeffrey Kreutzer, Bruce Caplan, John DeLuca, 2010-09-29 Clinical neuropsychology is a rapidly evolving specialty whose practitioners serve patients with traumatic brain injury, stroke and other vascular impairments, brain tumors, epilepsy and nonepileptic seizure disorders, developmental disabilities, progressive neurological disorders, HIV- and AIDS-related disorders, and dementia. . Services include evaluation, treatment, and case consultation in child, adult, and the expanding geriatric population in medical and community settings. The clinical goal always is to restore and maximize cognitive and psychological functioning in an injured or compromised brain. Most neuropsychology reference books focus primarily on assessment and diagnosis, and to date none has been encyclopedic in format. Clinicians, patients, and family members recognize that evaluation and diagnosis is only a starting point for the treatment and recovery process. During the past decade there has been a proliferation of programs, both hospital- and clinic-based, that provide rehabilitation, treatment, and treatment planning services. This encyclopedia will serve as a unified, comprehensive reference for professionals involved in the diagnosis, evaluation, and rehabilitation of adult patients and children with neuropsychological disorders. |
define semantics in psychology: Approaches to Meaning Daniel Gutzmann, Jan Köpping, Cécile Meier, 2014-08-28 The basic claims of traditional truth-conditional semantics are that the semantic interpretation of a sentence is connected to the truth of that sentence in a situation, and that the meaning of the sentence is derived compositionally from the semantic values meaning of its constituents and the rules that combine them. Both claims have been subject to an intense debate in linguistics and philosophy of language. The original research papers collected in this volume test the boundaries of this classic view from a linguistic and a philosophical point of view by investigating the foundational notions of composition, values and interpretation and their relation to the interfaces to other disciplines. They take the classical theories one step further and closer to a realistic semantic theory that covers speaker’s intentions, the knowledge of discourse participants, meaning of fiction and literature, as well as vague and paradoxical utterances. Ede Zimmermann is a pioneering researcher in semantics whose students, friends, and colleagues have collected in this volume an impressive set of studies at the interfaces of semantics. How do meanings interact with the context and with intentions and beliefs of the people conversing? How do meanings interact with other meanings in an extended discourse? How can there be paradoxical meanings? Researchers interested in semantics, pragmatics, philosophy of language, anyone interested in foundational and empirical issues of meaning, will find inspiration and instruction in this wonderful volume. Kai von Fintel, MIT Department of Linguistics |
define semantics in psychology: Handbook of Neurolinguistics Harry A. Whitaker, Brigitte Stemmer, 1998-02-04 The Handbook of Neurolinguistics is a state-of-the-art reference and resource book; it describes current research and theory in the many subfields of neurolinguistics and its clinical application. Thorough and clearly written, the handbook provides an excellent overview of the field of neurolinguistics and its development. The book is organized into five parts covering the history of neurolinguistics, methods in clinical and experimental neurolinguistics, experimental neurolinguistics, clinical neurolinguistics, and resources in neurolinguistics. The first four parts contain a wide range of topics which discuss all important aspects of the many subfields of neurolinguistics. Also included are the relatively new and fast developing areas of research in discourse, pragmatics, and recent neuroimaging techniques. The resources section provides currently available resources, both traditional and modern. The handbook is useful to the newcomer to the field, as well as the expert searching for the latest developments in neurolinguistics. - Clearly written and well organized - Provides extensive resources - Discusses both history and current research - Covers the many subfields of neurolinguistics as well the developing areas of research |
define semantics in psychology: Semantic Cognition Timothy T. Rogers, James L. McClelland, 2004 A mechanistic theory of the representation and use of semantic knowledge that uses distributed connectionist networks as a starting point for a psychological theory of semantic cognition. |
define semantics in psychology: Towards a Theoretical Framework for Analyzing Complex Linguistic Networks Alexander Mehler, Andy Lücking, Sven Banisch, Philippe Blanchard, Barbara Job, 2015-07-07 The aim of this book is to advocate and promote network models of linguistic systems that are both based on thorough mathematical models and substantiated in terms of linguistics. In this way, the book contributes first steps towards establishing a statistical network theory as a theoretical basis of linguistic network analysis the boarder of the natural sciences and the humanities. This book addresses researchers who want to get familiar with theoretical developments, computational models and their empirical evaluation in the field of complex linguistic networks. It is intended to all those who are interested in statistical models of linguistic systems from the point of view of network research. This includes all relevant areas of linguistics ranging from phonological, morphological and lexical networks on the one hand and syntactic, semantic and pragmatic networks on the other. In this sense, the volume concerns readers from many disciplines such as physics, linguistics, computer science and information science. It may also be of interest for the upcoming area of systems biology with which the chapters collected here share the view on systems from the point of view of network analysis. |
define semantics in psychology: Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count James W. Pennebaker, M. E. Francis, 1999-04-01 Language, whether spoken or written, is an important window into people's emotional and cognitive worlds. Text analysis of these narratives, focusing on specific words or classes of words, has been used in numerous research studies including studies of emotional, cognitive, structural, and process components of individuals' verbal and written language. It was in this research context that the LIWC program was developed. The program analyzes text files on a word-by-word basis, calculating percentage words that match each of several language dimensions. Its output is a text file that can be opened in any of a variety of applications, including word processors and spreadsheet programs. The program has 68 pre-set dimensions (output variables) including linguistic dimensions, word categories tapping psychological constructs, and personal concern categories, and can accommodate user-defined dimensions as well. Easy to install and use, this software offers researchers in social, personality, clinical, and applied psychology a valuable tool for quantifying the rich but often slippery data provided in the form of personal narratives. The software comes complete on one 31/2 diskette and runs on any Windows-based computer. |
DEFINE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of DEFINE is to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning of. How to use define in a sentence.
DEFINE Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Define definition: to state or set forth the meaning of (a word, phrase, etc.).. See examples of DEFINE used in a …
DEFINE | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
DEFINE definition: 1. to say what the meaning of something, especially a word, is: 2. to explain and describe …
DEFINE definition and meaning | Collins English Di…
If you define something, you show, describe, or state clearly what it is and what its limits are, or what it is like. We were unable to define what exactly was wrong with him. [ VERB wh ]
Define - definition of define by The Free Dictionary
define - show the form or outline of; "The tree was clearly defined by the light"; "The camera could define the smallest object"
DEFINE Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of DEFINE is to determine or identify the essential qualities or meaning of. How to use define in a sentence.
DEFINE Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Define definition: to state or set forth the meaning of (a word, phrase, etc.).. See examples of DEFINE used in a sentence.
DEFINE | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
DEFINE definition: 1. to say what the meaning of something, especially a word, is: 2. to explain and describe the…. Learn more.
DEFINE definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
If you define something, you show, describe, or state clearly what it is and what its limits are, or what it is like. We were unable to define what exactly was wrong with him. [ VERB wh ]
Define - definition of define by The Free Dictionary
define - show the form or outline of; "The tree was clearly defined by the light"; "The camera could define the smallest object"
DEFINE - Definition & Meaning - Reverso English Dictionary
Define definition: state the meaning of a word or phrase. Check meanings, examples, usage tips, pronunciation, domains, related words.
define - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
May 13, 2025 · define (third-person singular simple present defines, present participle defining, simple past and past participle defined) To determine with precision; to mark out with …
Define: Definition, Meaning, and Examples - usdictionary.com
Dec 24, 2024 · The word "define" means to explain or clarify the meaning of something or to establish boundaries and parameters. It is a versatile word used in many contexts, from …
Define Definition & Meaning - YourDictionary
Define Sentence Examples The child's eagerness and interest carry her over many obstacles that would be our undoing if we stopped to define and explain everything. It will not be welfare (or, …
DEFINITION Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of DEFINITION is a statement of the meaning of a word or word group or a sign or symbol. How to use definition in a sentence.