language: en

A Study of Perceptually Grounded Polysemy in a Spatial Microdomain

Jordan Zlatev
TR-92-048 August 1992

Abstract This paper attempts to exemplify the advantages of perceptually grounded semantics with respect to traditional formalist approaches in elucidating the nature of the controversial notion of linguistic polysemy, or multiplicity of meaning. It is also suggested how some aspects of language typically associated with compositionality could be modeled, without there being a strictly "compositional semantics". This is done through a series of experiments, using modifications of Terry Regier's connectionist system for learning spatial relations [Regier, 1992] which constitutes a part of the L 0 project concerned with associating descriptions in an arbitrary language with an analog environment, (sequences of) pictures of simple 2-dimensional scenes. The emphasis is above all on the English preposition `over', famous for its poly-semy, and analyzed in detail by [Brugman, 1981] and [Lakoff, 1987], but some modeling has been also done of the meaning of `under', as well as some rudimentary semantics for simple verbs such as `be', `go' and `fly' that combine with the two prepositions.

[The author has been supported by a scholarship from The Swedish Institute and may be reached by]

e-mail as zlatev@icsi.Berkeley.EDU or jordan@ling.su.se.