CAREER: Scalar Representations in Natural Language Semantics

在物体之间建立次序，并根据它们具有某些可分级属性的数量或程度在它们之间进行比较的能力是人类认知的基本组成部分。自然语言反映了这一事实：所有语言都有表达可分级概念的句法范畴，所有语言都有用于比较的结构。“可分级”的形容词，如“高”、“明亮”、“美丽”等，都是此类表达的典型例子，并形成了自然语言分级研究的中心经验领域。这项工作的一个重要结论是，自然语言语义必须参考测量的抽象表示，或“尺度”。然而，有一个问题还没有得到认真的解决，即标量表示是否构成了除形容词以外的类别的语义属性的基础。本研究将通过系统和全面的调查跨类别的标量表示的作用来解决这个问题。主要的焦点将放在形容词和动词之间的关系上，因为它们的核心语义属性已经被很好地理解，而且初步的研究表明形容词的尺度结构和动词的事件结构之间存在规律性的关系。本研究还将探讨介词和名义域的标量表示。该项目的经验领域将为词汇语义学、形式语义学和语用学的综合四分之三序列提供基础，以及关注语言学、认知和关于意义的哲学问题的新生研讨会。该项目还将支持研究生和本科生研究员助理，为一个主题的监督独立研究提供机会，允许个人研究重点的一系列变化。最后，该项目将通过引入外部学者进行客座讲座，并通过自然语言中的标量表示研讨会，直接向学生和同事介绍当代研究。

The ability to establish orderings among objects and make comparisons between them according to the amount or degree to which they possess some gradable property is a basic component of human cognition. Natural languages reflect this fact: all languages have syntactic categories that express gradable concepts, and all languages have constructions that are used to make comparisons. 'Gradable' adjectives like 'tall', 'bright', 'beautiful', and so forth are canonical examples of such expressions, and have formed the central empirical domain for studies of grading in natural language.An important conclusion of this work is that natural language semantics must make reference to abstract representations of measurement, or 'scales'. A question that has not been seriously addressed, however, is whether scalar representations underlie the semantic properties of categories other than adjectives. This study will address this question through a systematic and comprehensive investigation of the role of scalar representations across categories. The primary focus will be on relations between adjectives and verbs, both because their core semantic properties are well understood, and because preliminary research points towards a regular relation between scale structure in adjectives and event structure in verbs. The study will also explore scalar representations in the prepositional and nominal domains.The empirical domain of the project will provide the foundation for an integrated three-quarter sequence in lexical semantics, formal semantics, and pragmatics, as well as a freshman seminar focusing on linguistic, cognitive, and philosophical questions about meaning. The project will also support graduate and undergraduate researcher assistants, providing an opportunity for supervised independent research on a topic that allows a range of variation in individual research focus. Finally, the project will introduce students and colleagues directly to contemporary research by bringing in outside scholars for guest lectures, and through a workshop on scalar representations in natural language.