Logic in semantic universals

尽管世界上的人类语言千差万别，但语言学家们已经发现了各种语言之间的共同特征。由于这种跨语言共性为我们提供了一扇窗口，让我们了解人类作为一个物种所拥有的语言能力的核心认知基础，因此理解它们的本质是人类语言科学研究的一个基本目标。对跨语言共相的研究在词义研究方面取得了丰硕的成果。例如，研究人员发现了语言组织颜色术语的共同模式（例如，如果一种语言只有三种颜色术语，它们往往是黑、白和红）。一个重要的开放性问题涉及这些普遍模式的认知基础，即，为什么这些普遍存在，以及它们如何植根于我们使用语言的能力的核心属性。目前的研究中有一个空白，阻碍了我们回答这个问题。虽然人们对实义词（如颜色词和亲属词）意义的普遍模式的认知基础进行了深入的研究，但对逻辑词意义的普遍模式的认知基础的研究却很少。这种情况很紧迫，因为逻辑词汇为生产力提供了框架，这是人类语言的核心设计特征，使其区别于其他物种的交流系统；在“and”这样的逻辑词的帮助下，我们能够生成无限数量的句子（例如，我们可以递归地将一个句子嵌入到一个句子“S and [S and[…]]”中）。尽管语言学家已经观察到逻辑词的意义的许多普遍属性(例如：“没有一种语言有一个词对应于‘非和’”)，为什么这些共相成立还有待彻底研究。语言学和认知科学的最新理论和方法发展最终使我们能够填补这一空白。从理论上讲，形式语义学的进步使得在一个统一的框架中分析各种逻辑词的意义成为可能。在方法论上，新的研究表明，语言交流的不同方面可以在实验室中进行系统的研究，使用一套涉及人工语言学习和传播的实验范式。这些方法才刚刚开始用于探索词义。在这个项目中，我利用这些最新的进展来解决上面的研究问题。该项目涉及以下核心组成部分，从而整合了语言学，逻辑学和认知科学的见解和方法：-通过跨语言调查，我们将经验地评估文献中假设的逻辑词汇中的语义共性。此外，我们将致力于发现新的语义共性，重点关注未被研究的领域，如情态词，如“可能”和“必须”，以及心理态度动词，如“相信”和“快乐”。-我们构建和探索共相的语义/语用理论，并评估这些理论是否根据我们语言交际系统的已知核心方面为共相提供了解释。-基于行为实验的理论测试，使我们能够测量语言交流系统的不同方面。通过研究，我们将揭示逻辑词义跨语言共性的认知基础。通过跨语言调查构建的数据集将用于开发一套教育材料/活动，帮助不同水平的学生通过识别逻辑单词的含义来学习可转移的逻辑推理技能。“和”，“或”)在英语和外语。此外，逻辑推理模式数据集将用于测试和训练旨在从多种语言文本中自动提取推理的人工智能系统。

Despite the immense diversity of human languages in the world, linguists have discovered robust common properties shared across languages. Since such cross-linguistic universals provide us with a window into the core cognitive basis of the linguistic ability we possess as a species, understanding their nature is a fundamental goal in the scientific study of human language. Research on cross-linguistic universals has been especially fruitful in the study of word meanings. For example, researchers have discovered common patterns in how languages organise colour terms (e.g. if a language has only three colour terms, they tend to be black, white, and red). An important open question concerns the cognitive basis of these universal patterns, i.e., why these universals exist and how they are rooted in the core properties of our ability to use language. There is a gap in the current research that hinders us from answering this question. While the cognitive basis for the universal patterns in the meanings of content words (such as colour and kinship terms) has been thoroughly investigated, there has been scant research into the cognitive basis of the universals in the meanings of logical words. The situation is pressing because logical words provide the scaffolding for productivity, the central design feature of human language that sets it apart from the communication systems of other species; with the help of logical words like "and", we are able to produce an infinite number of sentences (e.g., we can recursively embed a sentence within a sentence "S and [S and [...]]"). Although linguists have observed many universal properties of the meanings of logical words (e.g. "No language has a single word that corresponds to 'not and'"), why the universals hold has yet to be thoroughly investigated. Recent theoretical and methodological developments in linguistics and cognitive science finally enable us to fill this gap. Theoretically, advances in formal semantics now make it possible to analyse the meanings of various logical words in a unified framework. Methodologically, new research has shown that distinct aspects of linguistic communication can be parcelled out and investigated systematically in the lab, using a set of experimental paradigms involving learning and transmission of artificial languages. These methods have only just begun to be used to explore word meanings. In this project, I make use of these recent advances to resolve the research question above.The project involves the following core components, thus integrating insights and methodologies from linguistics, logic, and cognitive science: -Through cross-linguistic investigation, we will empirically evaluate semantic universals in logical vocabulary hypothesised in the literature. Moreover, we will aim to discover new semantic universals, focusing on understudied areas, such as modal words like "may" and "must" and mental-attitude verbs like "believe" and "be happy". -We construct and explore semantic/pragmatic theories of the universals and evaluate whether the theories provide explanations for the universal in terms of known core aspects of our linguistic communication systems. -We test the theories based on behavioural experiments that allows us to measure distinct aspects of linguistic communication systems. Through the research, we will uncover the cognitive basis of the cross-linguistic universals in logical word meanings. The dataset constructed through the cross-linguistic investigation will be used to develop a set of educational materials/activities that help students in different levels learn transferrable logical reasoning skills through identifying the meanings of logical words (e.g. "and", "or") in English and in foreign languages. Also, the dataset of logical inference patterns will be used to test and train AI systems that aim to automatically extract inferences from texts in multiple languages.