Research Groups: Language Production and Comprehension & Representation of Time and Space in Cognitive Processes

Language and Space Emile van der Zee Issue. My work focuses on the relation between linguistic and spatial information representation. I have carried out semantic analyses of relational prepositions (e.g. ´behind´), relational nouns (e.g. ´the front´) and verbs of deformation (e.g. ´to bend´). I have also formulated theories on side and region representation, and side and region categorization, and carried out experiments to test some consequences of these theories. My research is carried out inside the framework of Conceptual Semantics (Jackendoff, 1983, 1990, 1996; Nikanne, 1990; van der Zee, 1996, 1997) and in collaboration with Rik Eshuis in the GrKK.

Since 10/96 in the GrKK as a Post-doc

Goal: A description and explanation of the properties of the mental information that allow us to talk about what we see.

Method: Both theoretically linguistic and experimentally psychological.

Results: The linguistic analyses point out that the meaning of relational terms can be described in terms of semantic primitives that refer to reference axes, and that the meaning of Dutch deformation verbs can be described in terms of semantic primitives that refer to curvature changes. The experimental psychological work shows that the distribution of relational regions and sides can be explained by idealizing reference objects as cuboids, and that the categorization of sides and regions can be explained in terms of the spatial properties of a reference object (e.g. curvature & expansion).

Future work: A semantic analysis of directional verbs (e.g. to turn, to point) with Urpo Nikanne (Oslo University), and of body part movement (e.g. to kick, to throw) with Kerstin Meints (Oxford University). With Garry Wilson (Humberside University) I am preparing two experiments that check whether intrinsic reference to objects may involve a transformation of the egocentric reference frame.