summary: A study found that demonstratives such as “this” and “that” not only indicate distance, but also direct attention, linking language to social cognition. Researchers found that the meaning of demonstratives varies across languages and is influenced by the listener’s focus.
The study involved speakers of 10 languages and used computational modeling to understand these dynamics. The findings suggest that manipulation of attention is an intrinsic part of language and is built into demonstrations.
Key Facts:
- Demonstratives direct the listener’s attention and vary from language to language.
- In this study, we used 10 languages to explore how demonstratives link language and social cognition.
- Findings suggest that manipulation of attention is a universal component of language.
sauce: Max Planck Institute
All languages have words like “this” and “that” to distinguish “near” and “far” referents. Languages like English and Hebrew have two such “demonstrative pronouns.” Languages like Spanish and Japanese use a three-word system.
For example, in Spanish, “este” indicates something close to the speaker, “ese” indicates something far from the speaker but close to the listener, and “aquel” indicates something far from both.
“We were interested in demonstratives because they are related to social cognition. Demonstratives are used to direct the listener’s attention to a referent and to establish joint attention,” says Paula Rubio Fernández, senior researcher at MPI and co-author of the study.
“Joint attention is a uniquely human ability that connects language and social cognition in communication. Demonstratives are universal, emerged early in language evolution and are acquired early in child development, making them an ideal test case for examining the interdependence of these two fundamentally human abilities.”
There is debate as to whether the focus of the listener’s attention, i.e., “mental” representation, is part of the demonstrative’s meaning (semantics) or whether it arises from general principles of social cognition (pragmatics).
To investigate this question, the researchers used computational modelling and experiments involving speakers of 10 different languages from eight different language groups.
In the online task, participants viewed a picture of a “speaker” requesting an item from a “listener” standing at the other end of a long table. Participants played the role of the speaker and requested the item by choosing a demonstrative pronoun from their native language (“Right now, I need…”).
In the picture, the listener is either already looking at the intended object or at one of four other objects (near or far from the target object). meaning When it comes to demonstratives, all speakers should take into account the listener’s initial attention when choosing a demonstrative, although there should be differences across languages.
The results showed that participants were sensitive not only to the location of the target but also to the listener’s attention. As expected, the meaning of demonstratives varied within and across languages. For example, a “near” demonstrative (such as “here” in English) can have a spatial meaning (“something near me”).
However, the word also has a joint attentional connotation (“what we both see”) and a “mentalistic” connotation (“this side”), directing the listener’s attention to the speaker. Interestingly, speakers of trilingual languages use an intervocalic word (such as “ese” in Spanish) to indicate joint attention.
“Our study sheds light on the interface of social cognition and language. It shows that the expression of an interlocutor’s attention is embedded in one of the most fundamental word classes common to all languages: demonstratives,” concludes Rubio Fernández.
“Through a Bayesian computational model, our study also shows that this form of attentional manipulation cannot be explained by pragmatic inference external to the language system, suggesting that mental representations are embedded in universal components of language.”
About this Language and Social Neuroscience Research News
author: Julia von der Fuhr
sauce: Max Planck InstituteUte
Contact: Julia von der Fuhr – Max Planck Institute
image: Image courtesy of Neuroscience News
Original Research: The survey results are as follows: PNAS
