NOL Seminar with Nina Gierasimczuk
published: 2024-09-19
event date:
2024-09-30
The Nordic Online Logic Seminar
is organised monthly over Zoom, with expository talks on topics of interest for
the broader logic community. The seminar is open for professional or aspiring
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Date Monday, 30 September, 2024 at 16:00 (UTC+2) on Zoom
Speaker Nina Gierasimczuk (Danish Technical University)
Title Coordinating quantity terms: a simulation study in monotonicity and
convexity
Abstract
Natural languages vary in their quantity expressions, but the variation seems to
be constrained by general properties, so-called universals. Explanations thereof
have been sought among constraints of human cognition, communication,
complexity, and pragmatics. In this work, we examine whether perceptual
constraints and coordination dynamics contribute to the development of two
universals: monotonicity and convexity. Using a state-of-the-art multi-agent
language coordination model (originally applied to colour terms) we evolve
communicatively usable quantity terminologies. We compare the degrees of
convexity and monotonicity of languages evolving in populations of agents with
and without approximate number sense (ANS). The results suggest that ANS
supports the development of monotonicity and, to a lesser extent, convexity. We
relate our results to some classical observations about generalised quantifiers
in mathematical logic and to the research on conceptual spaces.
This is joint work with Dariusz Kalociński, Franek Rakowski and Jakub Uszyński.