13 juin 2023 – Thanasis Georgakopoulos

Networks in aid of historical linguistics and linguistic typology : Uncovering hidden patterns in language evolution and language diversity

Salle 510 (Lattice, 1 rue Maurice Arnoux, 92120 Montrouge)

En visio : https://www.gotomeet.me/visio-lattice

Horaire : 10h30-12h.

Intervenant : Thanasis Georgakopoulos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Chaire internationale 2023 du Labex EFL)

Titre : Networks in aid of historical linguistics and linguistic typology : Uncovering hidden patterns in language evolution and language diversity

Résumé : 

In recent years, an increasing number of studies have utilized networks to represent typological universals of linguistic co-expression, and reveal associations between the meanings that are co-expressed (e.g., Jackson et al., 2019; Youn et al., 2016). These studies have shown that networks are not only effective for visualizing data, but they are also a valuable tool for uncovering details that would otherwise remain hidden (see also List et al., 2013; List 游函, 2016). This talk aligns with this trend and aims to demonstrate how graph-theoretic techniques and networks can enhance our understanding of fundamental questions in Historical Linguistics and Linguistic Typology.

Specifically, this talk will highlight how semantic maps and colexification networks, two popular graph structure representations employed in typology (Croft, 2022; Georgako­poulos, 2019), can be used to uncover pathways of meaning evolution, and capture meaning­ful generalizations about the organization of the lexicon and its reshaping over time. In addition, it will present a protocol for integrating the diachronic dimension into lexical semantic maps (François, 2022; Georgakopoulos & Polis, 2021). In doing so, we can delve deeper into the potential of colexification networks, and reveal interrelations between 1/ association patterns found across multiple languages and 2/ the frequency of occurrence of specific words within individual languages.

This parallel investigation will shed new light on the evolution of polysemy patterns over time, and showcase the potential of using cross-linguistic data to investigate language-specific questions.

Anna Di Natale, Anna Di Natale, Di Natale, A., Max Pellert, Pellert, M., David Garcia, & Garcia, D. (2021). Colexification Networks Encode Affective Meaning. Affective Science, 2(2), 99–111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42761-021-00033-1

Croft, W. (2022). On two mathematical representations for “semantic maps.” Zeitschrift Für Sprachwissenschaft, 41(1), 67–87. https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2021-2040

François, A. (2022). Lexical tectonics: Mapping structural change in patterns of lexification. Zeitschrift Für Sprachwissenschaft, 41(1), 89–123.
https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2021-2041

Georgakopoulos, T. (2019). Semantic Maps. In M. Aronoff (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in Linguistics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/97801997728100229

Georgakopoulos, T., & Polis, S. (2021). Lexical diachronic semantic maps: Mapping the evolution of time-related lexemes. Journal of Historical Linguistics, 11(3), 367–420.

Jackson, J. C., Watts, J., Henry, T. R., List, J.-M., Forkel, R., Mucha, P. J., Greenhill, S. J., Gray, R. D., & Lindquist, K. A. (2019). Emotion semantics show both cultural variation and universal structure. Science, 366(6472), 1517–1522. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw8160

List, J.-M., Terhalle, A., & Urban, M. (2013). Using Network Approaches to Enhance the Analysis of Cross-Linguistic Polysemies. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Computational Semantics (IWCS 2013) – Short Papers, 347–353. https://aclanthology.org/W13-0208

List (游函), J.-M. (2016). Using Network Models to Analyze Old Chinese Rhyme Data (用網 絡模型來分析古代漢語的韻母數據). Bulletin of Chinese Linguistics, 9(2), 218–241. https://doi.org/10.1163/2405478X-00902004

Rzymski, C., Tresoldi, T., Greenhill, S. J., Wu, M.-S., Schweikhard, N. E., Koptjevskaja- Tamm, M., Gast, V., Bodt, T. A., Hantgan, A., Kaiping, G. A., Chang, S., Lai, Y., Morozova, N., Arjava, H., Hübler, N., Koile, E., Pepper, S., Proos, M., Van Epps, B., … List, J.-M. (2020). The Database of Cross-Linguistic Colexifications, reproducible analysis of cross-linguistic polysemies. Scientific Data, 7(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0341-x

Youn, H., Sutton, L., Smith, E., Moore, C., Wilkins, J. F., Maddieson, I., Croft, W., & Bhattacharya, T. (2016). On the universal structure of human lexical semantics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(7), 1766–1771. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1520752113