Events / MindCORE/ILST Seminar: Terry Regier

MindCORE/ILST Seminar: Terry Regier

September 30, 2022
12:00 PM - 1:15 PM

SAIL Room (111 Levin Building)

We will also stream this seminar via Zoom.

 

Terry Regier
Language and Cognition Lab
Departments of Linguistics and Cognitive Science
UC Berkeley

 

Semantic categories in computational perspective

 

I will review recent and ongoing computational work that addresses two related questions at the intersection of language, cognition, and culture: (1) Why do languages have the semantic categories they do, and (2) Do semantic categories shape non-linguistic cognition? Specific issues to be addressed include efficient communication, cultural communicative need, the evolution of semantic systems, and the existence or non-existence of a universal cognitive foundation for linguistic meaning. A general theme will be that approaching these contested questions in computational terms has the potential to resolve some of the tension that surrounds them.

 

A pizza lunch will be served. Please bring your own beverage!