Papers by DIetmar Zaefferer
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Biolinguistics, 2010
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De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 31, 1983
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De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 31, 2002
The integration of traditional and modern linguistics as well as diachrony and synchrony is the h... more The integration of traditional and modern linguistics as well as diachrony and synchrony is the hallmark of an influential trend in contemporary research on language. It is documented in the present collection of 21 new papers on the history and structure of the sounds and other (sub-) systems of human languages, sharing the common reference point of Theo Vennemann, a leading figure in the above-mentioned trend, whom the authors want to honor with this Festschrift.
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Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2009
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De Gruyter eBooks, Apr 23, 2009
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Diskussion von: Daniel Vanderveken "Meaning and Speech Acts", vol. I: "Principles ... more Diskussion von: Daniel Vanderveken "Meaning and Speech Acts", vol. I: "Principles of Language Use", vol. II: "Formal Semantics of Success and Satisfaction", Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1990, 1991
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Cognitive Science, 2011
The inhumane accusative: an empirical investigation Luenya Santiago dos Santos Ludwig-Maximilians... more The inhumane accusative: an empirical investigation Luenya Santiago dos Santos Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich Dietmar Zaefferer Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich Abstract: Leo Weisgerber (1957/58) made the much debated claim that in German referring to human beings via a direct (accusative) object where an indirect (dative) object paraphrase would be available is an inhumane choice, since it entails subtly depersonalizing the referent: Dative use implies ascribing human characteristics to referents, accusative use amounts to degrading them to mere objects. Assuming that agentivity and mental experience in action are salient human characteristics, Weisgerber’s claim fits nicelly with the dative and accusative object prototypes proposed by Langacker (1991): A dative object suggests an active experiencer, an accusative object an inanimate thing. In his cognitive model of German cases, Smith (1985) observed also a difference in action participation between these personal object...
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Cognitive Science, 2011
The Construction Meaning of Interrogatives: Evidence From Embodied Grammar Dietmar Zaefferer LMU ... more The Construction Meaning of Interrogatives: Evidence From Embodied Grammar Dietmar Zaefferer LMU Munich Luenya Santiago dos Santos LMU Munich Abstract: In formal semantics polar interrogatives are often conceived as pairs of a proposition and its negation (Hamblin 1958). While allowing for interesting research, this view lacks plausible cognitive grounding. We therefore propose that propositional contents are represented by pairs of situation tokens and situation types: In positive declaratives the token fits (or fails to fit) the type, in interrogatives the question of fit does not arise because the token is insufficiently specified. In order to test this assumption we adapted an embodied grammar experimental design that demonstrated the action–sentence compatibility effect (ACE, Glenberg & Kaschak), the influence of the motion described in the sentence subjects are primed with on the motor response they perform: If described and performed motion match in direction, facilitation is...
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Are Tims hot and Toms not? Probing the effect of sound symbolism on perception of facial attracti... more Are Tims hot and Toms not? Probing the effect of sound symbolism on perception of facial attractiveness Franziska Hartung Ludwig Maximilians University Munich Daniel Klenovsak Ludwig Maximilians University Munich Luenya Santiago dos Santos Ludwig Maximilians University Munich Carolin Strobl Ludwig Maximilians University Munich Dietmar Zaefferer Ludwig Maximilians University Munich Abstract: Amy Perfors attracted much attention in 2004 by showing that the sounds of a given name affected the perceived attractiveness of its bearer. Back vowel names (Sue) made women appear more attractive, whereas males benefited from front vowel names (Tim). Being at variance with strict Saussurean arbitrariness and in line with the reality of sound symbolism, these findings inspired us to try a replication with German names under a modified design where more variables, including gender of subjects, were controlled. Male names were paired with male faces and female names with female faces in a randomiz...
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When something is in focus, light falls on it from different angles. The lexicon can be viewed fr... more When something is in focus, light falls on it from different angles. The lexicon can be viewed from different sides. Six views are represented in this volume: a cognitivist view of vagueness and lexicalization, a psycholinguistic view of lexical
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Cognitive Science, 2011
Testing Cratylus’ Hypothesis: Aspectual Iconicity Daniel Klenovsak LMU Munich Dietmar Zaefferer L... more Testing Cratylus’ Hypothesis: Aspectual Iconicity Daniel Klenovsak LMU Munich Dietmar Zaefferer LMU Munich Abstract: Cratylus famously claimed that there is a kind of inherent correctness in names, the same for all men. This entails that some codings are better for a given content than others and that coding preferences could be part of UG (under a modern view: ’analytic biases that prefer certain language types over others’). Since verbs tend to code events and pronouncing a verb is also an event we call aspectual iconicity the identity of continuity values in both: English ’to stop’ involves stop consonants and therefore codes termination iconically, German ’aufhören’ does not. We used an artificial language together with purported German translations in order to test the hypothesis that aspectual iconicity is part of UG and observed a significant effect: Presented with a German sentence describing a (dis-)continuous event participants preferred a purported translation (to be rea...
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Syntax, 1995
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Theoretical Linguistics, 2021
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Sound symbolism – the idea that there are motivated links between the sound of a word and its mea... more Sound symbolism – the idea that there are motivated links between the sound of a word and its meaning has been established to be an existing phenomenon across different languages. Especially size sound symbolism seems to be a functional feature in many languages meaning that different types of vowels in words are associated with different physical size. Words with front vowels (e.g. little, tiny) are more likely to be used to indicate small physical size whereas words with back vowels (e.g. humungous, huge) are more likely to indicate large physical size. Because physical size plays an important role in ratings of attractiveness, we tested whether vowels in first names can influence how attractive the bearer of the name is perceived. In our experiment, participants saw faces paired with popular first names and rated the attractiveness of the depicted person. Masculine names were paired with pictures of men and feminine names with pictures of women. The names either contained a front...
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Papers by DIetmar Zaefferer