Event Title
Contingencies Between Verbs, Body Regions, Directionality and Visuability
Presentation Type
Poster/Portfolio
Presenter Major(s)
Psychology, Sociology
Mentor Information
Josita Maouene, Sango Otieno
Department
Psychology, Statistics
Location
Henry Hall Atrium 100
Start Date
10-4-2013 10:00 AM
End Date
10-4-2013 11:00 AM
Keywords
Social Science
Abstract
Previous research has suggested a correlation between early-learned verbs and body regions (HEAD, ARM, and LEG), such that, for example, verbs such as kick, jump, and run are LEG-related verbs (Maouene, Hidaka & Smith, 2009). Another line of research has suggested that verbs also have different degrees of directionality and visuability (Toskos, Hanaia & Hockema, 2004). Such that, for example, the verb obey has a high verticality and the verb find has low visuability. We will connect the two sets of data from these two studies and ask whether the HEAD-related verbs have different directionality and visuability than ARM- or LEG-related verbs. We hypothesize that if body regions matter in verb meanings, then we should find different strengths in correlations between body regions, directionality, and visuability for 88 common verbs. The results will be discussed in terms of the theoretical perspectives of strong, weak, and no embodiment in Language.
Contingencies Between Verbs, Body Regions, Directionality and Visuability
Henry Hall Atrium 100
Previous research has suggested a correlation between early-learned verbs and body regions (HEAD, ARM, and LEG), such that, for example, verbs such as kick, jump, and run are LEG-related verbs (Maouene, Hidaka & Smith, 2009). Another line of research has suggested that verbs also have different degrees of directionality and visuability (Toskos, Hanaia & Hockema, 2004). Such that, for example, the verb obey has a high verticality and the verb find has low visuability. We will connect the two sets of data from these two studies and ask whether the HEAD-related verbs have different directionality and visuability than ARM- or LEG-related verbs. We hypothesize that if body regions matter in verb meanings, then we should find different strengths in correlations between body regions, directionality, and visuability for 88 common verbs. The results will be discussed in terms of the theoretical perspectives of strong, weak, and no embodiment in Language.