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Building and Interpreting Ad Hoc Categories: A Linguistic Analysis

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine in a systematic way the linguistic expression of a particular type of categorization process, namely the construction of ad hoc categories. Based on a 60 language-sample and corpus data from English and Italian, it will be shown that the strategies used to refer to ad hoc categories are mobilized from a variety of different grammatical areas, ranging from connectives to special plural forms and derivational affixes. We will first provide a detailed semantic analysis of the constructions under exam, and then move to the examination of the morphosyntactic and functional patterns of variation attested in our data. Though highly differentiated, the pool of strategies employed to make reference to ad hoc categories shows systematic correlations between specific morphosyntactic features, different degrees of context dependency and different types of abstraction processes (e.g., leading to the construction of a set, a frame or a class). We will conclude with a preliminary analysis of how ad hoc categories are built and used in discourse. Corpus data will lead us to propose a shift of attention from ad hoc categories themselves to on line categorization, namely the process through which categories are abstracted from specific exemplars in context, regardless of their common or ad hoc nature.

I would like to thank Andrea Sansò, Mira Ariel, Alessandra Barotto and Cristina Lo Baido for crucial discussions on data and their interpretation, and Giorgio Francesco Arcodia for helping me with the glosses of Chinese and Japanese examples.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The research described in this paper has been possible thanks to a Grant provided by the Italian Ministry of Research and University (MIUR) within the SIR program (SIR project “LEAdhoC: The linguistic expression of ad hoc categories”, prot. RBSI14IIG0, coordinated by Caterina Mauri.

  2. 2.

    The selection of languages has been driven by two criteria: genealogic diversity and the availability of descriptive grammars containing relevant information for our study. The following languages have been selected (in alphabetical order): Cavinena, Central Pomo, Chemeuevi, Comanche, Cupeno, Czech, Classical Japanese, Darma, Diu, Diyrbal, Dogon, Dom, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Galo, Georgian, German, Haitian Creole, Hakha Lai, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Hup, Italian, Jamsay, Japanese, Kannada, Koasati, Kokota, Kuuk Thayorre, Lao, Lavukaleve, Lezgian, Malayalam, Makalero, Mandarin Chinese, Mani, Maori, Marthutunira, Mongsen Ao, Nenets, Nootkan, Paumarì, Russian, Scolt Saami, Skou, South Efate, Spanish, Ughele, Tagalog, Tahitian, Tamil, Tokelauan, Tongan, Turkish, West Greenlandic, Yurakare.

  3. 3.

    Examples (15)–(17) do not have glosses, because glosses are not relevant for the discussion, centered around the interpretation of the derived forms.

  4. 4.

    Again, examples in (18) do not have glosses, because they were not available in the source.

  5. 5.

    For example (30) glosses are not provided in the source.

  6. 6.

    For example (32) glosses are missing in the source.

Abbreviations

ABL:

Ablative

ACC:

Accusative

AOR:

Aorist

ASSOC:

Associative plural marker

AUX:

Auxiliary

CJEC:

Conjectural

CLIT:

Clitic

CMPL:

Complement clause

COLL:

Collective

CONN:

Connective element

COP:

Copula

DAT:

Dative

DEF:

Definite

DET:

Determiner

DEM:

Demonstrative

DIR:

Directional

DM:

Discourse marker

DST:

Distal

EMPH:

Emphatic

ERG:

Ergative

EX:

Exemplary conjunction

EXCL:

Exclusive

F:

Feminine

GUES:

Guess

HON:

Honorific

IMP:

Imperative

IMPERS:

Impersonal

INAN:

Inanimate

INDEF:

Indefinite

INF:

Infinitive

IPFV:

Imperfective

LOC:

Locative

M:

Masculine

NEG:

Negative

NF:

Non finite

NPST:

Non-past

NZR:

Nominalizer

OBJ:

Object

PF:

Perfect

PL:

Plural

POL:

Polite

PROG:

Progressive

PRX:

Proximal

PST:

Past

PURP:

Purposive

Q:

Question marker

QUOT:

Quotative

REPR:

Representative plural

RLS:

Realis

SG:

Singular

SIML:

Similative

SLEV:

Same topographic level

SUB:

Subject

SUBJ:

Subjunctive

SUPERL:

Superlative

SUSP:

Suspensive form

TOP:

Topic

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Lingue, Letterature e Culture Moderne, Università di Bologna, Via Cartoleria 5, 40124, Bologna, Italy

    Caterina Mauri

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  1. Caterina Mauri
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Correspondence to Caterina Mauri .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Linguistics, University of Geneva, Genève, Geneve, Switzerland

    Joanna Blochowiak

  2. Batiment Landolt, 7th Floor, Univ of Geneva, Dept of Linguistics, Geneva, Switzerland

    Cristina Grisot

  3. Dept. of Psycholinguistics, University of Geneva Dept. of Psycholinguistics, Geneva, Switzerland

    Stephanie Durrleman

  4. Department of Linguistics, University of Geneva, Genève, Geneve, Switzerland

    Christopher Laenzlinger

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Mauri, C. (2017). Building and Interpreting Ad Hoc Categories: A Linguistic Analysis. In: Blochowiak, J., Grisot, C., Durrleman, S., Laenzlinger, C. (eds) Formal Models in the Study of Language. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48832-5_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48832-5_16

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