EVOLVING SOCIAL CONSTRAINTS ON INDIVIDUAL CONCEPTUAL REPRESENTATIONS

The paper deals with how constraints on conceptual representations evolve through processes of knowledge shar- ing. We describe pragmatic settings of referential communication and provide a model of how names, nouns and adjectives emerge through a process of abstraction. In situations of referential communication, the contrast class - the set that intended referents must be distinguished from - is important for determining the degree of specification of referential utter- ances. Two processing strategies involving contrast classes are proposed that are connected to the nominal and adjectival levels of abstraction. Certain cognitive representational skills are needed to be able to assess a contrast class in a commu- nicative situation. We propose three communicative strategies that correspond to different assessments of the relevant con- trast class.

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