446 cognitive categories

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Cognitive Categories Prototype & Periphery

Members

01

Assistant Professor Wichian SunithamPrototype series 4.1

02

cup

teapot

mug

goblet

cup/mug

cup/mug

03

chair

three-legged stool

four-legged stool

bench

couch

office chair

04

ostrich

emu

robin

henpeacock

hornbill

parrot

05

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06Main findings of Berlin & Kay (1969: 2-3)

1. All languages contain terms for white and black.

2. If a language contains three terms, then it contains a term for red.

3. If a language contains four terms, then it contains a term for either green or yelllow (but not both).

4. If a language contains five terms, then it contains a term for both green and yellow.

5. If a language contains six terms, then it contains a term for blue. 6. If a language contains seven terms, then it contains a term for brown.

7. If a language contains eight or more terms, then it contains a term for purple, pink, orange, grey, or some combination of these.

07

Ber

lin &

Kay

, 196

9: 3

08

Findings of Berlin and Kay (1969)

1. Consistency in chip selecton: the selection of color chips from the chart was consistent; that is, only the chips from particular areas were chosen by most people.

2. Foci: The chips were called foci or focal colors as they represent best colors.

3. Universality of foci: The foci are shared by not only speakers of the same language, but by speakers of different languages.

09Characteristics of foci

1. They are monomorphemic and monolxemic

2. They are included in other color terms.

3. They are not in restricted applications

4. They are psychological salient.

10

Eleanor Rosch (1970s)

Are foci a matter of language or of the mind? Salience of foci is to be investigated.

In a color-matching task, which color group, between foci and non-foci, was matched more accurately?

Were foci be more attractive to Dani pre-school children than were non-focal colors?

In a recognition task (STM), which color group, between foci and non-foci, was matched more accurately?

In a learning task (LTM), which color group, between foci and non-foci, was matched more accurately?

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06

Cognitive Categories family resemblances & fuzzy

boundaries

Prototype series 4.2

Assistant Professor Wichian Sunitham

07

Aitchison, 1987

08

Some member are better than the others.

Categorization can be graded.

Some members, though are not really similar to the prototype, still share overlapping similarities with it. [family resemblance]

Members' boundaries are fuzzy, not clear-cut.

09

10

Longman Dictionary of Comtemporary English Online

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06a piece of furniture for one person to sit on, with a back, legs, and sometimes two arms

a chair that has two curved pieces under it, so that when someone sits on it they can move it backwards and forwards

a chair, especially in an office, with a seat that can turn around in a circle without you having to move the legs

a large comfortable chair with parts for you to rest your arms on. It is often part of a set of chairs called a suite that also includes a sofa (=a long chair for two or three people)

a chair with large wheels that someone who cannot walk uses for moving around

a tall chair that very young children sit in to eat

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06

Cognitive Categories Lexical categorization

Prototype series 4.3

Assistant Professor Wichian Sunitham

07Conceptual categories

Feature-list categorizationSimilarity categorization

Levels of categorization

Levels of exclusiveness

General level

Fundamental level

Specific level

08Conceptual categories

General level

Fundamental level

Specific level

Superordinate level

Basic level

Subordinate level

Prototypical member

09Basic level categories

They are used for everyday neutral reference

- They form a clear visual image.

- They give characteristic patterns of behavioral interaction.

- They show clear part-whole information.

- They are more rapidly categorized.

10Superordinate level categories

- Compared to basic level categories, their within-category resemblance is relatively low.

- They have fewer defining attributes than basic level categories.

- Linguistically, names of superordinate categories are often mass nouns.

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06Subordinate level categories

- Members have high mutual resemblance, but low distinctiveness.

- Linguistically, they are polymorphemic.

- They are much less informative relative to their immediate basic level items.

07One-word description

08One-word description