University of Vienna
Seminarraum 5
Kolingasse 14–16
1090 Vienna

https://univienna.zoom.us/j/68108456728?pwd=SWhOczJxVG1qWlZQYXN6aC85TG81Zz09
Meeting ID: 681 0845 6728
Passcode: Ds&23

In natural language, lexical polysemy, i.e., the presence of multiple meanings for a single word form, is the rule rather than the exception. The word 'key', for instance can denote, among other things, an object to lock and unlock a door, a motile part on a device like a piano, or a solution to a problem. From a communicative point of view, the fact that one form refers to multiple meanings is, at first sight, sub-optimal given that ambiguity acts against successful communication. Yet, populations of speakers sustain a multitude of polysemous words in their communicative systems, viz., languages. Where does this semantic diversity come from?

One mechanism that was suggested to increase diversity in the domain of cultural evolution is that of non-conformist behavior, i.e., a bias for behaving differently than the majority does. Non-conformist behavior entails what is referred to as negative frequency dependence (i.e., an advantage of rare variants), a mechanism that was studied in depth in evolutionary biology. On the other hand, perceptual granularity (i.e., the ability to differentiate between variants) can impact semantic diversity. The goal of this paper is to identify conditions under which semantic diversity is enforced by these two mechanisms with the help of analytic models from mathematical biology. The predictions of these models are then tested against historical and contemporary language data on lexical polysemy.

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