{"title":"The semantic complexity of Hausa kinship terms","authors":"Gian Claudio Batic","doi":"10.2478/topling-2023-0009","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This study aims at analysing the absolute semantic complexity of kin terms in Hausa, i.e. to measure the amount of semantic information of individual kin terms. Each kin term is defined by a set of sufficient and necessary conditions (i.e. properties and relations) derived from the construction of a genealogical “space”. In order to calculate semantic complexity, properties (e.g. x is male, x is older than y) and relations (e.g. x is married to y, x is father of y) are encoded as a series of predicates. The terms are defined in a feature matrix system: for each property and relation each kin term is assigned a value on a truth table. Resorting to predicate calculus, the complexity coefficient c of kin terms is calculated as the negative dyadic logarithm of the relative number of trues according to the formula proposed by Lehmann (1978) and adapted from Carnap and Bar-Hillel (1952). Being culture-independent, the definition of kinship terms in a feature-matrix system allows for a) cross-linguistic comparison; b) a consistent treatment of polysemous instances based on the principles of intension and extension; and c) further analysis and applications in representations of kinship systems formulated with genealogical or algebraic approaches.","PeriodicalId":41377,"journal":{"name":"Topics in Linguistics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Topics in Linguistics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.2478/topling-2023-0009","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract This study aims at analysing the absolute semantic complexity of kin terms in Hausa, i.e. to measure the amount of semantic information of individual kin terms. Each kin term is defined by a set of sufficient and necessary conditions (i.e. properties and relations) derived from the construction of a genealogical “space”. In order to calculate semantic complexity, properties (e.g. x is male, x is older than y) and relations (e.g. x is married to y, x is father of y) are encoded as a series of predicates. The terms are defined in a feature matrix system: for each property and relation each kin term is assigned a value on a truth table. Resorting to predicate calculus, the complexity coefficient c of kin terms is calculated as the negative dyadic logarithm of the relative number of trues according to the formula proposed by Lehmann (1978) and adapted from Carnap and Bar-Hillel (1952). Being culture-independent, the definition of kinship terms in a feature-matrix system allows for a) cross-linguistic comparison; b) a consistent treatment of polysemous instances based on the principles of intension and extension; and c) further analysis and applications in representations of kinship systems formulated with genealogical or algebraic approaches.
摘要 本研究旨在分析豪萨语中亲属词的绝对语义复杂性,即衡量单个亲属词的语义信息量。每个亲属词都是由一系列充分和必要条件(即属性和关系)定义的,这些充分和必要条件来自于家谱 "空间 "的构建。为了计算语义复杂性,属性(如 x 是男性,x 比 y 年长)和关系(如 x 与 y 结婚,x 是 y 的父亲)被编码为一系列谓词。这些术语是在特征矩阵系统中定义的:对于每个属性和关系,每个亲属术语都在真值表上赋值。根据 Lehmann(1978 年)提出并改编自 Carnap 和 Bar-Hillel(1952 年)的公式,运用谓词微积分学,亲属称谓词的复杂系数 c 被计算为真值相对数量的负对数。由于与文化无关,在特征矩阵系统中定义亲属关系术语可以:a)进行跨语言比较;b)根据内延和外延原则对多义实例进行一致处理;c)进一步分析并应用于以谱系或代数方法制定的亲属关系系统表述中。