Language Change as a Complex Adaptive System: Evolution of English polysemy based on historical data and the brain mechanism

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00694
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02080:English linguistics-related
• Research Institution: Tsurumi University
• Principal Investigator: Ogura Mieko 鶴見大学, 名誉教授 (60074291)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 言語変化 / 言語進化 / 複雑適応体系 / 多義語 / 史的データ / 脳の機能

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Supported by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) in 2005-2018, I examined mechanisms of lexical diffusion in phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and lexicon in the history of English from a perspective of complex adaptive systems, including selection, self-organization, scaling of parameters, robustness and networks of connections. In the present study I further discussed the evolution of the English polysemous verbs and nouns based on (1) a large amount of historical data from Historical Thesaurus of Oxford English Dictionary, Early English Books Online, and WordNet, and (2) the experiments on the brain mechanisms using near-infrared spectroscopy.

Free Research Field

人文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では英語の歴史的発達と脳の機能の相関関係を探り、言語が変化すれば脳の機能も変化することが明らかとなった。実験の結果得られる日本語と英語の脳の活性化の違いは英語を第二外国語として習得する際にも多いに役立つ。