Patrick Georg Grosz
Biographic Data
| ID | 3601870 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Patrick Georg Grosz |
| GIVEN NAMES | Patrick Georg |
| FAMILY NAME | Grosz |
| SIGNATURE | GROSZ P G |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oslo |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6760-7729 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 28 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 17 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
An outline of the narrative grammar of electronic dance music
We argue that electronic dance music (EDM) exhibits a parallel structural organization to that which has been proposed for cartoons (comics) after the model of hierarchical structure proposed in theoretical linguistics. According to this parallel, both systems are governed by general cognitive mechanisms for the narrative organization of tension and release, which are not modality-specific. We show that notions from visual narrative analysis, suc…
Semantic differences in visually similar face emojis
The literature on face emojis raises the central question whether they should be treated as pictures or conventionalized signals. Our experiment addresses this question by investigating semantic differences in visually similar face emojis. We test a prediction following from a pictorial approach: small visual features of emojis that do not correspond to human facial features should be semantically less relevant than features that represent aspect…
Shared semantics
Striking similarities across ape gestural repertoires suggest shared phylogenetic origins that likely provided a foundation for the emergence of language. We pilot a novel approach for exploring possible semantic universals across human and nonhuman ape species. In a forced‐choice task, n = 300 participants watched 10 chimpanzee gesture forms performed by a human and chose from responses that paralleled inferred meanings for chimpanzee gestures. …
Primate origins of discourse-managing gestures
The last decades have seen major advances in the study of gestures both in humans and non-human primates. In this paper, we seriously examine the idea that there may be gestural form types that are shared across great ape species, including humans, which may underlie gestural universals, both in form and meaning. We focus on one case study, the hand fling gesture common to chimpanzees and humans, and provide a semantic analysis of this gesture
Throw
This paper provides a detailed description of the distribution of an utterance-accompanying or utterance-replacing throwing away gesture (see Bressem & Müller 2014, 2017), THROW, and proposes a formal analysis of its contribution. We argue that this gesture conveys dismissal, which we model as the marking of the question addressed by a preceding discourse move as unimportant. This work extends the growing body of linguistic work on formal gesture…
A semantics of face emoji in discourse
This paper presents an analysis of face emoji (disc-shaped pictograms with stylized facial expressions) that accompany written text. We propose that there is a use of face emoji in which they comment on a target proposition expressed by the accompanying text, as opposed to making an independent contribution to discourse. Focusing on positively valenced and negatively valenced emoji (which we gloss as happy and unhappy , respectively), we argue th…
Discourse anaphoricity vs. perspective sensitivity in emoji semantics
This paper aims to provide a foundation for studying the interplay between emoji and linguistic (natural language) expressions; it does so by proposing a formal semantic classification of emoji- text combinations, focusing on two core sets of emoji: face emoji and activity emoji. Based on different data sources (introspective intuitions, naturalistic Twitter examples, and experimental evidence), we argue that activity emoji (case study I) are ess…
Steps towards a Semantics of Dance
As formal theoretical linguistic methodology has matured, recent years have seen the advent of applying it to objects of study that transcend language, e.g., to the syntax and semantics of music (Lerdahl & Jackendoff 1983, Schlenker 2017a; see also Rebuschat et al. 2011). One of the aims of such extensions is to shed new light on how meaning is construed in a range of communicative systems. In this paper, we approach this goal by looking at narra…
Emojis and conditionals
In recent years, formal linguistic analysis has expanded its scope to include objects of study beyond natural language, under the umbrella of Super Linguistics (where the intended meaning of super is its Latinate meaning ‘beyond’); see (Patel-Grosz et al. 2022. Super linguistics: An introduction. Unpublished manuscript, April 2022 version. Available at: https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/005242 ). One super linguistic object of study is emojis, which …
Anaphoricity in emoji
Emoji are widely used, but have received relatively little attention in psycholinguistic research. Upon encountering a message consisting of both text and emoji, readers presumably construct some link between emoji and text. Based on a psycholinguistic study on text-emoji relations, we argue for (at least) two types of emoji-text dependencies, related to referential dependencies known to exist in the linguistic domain, namely (i) the dependency b…
Pronouns in Embedded Contexts at the Syntax-Semantics Interface
Coreference and disjoint reference in the semantics of narrative dance
This paper presents an exploratory production study of Bharatanatyam, a figurative(narrative) dance. We investigate the encoding of coreference vs. disjoint reference in thisdance and argue that a formal semantics of narrative dance can be modeled in line withAbusch’s (2013, 2014, 2015) semantics of visual narrative (drawing also on Schlenker’s,2017a, approach to music semantics). A main finding of our investigation is that larger-levelgroup-boun…
Revisiting Pronominal Typology
The overarching goal of this article is to shed new light on the debate over whether pronouns ( she/ he/ it) generally have the syntax and semantics of definite descriptions ( the woman/ the man/ the thing) or that of individual variables. As a case study, we investigate the differences between personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns in German. We argue that the two types of pronouns have the same core makeup (both contain a null NP and a de…
The Impact of Pronominal Form on Interpretation
The interplay between the interpretation of pronouns (e.g. bound/referential) and their form (e.g. null/overt) is still ill-understood. This volume has a cross-linguistic orientation with in-depth investigations of more than 10 different languages. It unites researchers from the linguistic subfields of syntax, semantics, and psycholinguistics, thus furthering dialogue with the goal of shedding new light on the form/interpretation connection.
Information Structure and Discourse Particles
Focusing on German as its object language, this chapter explores the interactions between discourse particles (e.g. ja, doch) and information structure. The first half of the chapter explores the traditional idea that discourse particles form a watershed between thematic (old) and rhematic (new) information. Concerning the ‘theme’, it is argued that unstressed elements to the left of discourse particles (in the ‘middle field’ between C0 and the v…
Constraints on Donkey Pronouns
This article reports on an experimental study of donkey pronouns , pronouns (e.g. it ) whose meaning covaries with that of a non-pronominal noun phrase (e.g. a donkey ) even though they are not in a structural relationship that is suitable for quantifier-variable binding. We investigate three constraints, (i) the preference for the presence of an overt NP antecedent that is not part of another word, (ii) the salience of the position of an anteced…
Movement and Agreement in Right-Node-Raising Constructions
This paper discusses the following type of right-node-raising construction (Ross): Coordinate structures in which elements that are interpreted in only one conjunct have moved across material that is interpreted as part of both conjuncts. I show that there are constructions of this type that simultaneously exhibit noncanonical plural agreement with two singularDPs and a ban on collective predicates in the same environment, which suggests contradi…
Optative markers as communicative cues
Movement and Agreement in Right-Node-Raising Constructions
This paper discusses the following type of right-node-raising construction (Ross): Coordinate structures in which elements that are interpreted in only one conjunct have moved across material that is interpreted as part of both conjuncts. I show that there are constructions of this type that simultaneously exhibit noncanonical plural agreement with two singularDPs and a ban on collective predicates in the same environment, which suggests contradi…
Revisiting Pronominal Typology
The overarching goal of this article is to shed new light on the debate over whether pronouns ( she/ he/ it) generally have the syntax and semantics of definite descriptions ( the woman/ the man/ the thing) or that of individual variables. As a case study, we investigate the differences between personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns in German. We argue that the two types of pronouns have the same core makeup (both contain a null NP and a de…
Optative markers as communicative cues
Information Structure and Discourse Particles
Focusing on German as its object language, this chapter explores the interactions between discourse particles (e.g. ja, doch) and information structure. The first half of the chapter explores the traditional idea that discourse particles form a watershed between thematic (old) and rhematic (new) information. Concerning the ‘theme’, it is argued that unstressed elements to the left of discourse particles (in the ‘middle field’ between C0 and the v…
Constraints on Donkey Pronouns
This article reports on an experimental study of donkey pronouns , pronouns (e.g. it ) whose meaning covaries with that of a non-pronominal noun phrase (e.g. a donkey ) even though they are not in a structural relationship that is suitable for quantifier-variable binding. We investigate three constraints, (i) the preference for the presence of an overt NP antecedent that is not part of another word, (ii) the salience of the position of an anteced…
Movement and Agreement in Right-Node-Raising Constructions
This paper discusses the following type of right-node-raising construction (Ross): Coordinate structures in which elements that are interpreted in only one conjunct have moved across material that is interpreted as part of both conjuncts. I show that there are constructions of this type that simultaneously exhibit noncanonical plural agreement with two singularDPs and a ban on collective predicates in the same environment, which suggests contradi…
The Impact of Pronominal Form on Interpretation
The interplay between the interpretation of pronouns (e.g. bound/referential) and their form (e.g. null/overt) is still ill-understood. This volume has a cross-linguistic orientation with in-depth investigations of more than 10 different languages. It unites researchers from the linguistic subfields of syntax, semantics, and psycholinguistics, thus furthering dialogue with the goal of shedding new light on the form/interpretation connection.
Revisiting Pronominal Typology
The overarching goal of this article is to shed new light on the debate over whether pronouns ( she/ he/ it) generally have the syntax and semantics of definite descriptions ( the woman/ the man/ the thing) or that of individual variables. As a case study, we investigate the differences between personal pronouns and demonstrative pronouns in German. We argue that the two types of pronouns have the same core makeup (both contain a null NP and a de…
Pronouns in Embedded Contexts at the Syntax-Semantics Interface
Coreference and disjoint reference in the semantics of narrative dance
This paper presents an exploratory production study of Bharatanatyam, a figurative(narrative) dance. We investigate the encoding of coreference vs. disjoint reference in thisdance and argue that a formal semantics of narrative dance can be modeled in line withAbusch’s (2013, 2014, 2015) semantics of visual narrative (drawing also on Schlenker’s,2017a, approach to music semantics). A main finding of our investigation is that larger-levelgroup-boun…
Anaphoricity in emoji
Emoji are widely used, but have received relatively little attention in psycholinguistic research. Upon encountering a message consisting of both text and emoji, readers presumably construct some link between emoji and text. Based on a psycholinguistic study on text-emoji relations, we argue for (at least) two types of emoji-text dependencies, related to referential dependencies known to exist in the linguistic domain, namely (i) the dependency b…
Steps towards a Semantics of Dance
As formal theoretical linguistic methodology has matured, recent years have seen the advent of applying it to objects of study that transcend language, e.g., to the syntax and semantics of music (Lerdahl & Jackendoff 1983, Schlenker 2017a; see also Rebuschat et al. 2011). One of the aims of such extensions is to shed new light on how meaning is construed in a range of communicative systems. In this paper, we approach this goal by looking at narra…
Emojis and conditionals
In recent years, formal linguistic analysis has expanded its scope to include objects of study beyond natural language, under the umbrella of Super Linguistics (where the intended meaning of super is its Latinate meaning ‘beyond’); see (Patel-Grosz et al. 2022. Super linguistics: An introduction. Unpublished manuscript, April 2022 version. Available at: https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/005242 ). One super linguistic object of study is emojis, which …
Throw
This paper provides a detailed description of the distribution of an utterance-accompanying or utterance-replacing throwing away gesture (see Bressem & Müller 2014, 2017), THROW, and proposes a formal analysis of its contribution. We argue that this gesture conveys dismissal, which we model as the marking of the question addressed by a preceding discourse move as unimportant. This work extends the growing body of linguistic work on formal gesture…
A semantics of face emoji in discourse
This paper presents an analysis of face emoji (disc-shaped pictograms with stylized facial expressions) that accompany written text. We propose that there is a use of face emoji in which they comment on a target proposition expressed by the accompanying text, as opposed to making an independent contribution to discourse. Focusing on positively valenced and negatively valenced emoji (which we gloss as happy and unhappy , respectively), we argue th…
Discourse anaphoricity vs. perspective sensitivity in emoji semantics
This paper aims to provide a foundation for studying the interplay between emoji and linguistic (natural language) expressions; it does so by proposing a formal semantic classification of emoji- text combinations, focusing on two core sets of emoji: face emoji and activity emoji. Based on different data sources (introspective intuitions, naturalistic Twitter examples, and experimental evidence), we argue that activity emoji (case study I) are ess…
Semantic differences in visually similar face emojis
The literature on face emojis raises the central question whether they should be treated as pictures or conventionalized signals. Our experiment addresses this question by investigating semantic differences in visually similar face emojis. We test a prediction following from a pictorial approach: small visual features of emojis that do not correspond to human facial features should be semantically less relevant than features that represent aspect…
Shared semantics
Striking similarities across ape gestural repertoires suggest shared phylogenetic origins that likely provided a foundation for the emergence of language. We pilot a novel approach for exploring possible semantic universals across human and nonhuman ape species. In a forced‐choice task, n = 300 participants watched 10 chimpanzee gesture forms performed by a human and chose from responses that paralleled inferred meanings for chimpanzee gestures. …
Primate origins of discourse-managing gestures
The last decades have seen major advances in the study of gestures both in humans and non-human primates. In this paper, we seriously examine the idea that there may be gestural form types that are shared across great ape species, including humans, which may underlie gestural universals, both in form and meaning. We focus on one case study, the hand fling gesture common to chimpanzees and humans, and provide a semantic analysis of this gesture
An outline of the narrative grammar of electronic dance music
We argue that electronic dance music (EDM) exhibits a parallel structural organization to that which has been proposed for cartoons (comics) after the model of hierarchical structure proposed in theoretical linguistics. According to this parallel, both systems are governed by general cognitive mechanisms for the narrative organization of tension and release, which are not modality-specific. We show that notions from visual narrative analysis, suc…
Linguistics (18 works) · Philosophy (17 works) · Computer Science (16 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (9 works) · Natural language processing (7 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (6 works) · Digital Communication and Language (5 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (5 works) · Cognitive psychology (4 works)