Demonstratives as attention tools: Evidence of mentalistic representations within language

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Cognitive Science
• Psychology

Background:

• Language is a social tool for sharing thoughts, often relying on mentalistic representations and Gricean reasoning.
• Previous understanding suggested mentalistic representations externally modulate linguistic meaning.
• The role of basic linguistic elements in social cognition was not fully explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if representations of others' attention are intrinsically embedded within language itself.
• To determine the function of demonstratives beyond spatial deixis.
• To explore the interplay between linguistic structure and social cognition.

Main Methods:

• Cross-linguistic analysis of demonstratives across ten languages.
• Investigated spatial and attentional uses of demonstratives.
• Employed computational modeling to analyze mentalistic representations within demonstratives.

Main Results:

• Demonstratives function as intrinsic attention tools, encoding joint attention and directing listener focus.
• The frequency of spatial and attentional uses of demonstratives varies across languages, indicating conventionalized meanings.
• Computational models confirmed mentalistic representations are encoded in demonstratives, enhanced by Gricean reasoning, though speakers are often unaware.

Conclusions:

• Representations of others' cognitive states, specifically attention, are embedded within language.
• Basic linguistic building blocks like demonstratives rely on social cognition.
• Language intrinsically incorporates social cognitive mechanisms for communication.