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Prototype Theory
Prototype Theory
Componential analysis
Components/features/dimensions
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Example:
Prototype Theory
He established the idea of family resemblance, which included the idea of sharing features
with our family.
Example: Game –chess, dice, corro de la patata, hide and seek, football. There are
many categories, but they are all different
Example:
Climb a mountain, a ladder, a tree –to ascend, physical movement, using our 4
limbs (PROTOTYPICAL ITEMS TO CLIMB)
Climb up to be Vice President –to ascend, not physical movement = social ladder
METAPHOR
He worked in artificial intelligence, MS2 was based on a sequence of 1 and 0 numbers. So,
he came up with the idea of fuzzy areas (área difusa). This meant that there’s no 1 or 0,
but actually is something in between: non-binary scales. Useful against structuralism.
Example: Olive is not a prototypical food nor vegetable. It’s a kind of fuzzy area.
She was a psychologist and anthropologist it was the first who began to talk about
prototype categories, although she didn’t had language in mind. She did experiments on
colours, taste and numbers; being very successful. She published very influential articles in
the 1970s and began to talk about a lot of categories and categorisation.
She established that prototype had a psychological notion: salience in the mind. The
prototype is the first thing that comes to our mind.
It is most taken because is most frequent? Or it is most frequent because is most taken?
But there can also be an analytical notion: centrality. It is the result of an analysis, what is
most central. The one who shares more characteristics with other senses of the concept.
It has like a network sense, as a spider. In the middle the most PT and then the rest.
Prototype theory
Hedges
They were first described by Lakoff in 1973, who described almost more than 40. There is
something that allows us to see the structure of the concept.
The word BUT is the hedge in these three sentences, as it has to do with our expectations. It
tells us something about the structure of the category of gypsies.
This sums in on the very central meaning of birds, to say than ostriches are central prototypical
birds is not correct.
Loosely speaking a table is a piece of furniture
The hedge implies that the category of table is not a central piece of furniture, whereas is not
the case. It focuses on the periphery.
Taylor:
Hedges require us to distinguish between central and peripheral members of a category {par
excellence, strictly speaking}, as well as between different degrees of non-membership in
category (strictly speaking). They show that category boundaries are flexible (loosely
speaking).
When we say extension of meaning we think about a reference. If I say bird, it can refer to an
ostrich, raven, seagull, etc. BUT when we say intention of meaning we talk about the
definition, for instance, a definition of bird.
Extension: reference
Intension: definition
Absence of classical definition: the classical definition would be a short definition that helps
you differentiate that thing from other things.
The prototypicality of prototypicality: some categories exhibit a high degree. Others are more
like “classical categories”. Water=H20
Neighbouring category: for example, fruit and vegetables. They are very similar but are
different categories.
If we take fruit and vegetables, apple and lettuce, there is a difference in shape, texture,
flavour, taste, etc.
Prototypes vs. stereotypes: stereotypes are more like characteristics, personal traits. But there
are also stereotype