SFB 833:  Emergence of Meaning: The Dynamics and Adaptivity of Linguistic Structures

• Subject Area: Humanities ; Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Term: from 2009 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 75650358

How does the meaning of linguistic expressions arise? This is the central research question of the SFB 833 'The Construction of Meaning. The Dynamics and Adaptivity of Linguistic Structures.'Focusing on the fact that meaning emerges as a function of time and situation, the SFB’s joint re-search goal is a better understanding of linguistic meaning and its dynamic adaptation to the various factors that impact on it. The central question of how meaning arises is investigated (a) in context, (b) during cognitive processing, and (c) according to the grammars of individual languages. Our research program is an interdisciplinary one, and accordingly the SFB 833 is a joint project includ-ing linguists – theoretical linguists, specialists in particular languages and computational linguists – as well as cognitive scientists and literary scholars. Traditionally, linguists have focused on the structural aspects of the language system while cognitive scientists have concentrated on language related processes. Investigating the construction of meaning opens the door to a more integrated view of structure and process. This, we believe, is essential for a more realistic investigation and interpreta-tion of language data. It is part of our general vision of integrated empirical and theoretical research. The SFB 833 uses diverse types of empirical evidence (corpus data, questionnaires, psycho- and neurolinguistic experiments, crosslinguistic and diachronic studies) to contribute towards a theory of the construction of meaning.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Completed projects

• A01 - Combinatory Meaning Variation at the Semantics-Pragmatics Interface (Project Head Maienborn, Claudia )
• A02 - Interpretability in Context (Project Heads Bauer, Matthias ;  Beck, Sigrid )
• A03 - Corpus-Based Semantic Composition Models for Phrases (Project Heads Hinrichs, Erhard W. ;  de Kok, Daniel )
• A04 - Comparing Meaning in Context (Project Head Meurers, Detmar )
• A05 - Meaning Constitution with Non-Finite Verb Forms: Variable Assignment and Meaning Enrichment with Non-Finite Constructions and Other Embedded Structures (Project Head Rapp, Irene )
• A07 - Focus and Extraction in Complex Constructions and Islands (Project Heads Hartmann, Jutta M. ;  Winkler, Susanne )
• B01 - Incrementality in Semantic Processing (Project Heads Bott, Oliver ;  Hohaus, Vera ;  Sternefeld, Wolfgang ;  Stolterfoht, Britta ;  Ulrich, Rolf )
• B02 - Time Course of Presupposition Processing (Project Heads Bott, Oliver ;  Franke, Michael ;  Janczyk, Markus ;  Jäger, Gerhard ;  Rolke, Bettina )
• B04 - The Experiential-Simulation View of Comprehension: How is Sentence Meaning composed? (Project Heads Kaup, Barbara ;  Leuthold, Hartmut )
• B05 - The Syntax and Semantics of Reorganized Language and its Neuronal Architecture (Project Heads Krägeloh-Mann, Ingeborg ;  Lidzba, Karen ;  Winkler, Susanne )
• B07 - Language Processing and Temporal Cognition (Project Heads Maienborn, Claudia ;  Ulrich, Rolf )
• B08 - Position and Interpretation: Syntactic, Semantic and Information-Structural Constraints in Processing Adjuncts (Project Head Stolterfoht, Britta )
• B09 - Getting a Grip on Non-Literal Meaning: The Dynamics of Understanding Idiomatic Expressions in Language Learners (Project Heads Friedrich, Claudia ;  Weber, Andrea )
• C01 - Variation in the Interpretation Component of the Grammar (Project Head Beck, Sigrid )
• C02 - Verbal Aspect in Context: Contextual Dynamization vs. Grammar (Project Head Berger, Tilman )
• C03 - The Variation and Dynamics of Nominal Determination (Project Head Kabatek, Johannes )
• C04 - Phenomena of Ambiguity in Diachrony and in Typological Comparison: Existence and Location (Project Heads Dessì Schmid, Sarah ;  Jäger, Gerhard ;  Koch, Peter ;  Winter-Froemel, Esme )
• C06 - The Expression of Extrapropositional Meaning: Synchrony and Diachrony (Project Heads Axel-Tober, Katrin ;  Featherston, Samuel )
• C07 - Verbal and Nominal Aspectuality between Lexicon and Grammar (Project Heads Dessì Schmid, Sarah ;  Mihatsch, Wiltrud )
• INF - Heterogenous Primary Research Data of the SFB 833 – Representation and Processing (Project Head Hinrichs, Erhard W. )
• T01 - Developing an interactive workbook for English foreign language teaching: Integrating state-of-the-art form and meaning assessment from computational linguistics into a current workbook for the Gymnasium (Project Head Meurers, Detmar )
• Z01 - Central Administration (Project Head Beck, Sigrid )
• Z02 - Central Support on Experimentation and IT Maintenance (Project Heads Beck, Sigrid ;  Kaup, Barbara )

• Applicant Institution: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Sigrid Beck