Lotte Hogeweg


Junior Researcher
Radboud University Nijmegen

Adress: Department of Linguistics
University of Nijmegen
P.O. Box 9103
6500 HD Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Telephone number: 0031 (0)24-3612918
Email: l.hogeweg@let.ru.nl

   Interests


Since January 2006 I have been working as a PhD-student at the Radboud University Nijmegen, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Helen de Hoop. The topic of my dissertation is the interpretation, production and acquisition of words. In my dissertation I argue that there is not a one-on-one relation between words and their meanings but that relations between words and meanings are determined by processes of optimization. A speaker chooses a word that best fits the intended meaning and a hearer chooses an interpretation that fits the semantics related to the form and the particular context in which it is used. In my dissertation I investigate the semantics and the interpretation of the Dutch discourse particle wel. I analyze its semantics in the framework of Discourse Representation Theory and I model the interpretation of wel in Optimality Theory. Another aspect of my dissertation deals with the acquisition of word meaning. By showing data from the CHILDES database, I argue that the same two constraints that guide the interpretation of wel are active during the acquisition of this particle. When two words express the same meaning we call them synonyms. It has been argued that true synonyms within a language don’t exist. Bilingual people on the other hand in principle have two forms for every meaning. Part of my dissertation therefore focuses on the processes that play a role in the choice for one of the two forms. I model my findings in the framework of Optimality Theory and Harmonic Grammar. For this purpose I spent the fall semester of 2007 at the Department of Cognitive Science of the Johns Hopkins University.

 

Linguistic interests: (lexical) semantics and pragmatics, linguistic theories (in particular Optimality Theory), the acquisition of meaning, connectionism, compositionality, language evolution. 

   Presentations and publications



Publications

 

Books

Lotte Hogeweg, Helen de Hoop and Andrej Malchukov (eds.), Cross-linguistics semantics of Tense, Aspect and Modality, Amsterdam, Benjamins, in press.

 

Lotte Hogeweg, Word in Process. On the interpretation, acquisition and production of words, PhD thesis, Radboud University Nijmegen, to appear.

 

Articles in international journals

Lotte Hogeweg, The meaning and interpretation of the Dutch particle wel. In: Journal of Pragmatics, 41:3, 2009, 519-539.

 

Lotte Hogeweg, The Dutch particle wel as a denial of a negation. To appear in: a special issue of International Journal for Language Data Processing.

 

Joost Zwarts, Lotte Hogeweg, Sander Lestrade and Andrej Malchukov, Semantic markedness in gender oppositions, blocking and fossilization. To appear in: a special issue of STUF - Language Typology

and Universals.

 

Articles in refereed books

Lotte Hogeweg, What’s so unreal about the past:  past tense and counterfactuals. To appear in: Anastasios Tsangalidis and Roberta Facchinetti (eds.), Studies on English Modality - in honour of Frank

R. Palmer, Bern, Peter Lang.

 

Lotte Hogeweg, Helen de Hoop and Andrej Malchukov, The semantics of tense, aspect and modality in the languages of the World. In: Lotte Hogeweg, Helen de Hoop and Andrej Malchukov (eds.),

Cross-linguistics semantics of Tense, Aspect and Modality, Amsterdam, Benjamins, in press.

           

Ad Foolen, Richard van Gerrevink, Lotte Hogeweg and Peia Prawiro-Atmodjo, The placement of focus particles in Dutch. To appear in: Linguistics in the Netherlands 2009.

 

Lotte Hogeweg and Helen de Hoop, Children and transitivity: the subject-object asymmetry in a natural setting. To appear in: a volume of collected papers on transitivity, edited by Patrick Brandt and Marco

García, Amsterdam, Benjamins.

 

Submitted articles

Lotte Hogeweg and Richard van Gerrevink, The role of frequency and semantic strength in the acquisition of the Dutch particle wel.

 

Lotte Hogeweg, Optimality Theoretic Lexical Semantics.

 

 

Presentations

 

2009

Word in process, CLS colloquium, Nijmegen, September 24.

 

The acquisition of meaning, Master classes KNAW Academy colloquium Language Acquisition and Optimality Theory, Amsterdam, July 4.

 

The role of the context in interpretation and acquisition, KNAW Academy colloquium Language Acquisition and Optimality Theory, Amsterdam, July 3.

 

Harmonic Grammar versus Optimality Theory in the acquisition of word meaning, Language Acquisition Lab Groningen, Groningen, March 24.

 

Constraint-interactie in acquisitie, Net-symposium, Nijmegen, February 13.

 

Ad Foolen, Richard van Gerrevink, Lotte Hogeweg & Peia Prawiro-Atmodjo, The placement of focus particles in Dutch, Taalkunde in Nederland dag, Utrecht, February 7.

 

Lotte Hogeweg & Helen de Hoop, The acquisition of transitivity: frequency versus the prototype, Taalkunde in Nederland dag, Utrecht, February 7.



2008

Lotte Hogeweg & Helen de Hoop, The acquisition of transitivity: frequency versus the prototype, Workshop Transitivität, Cologne, November 14-15.

 

The role of frequency and semantic strength in the acquisition of the Dutch particle wel, Workshop on formal and experimental approaches to discourse particles and modal adverbs, Hamburg, August 4-8.


Why The cat chases the mouse doesn't mean 'I like the opera'. Second Workshop on OT and Interpretation, Berlin, February 8.

One word insertion of bilinguals and the principle of contrast, Taalkunde in Nederland-dag 2008, Utrecht, February 2.

On the relation between the acquisition of meaning and adult interpretation, mini-workshop on Optimal Communication, Nijmegen, January 22.

The acquisition of polysemous wel: evidence against a frequency based account, LOT Winterschool poster session, Tilburg, January 14.



2007
The acquisition of polysemous wel , poster presentation, HOWL 4, Baltimore, October 13.

Contrastive thoughts (Poster presentation), LOT Summerschool poster session, Leuven, June 11.

Lotte Hogeweg and Richard van Gerrevink, The acquisition of the polysemous particle ‘wel Tabudag 2007 , Groningen, June 8.

What's so unreal about the past, 3rd International Conference on Modality in English , Thessaloniki, May 4-6.

Lotte Hogeweg, Sander Lestrade, Andrej Malchukov and Joost Zwarts, Semantic markedness in gender oppositions,blocking and fossilization, Workshop (Morphological) Blocking and Linguistic Variation, 29. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Sprachwissenschaft, February 28 - March 2.

Linda van Meel and Lotte Hogeweg, Shifting constraints in L2 acquisition,
Taalkunde in Nederland Dag 2007 , Utrecht, 3 February.

Modal functions of discourse markers, Taalkunde in Nederland Dag 2007, Utrecht, 3 February.


2006
What's so unreal about the past? Tam Tam: Cross-linguistic semantics of Tense, Aspect and Modality, Nijmegen, November 15-16. ptt

Taal in Kaart, Louter Letteren, Nijmegen, 25 October, 2006. ppt.

Gender and semantic markedness, Semantics in the Netherlands day , Utrecht, 26 june, 2006.

What's so unreal about the past, Tabudag 2006, Groningen, 2 June, 2006.

Wat wel wel niet betekent,
Taalkunde in Nederland Dag 2006, Utrecht, 4 February, 2006.


2005
On the Dutch particle 'wel' and its contrastive power, Contrast, Information structure and intonation, Stockholm, October 28-30, 2005.

 



   Organizing


With Bert Le Bruyn:
SiN IV: the fourth Semantics in the Netherlands day. June 26, 2006

With Helen de Hoop, Andrej Malchkov and Joost Zwarts:
Tam Tam: Cross-linguistic semantics of Tense, Aspect and Modality. November 15-16, 2006


   Links


Radboud University Nijmegen: Faculteit der Letteren   
Optimal Communication:   Homepage Optimal Communication