Exploring the Representation of Causality Across Languages: Integrating Production, Comprehension and Conceptualization Perspectives

We present three new studies into the representation of causality across languages and cultures, drawing on preliminary findings of the project Causality Across Languages (CAL; NSF Award BCS-1535846 and BCS-1644657). The first is an examination of the strategies that speakers of different languages employ when verbalizing causal chains in narratives. These strategies comprise the output of decisions concerning which subevents to represent specifically, which to represent in an underspecified manner, and which to leave to nonmonotonic inferences such as conversational implicatures. The second study targets the semantic typology of causative constructions. We implemented a multiphasic design protocol that combines the collection of production data with that of comprehension data from a larger number of speakers. Goodness-of-fit judgments were collected based on an eight-point scale. We found a strong main effect of language and of domain of causation (physical vs. psychological vs. speech act causation); in contrast, the involvement of an intermediate event participant in the causal chain did not exert a significant effect. The third study investigates whether culture modulates the effect of intentionality on nonverbal attributions of responsibility. A linear mixed effects regression model indicated a significant interaction between intentionality and population, in line with previous findings by social psychologists. These studies represent the first large-scale comparison of how speakers of different languages categorize causal chains for the purposes of describing them.