Subjectivity-based adjective ordering maximizes communicative success

Abstract

Adjective ordering preferences (e.g., big brown bag vs. brown big bag) are robustly attested in English and many unrelated languages (Dixon, 1982). Scontras, Degen, and Goodman (2017) showed that adjective subjectivity is a robust predictor of ordering preferences in English: less subjective adjectives are preferred closer to the modified noun. In a follow-up to this empirical finding, Simonič (2018) and Scontras, Degen, and Goodman (to appear) claim that pressures from successful reference resolution and the hierarchical structure of modification explain subjectivity-based ordering preferences. We provide further support for this claim using large-scale simulations of reference scenarios, together with an empirically-motivated adjective semantics. In the vast majority of cases, subjectivity-based adjective orderings yield a higher probability of successful reference resolution. © Cognitive Science Society: Creativity Cognition Computation, CogSci 2019.All rights reserved.