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How the brain (re)creates language: Interdisciplinary research project at the KU

[Translate to Englisch:] Sprachliche Kreativität
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What happens in the human brain when language is used in a creative way? Two researchers at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt want to find out with the help of cognitive linguistics and neurocognitive psychology. The linguist Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann and the psychologist Prof. Dr. Marco Steinhauser want to develop a model that can not only retrospectively explain the processes of language comprehension and production, but also actively predict them. The research project, which is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, has the potential to significantly deepen our understanding of human creativity.

Linguistic creativity has many facets and is an expression of the human ability to play with words, create something new and vary forms of expression. One example is the creation of new words by merging existing terms into a new one or creating new "blend words" by merging word components. "Britain" and "exit" thus become "Brexit" – a neologism that describes the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the EU. Or the "Teuro” (blending the German words “teuer” (expensive) and “Euro”) as an expression for price increases after the introduction of the euro. Other creative forms of language include alliteration - the repetition of initial letters in consecutive words - or the use of words in a new context by borrowing terms or phrases from their original context and using them in a completely new sense. But how are such neologisms created? What happens when linguistic routines are extended depending on the situation?

 

"Using linguistic creativity, we can create new communicative possibilities that go beyond anything we have heard before and say things we have never said before", says Prof. Dr. Thomas Hoffmann. The holder of the Chair of English Linguistics at the KU has long been working on cognitive approaches to language variation. His research is based on construction grammar. This theory assumes that our ability to speak is based on a series of constructions. These pairings of form and meaning range from fixed phrases to free sentence components. People familiarize themselves with these constructions not only through frequent repetition, but also through cognitive processes such as analogy formation and the recognition of patterns. "Previous models explain practically all linguistic phenomena, how people learn language and use it in a creative way – but only retrospectively", says Hoffmann. His aim is to develop an innovative neurocognitive language model that enables predictions to be made which can then be investigated in empirical studies.

[Translate to Englisch:] Thomas Hoffmann (li.) und Marco Steinhauser
© Christian Klenk

"Predictive Construction Grammar: Development of a neurocognitive model of linguistic creativity" – this is the title of the research project that Hoffmann is conducting together with psychologist Prof. Dr. Marco Steinhauser, holder of the Chair of General Psychology at the KU. The two researchers are both members to the KU Research Training Group "Natural Sciences – Human and Nature". The focus of the research training group is on interdisciplinary fundamental research in the scientific and experimental fields at the KU – the collaboration between psychology and linguistics is a good example of the interdisciplinary approach to research questions. The Volkswagen Foundation has provided 275,000 euros for Hoffmann and Steinhauser's project. The title of the funding program is "Open up – New Research Spaces for the Humanities and ‑ Cultural Studies". According to the Volkswagen Foundation, it supports projects "that not only offer new perspectives on already known research subjects, but also explore completely new research areas and topics".

Hoffmann and Steinhauser have set themselves the goal of combining existing models and theories from cognitive linguistics, cognitive psychology and cognitive neurosciences with a focus on verbal creativity, i.e. the ability to use language in innovative ways. By carrying out experiments, the two researchers want to understand which cognitive and neurological processes support us in inventing new expressions or using existing ones in a new context. "Creativity research has been around in psychology since the middle of last century", says Steinhauser. "What is new is linking these with language using neuroscientific theories."

In an initial empirical study, study participants were presented with so-called memes as stimulus material, explains Steinhauser. Memes are humorous, ironic or critical image or text messages that spread on social media and via the internet, often modified and reused in new contexts to comment on events or phenomena. Using EEG measurements, in which electrical currents are recorded in certain regions of the brain, the aim is to evaluate the activities of the brain during  reception of such new linguistic creations. Later, the participants were encouraged to become linguistically creative themselves. Here as well, the researchers were focusing on neurocognitive processes, such as the evaluation of novelty and appropriateness or learning from feedback that underpins the creative use of language.

How creative a person is linguistically also depends on intelligence and vocabulary, or whether someone regularly uses language professionally – for example, people who work in advertising or as writers, journalists or artists. The composition of the sample studied is therefore important, says Steinhauser. As the project investigates linguistic creativity using the example of the English language, online studies with native speakers are planned, as is the involvement of students who are studying English and educational psychology in combination. Hoffmann and Steinhauser both emphasize the explorative approach of their project. They therefore want to involve other researchers in their project as part of an interdisciplinary workshop, including colleagues from fields such as literary studies, linguistics, psychology and sociology.

With their research project, Thomas Hoffmann and Marco Steinhauser want to expand the boundaries of their respective specialist areas. "If we are successful, this will open up a completely new field for interdisciplinary cognitive-linguistic and neurocognitive research that will significantly expand our understanding of linguistic creativity."

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