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  3. CogLunch: Sihan Chen "Cross-Cultural Structures Of Personal Name Systems Reflect General Communicative Principles"
CogLunch: Sihan Chen "Cross-Cultural Structures Of Personal Name Systems Reflect General Communicative Principles"
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS)

CogLunch: Sihan Chen "Cross-Cultural Structures Of Personal Name Systems Reflect General Communicative Principles"

Add to CalendarAmerica/New_YorkCogLunch: Sihan Chen "Cross-Cultural Structures Of Personal Name Systems Reflect General Communicative Principles"03/05/2024 12:00 pm03/05/2024 1:00 pmBuilding 46,3310
March 5, 2024
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Location
Building 46,3310
    Description

    Speaker: Sihan Chen (PI: Ted Gibson)

    Title: Cross-Cultural Structures Of Personal Name Systems Reflect General Communicative Principles

    Abstract: The structure of personal names differs widely across cultures. We present an information-theoretic analysis of name systems that shows how the scope of this variation is far more constrained than it might appear. The analysis identifies two constraints personal-name codes must satisfy: encoding large numbers of identities; and ensuring these encodings are usable. It reveals how historically, the world’s languages satisfied these constraints using similar, near-optimal name codes that combined of small sets of name-specific words with existing vocabulary items, enabling unlimited numbers of identifiers to be created without concomitant increases in vocabulary sizes, and explains why cross-cultural differences in the repurposing of parts of names into hereditary fixed-patronyms have systematically changed these systems. Finally, it shows how when combined with the different ways legislatures have implemented fixed-patronyms, the failure to understand the information structure of name codes can result in systematic bias against individuals with names from non-Western cultures.

    Location: 46-3310

    Zoom: https://mit.zoom.us/j/3473065359

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