Machine learning reveals role of culture in shaping meanings of words
Monday, August 17, 2020 - 08:31
in Psychology & Sociology
What do we mean by the word beautiful? It depends not only on whom you ask, but in what language you ask them. According to a machine learning analysis of dozens of languages conducted at Princeton University, the meaning of words does not necessarily refer to an intrinsic, essential constant. Instead, it is significantly shaped by culture, history and geography. This finding held true even for some concepts that would seem to be universal, such as emotions, landscape features and body parts.