TY - GEN ID - cogprints1602 UR - http://cogprints.org/1602/ A1 - Harnad, Stevan Y1 - 1996/// N2 - It is hypothesized that words originated as the names of perceptual categories and that two forms of representation underlying perceptual categorization -- iconic and categorical representations -- served to ground a third, symbolic, form of representation. The third form of representation made it possible to name and describe our environment, chiefly in terms of categories, their memberships, and their invariant features. Symbolic representations can be shared because they are intertranslatable. Both categorization and translation are approximate rather than exact, but the approximation can be made as close as we wish. This is the central property of that universal mechanism for sharing descriptions that we call natural language. PB - NJ:Erlbaum KW - word origins KW - symbolic representation KW - symbol grounding KW - meaning KW - underdetermination KW - translation TI - The Origin of Words: A Psychophysical Hypothesis SP - 27 AV - public EP - 44 ER -