| This page is part of the ongoing |
| Project Categorization |
| Aristotelian category |
| Categorization |
| Category |
| Category boundaries |
| Fuzziness |
| Vagueness |
| Levels of categorization |
| Basic level |
| Category-wide attribute |
| Collective function |
| Subordinate level |
| Superordinate level |
| Parasitic categorization |
| Prototype category |
| Bad member |
| Degree of membership |
| Extension |
| Flexible adaptability |
| Goodness of exemplar |
| Good member |
| Informational density |
| Inheritance |
| Radial structure |
| Structural stability |
| Taxonomy |
| Class inclusion |
| Degree of generality |
| Expert taxonomy |
| Folk taxonomy |
| Multiple parenting |
| Scientific taxonomy |
A superordinate level category is a category placed at the top of a folk taxonomy and thus displays a low degree of class inclusion and a high degree of generality. They include basic level categories.
i) Superordinate categories are less good than basic level categories because within-category resemblance is relatively low
ii) Superordinate categories have fewer defining attributes than basic level categories
iii) Immediate superordinates of basic level categories often have a single-attribute realtion to a higher superordinate category
iv) Linguistically, lexical superordinates are often mass nouns while basic level terms are count nouns
Category-wide attributes[]
A superordinate level category provides only very few and very general defining category-wide attributes. For instance, the defining category-wide attribute of the superordinate level category FURNITURE is LARGE MOVABLE OBJECT THAT MAKES A ROOM SUITABLE FOR LIVING, while that of VEHICLE is USED IN ORDER TO TRANSPORT PEOPLE AND OBJECTS.
The category-wide attributes are essential to human cognition, as they highlight the most functionally salient features of basic level categories. For instance, one of the most essential defining features of a CAR is that it is used for the transporation of personnel and objects, which is inherited from the category-wide feature of VEHICLE. In that sense, category-wide attributes constitute the cognitively economic collecting function of enabling humans to collect large quantities of related information under one label.
Parasitic categorization[]
Superordinate categories do cover enough properties to provide a common gestalt. However, they may be assigned one through parasitic categorization. This implies that the gestalt of a basic level category is borrowed by the superordinate category.
Superordinate categories in language[]
In English and other languages the labels for superordinate categories are often, but far from always, mass nouns like FURNITURE.
Bibliography[]
- Ungerer, Friedrich & Hans-Jörg Schmid (1996). An Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics. London: Longman.