153,428 research outputs found
The myth of occurrence-based semantics
The principle of compositionality requires that the meaning of a complex expression remains the same after substitution of synonymous expressions. Alleged counterexamples to compositionality seem to force a theoretical choice: either apparent synonyms are not synonyms or synonyms do not syntactically occur where they appear to occur. Some theorists have instead looked to Fregeās doctrine of āreference shiftā according to which the meaning of an expression is sensitive to its linguistic context. This doctrine is alleged to retain the relevant claims about synonymy and substitution while respecting the compositionality principle. Thus, Salmon :415, 2006) and Glanzberg and King :1ā29, 2020) offer occurrence-based accounts of variable binding, and Pagin and WesterstĆ„hl :381ā415, 2010c) argue that an occurrence-based semantics delivers a compositional account of quotation. Our thesis is this: the occurrence-based strategies resolve the apparent failures of substitutivity in the same general way as the standard expression-based semantics do. So it is a myth that a Frege-inspired occurrence-based semantics affords a genuine alternative strategy
Do You See What I Mean? Visual Resolution of Linguistic Ambiguities
Understanding language goes hand in hand with the ability to integrate
complex contextual information obtained via perception. In this work, we
present a novel task for grounded language understanding: disambiguating a
sentence given a visual scene which depicts one of the possible interpretations
of that sentence. To this end, we introduce a new multimodal corpus containing
ambiguous sentences, representing a wide range of syntactic, semantic and
discourse ambiguities, coupled with videos that visualize the different
interpretations for each sentence. We address this task by extending a vision
model which determines if a sentence is depicted by a video. We demonstrate how
such a model can be adjusted to recognize different interpretations of the same
underlying sentence, allowing to disambiguate sentences in a unified fashion
across the different ambiguity types.Comment: EMNLP 201
Linking objective and subjective modeling in engineering design through arc-elastic dominance
Engineering design in mechanics is a complex activity taking into account both objective modeling processes derived from physical analysis and designersā subjective reasoning. This paper introduces arc-elastic dominance as a suitable concept for ranking design solutions according to a combination of objective and subjective models. Objective models lead to the aggregation of information derived from physics, economics or eco-environmental analysis into a performance indicator. Subjective models result in a confidence indicator for the solutionsā feasibility. Arc-elastic dominant design solutions achieve an optimal compromise between gain in performance and degradation in confidence. Due to the definition of arc-elasticity, this compromise value is expressive and easy for designers to interpret despite the difference in the nature of the objective and subjective models. From the investigation of arc-elasticity mathematical properties, a filtering algorithm of Pareto-efficient solutions is proposed and illustrated through a design knowledge modeling framework. This framework notably takes into account Harringtonās desirability functions and Derringerās aggregation method. It is carried out through the re-design of a geothermal air conditioning system
Computational Sociolinguistics: A Survey
Language is a social phenomenon and variation is inherent to its social
nature. Recently, there has been a surge of interest within the computational
linguistics (CL) community in the social dimension of language. In this article
we present a survey of the emerging field of "Computational Sociolinguistics"
that reflects this increased interest. We aim to provide a comprehensive
overview of CL research on sociolinguistic themes, featuring topics such as the
relation between language and social identity, language use in social
interaction and multilingual communication. Moreover, we demonstrate the
potential for synergy between the research communities involved, by showing how
the large-scale data-driven methods that are widely used in CL can complement
existing sociolinguistic studies, and how sociolinguistics can inform and
challenge the methods and assumptions employed in CL studies. We hope to convey
the possible benefits of a closer collaboration between the two communities and
conclude with a discussion of open challenges.Comment: To appear in Computational Linguistics. Accepted for publication:
18th February, 201
On Descriptive Complexity, Language Complexity, and GB
We introduce , a monadic second-order language for reasoning about
trees which characterizes the strongly Context-Free Languages in the sense that
a set of finite trees is definable in iff it is (modulo a
projection) a Local Set---the set of derivation trees generated by a CFG. This
provides a flexible approach to establishing language-theoretic complexity
results for formalisms that are based on systems of well-formedness constraints
on trees. We demonstrate this technique by sketching two such results for
Government and Binding Theory. First, we show that {\em free-indexation\/}, the
mechanism assumed to mediate a variety of agreement and binding relationships
in GB, is not definable in and therefore not enforcible by CFGs.
Second, we show how, in spite of this limitation, a reasonably complete GB
account of English can be defined in . Consequently, the language
licensed by that account is strongly context-free. We illustrate some of the
issues involved in establishing this result by looking at the definition, in
, of chains. The limitations of this definition provide some insight
into the types of natural linguistic principles that correspond to higher
levels of language complexity. We close with some speculation on the possible
significance of these results for generative linguistics.Comment: To appear in Specifying Syntactic Structures, papers from the Logic,
Structures, and Syntax workshop, Amsterdam, Sept. 1994. LaTeX source with
nine included postscript figure
Deconstructing comprehensibility: identifying the linguistic influences on listeners' L2 comprehensibility ratings
Comprehensibility, a major concept in second language (L2) pronunciation research that denotes listenersā perceptions of how easily they understand L2 speech, is central to interlocutorsā communicative success in real-world contexts. Although comprehensibility has been modeled in several L2 oral proficiency scalesāfor example, the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS)āshortcomings of existing scales (e.g., vague descriptors) reflect limited empirical evidence as to which linguistic aspects influence listenersā judgments of L2 comprehensibility at different ability levels. To address this gap, a mixed-methods approach was used in the present study to gain a deeper understanding of the linguistic aspects underlying listenersā L2 comprehensibility ratings. First, speech samples of 40 native French learners of English were analyzed using 19 quantitative speech measures, including segmental, suprasegmental, fluency, lexical, grammatical, and discourse-level variables. These measures were then correlated with 60 native English listenersā scalar judgments of the speakersā comprehensibility. Next, three English as a second language (ESL) teachers provided introspective reports on the linguistic aspects of speech that they attended to when judging L2 comprehensibility. Following data triangulation, five speech measures were identified that clearly distinguished between L2 learners at different comprehensibility levels. Lexical richness and fluency measures differentiated between low-level learners; grammatical and discourse-level measures differentiated between high-level learners; and word stress errors discriminated between learners of all levels
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