An Underspecified Segmented Discourse Representation Theory (USDRT)

Introduction A theory of discourse interpretation has to deal with a set of problems including anaphora resolution and the hierarchical ordering of discourse structure: (1) Several students organised a dinner party for Peter. Some students wrote fancy invitation cards. Some other students bought exotic food. But Peter didn't like it. There are two conceivable readings for (1). Either (a) it refers to the party or (b) Peter only disliked the food. Discourse grammars like Segmented Discourse Representation Theory (SDRT) offer an explanation for this phenomenon. SDRT -- an extension ofDRT (Kamp and Reyle, 1993) -- describes a complex propositional structure of Discourse Rep- resentation Structures (DRSs) connected via dis- course relations. The hierarchical ordering imposed by relations like narration or elaboration can be used to make predictions about possible attachment sites within the already processed discourse as well as suitable antecedents of anaphora. The next section disc

Swahili conditional constructions in embodied Frames of Reference: Modeling semantics, pragmatics, and context-sensitivity in UML mental spaces

Studies of several languages, including Swahili [swa], suggest that realis (actual, realizable) and irrealis (unlikely, counterfactual) meanings vary along a scale (e.g., 0.0–1.0). T-values (True, False) and P-values (probability) account for this pattern. However, logic cannot describe or explain (a) epistemic stances toward beliefs, (b) deontic and dynamic stances toward states-of-being and actions, and (c) context-sensitivity in conditional interpretations. (a)–(b) are deictic properties (positions, distance) of ‘embodied’ Frames of Reference (FoRs)—space-time loci in which agents perceive and from which they contextually act (Rohrer 2007a, b). I argue that the embodied FoR describes and explains (a)–(c) better than T-values and P-values alone. In this cognitive-functional-descriptive study, I represent these embodied FoRs using Unified Modeling Language (UML) mental spaces in analyzing Swahili conditional constructions to show how necessary, sufficient, and contributing conditions obtain on the embodied FoR networks level

Swahili conditional constructions in embodied Frames of Reference: Modeling semantics, pragmatics, and context-sensitivity in UML mental spaces

Studies of several languages, including Swahili [swa], suggest that realis (actual, realizable) and irrealis (unlikely, counterfactual) meanings vary along a scale (e.g., 0.0–1.0). T-values (True, False) and P-values (probability) account for this pattern. However, logic cannot describe or explain (a) epistemic stances toward beliefs, (b) deontic and dynamic stances toward states-of-being and actions, and (c) context-sensitivity in conditional interpretations. (a)–(b) are deictic properties (positions, distance) of ‘embodied’ Frames of Reference (FoRs)—space-time loci in which agents perceive and from which they contextually act (Rohrer 2007a, b). I argue that the embodied FoR describes and explains (a)–(c) better than T-values and P-values alone. In this cognitive-functional-descriptive study, I represent these embodied FoRs using Unified Modeling LanguageTM (UML) mental spaces in analyzing Swahili conditional constructions to show how necessary, sufficient, and contributing conditions obtain on the embodied FoR networks level.Swahili, conditional constructions, UML, mental spaces, Frames of Reference, epistemic stance, deontic stance, dynamic stance, context-sensitivity, non-monotonic logi