Constructing concepts and word meanings: the role of context and memory traces

The main aim of this thesis is to develop a new account of concepts and word meaning which provides a fully adequate basis for inferential accounts of linguistic communication, while both respecting philosophical insights into the nature of concepts and cohering with empirical findings in psychology on memory processes. In accord with the ‘action’ tradition in linguistic theorising, I maintain that utterance/speaker meaning is more basic than sentence meaning and that the approach to word meaning that naturally follows from this is ‘contextualism’. Contextualism challenges two assumptions of the traditional ‘minimalist’ approach to semantics: (i) that semantics (rather than pragmatics) is the appropriate locus of propositional content (hence truth-conditions); and, (ii) that words contribute stable, context-independent meanings to the sentences in which they appear. I set out two stages in the development of an adequate contextualist account of utterance content. The first provides an essential reformulation of the early insights of Paul Grice by demonstrating the unavoidability of pragmatic contributions to truth-conditional content. The second argues that the ubiquity of context-dependence justifies a radically different view of word meaning from that employed in all current pragmatic theorising, including relevance theory: rather than words expressing concepts or encoding stable meanings of any sort, both concepts and word meanings are constructed ad hoc in the process of on-line communication/interpretation, that is, in their situations of use. Finally, I show how my account of word meaning is supported by recent research in psychology: context-dependence is also rampant in category and concept formation, and multiple-trace memory models show how information distributed in memory across a multitude of previous occasions of language use can come together to build an occasion-specific word meaning, thereby bypassing the need for fixed word meanings

Automatic extraction of definitions

Tese de doutoramento, Informática (Engenharia Informática), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, 2014This doctoral research work provides a set of methods and heuristics for building a definition extractor or for fine-tuning an existing one. In order to develop and test the architecture, a generic definitions extractor for the Portuguese language is built. Furthermore, the methods were tested in the construction of an extractor for two languages different from Portuguese, which are English and, less extensively, Dutch. The approach presented in this work makes the proposed extractor completely different in nature in comparison to the other works in the field. It is a matter of fact that most systems that automatically extract definitions have been constructed taking into account a specific corpus on a specific topic, and are based on the manual construction of a set of rules or patterns capable of identifyinf a definition in a text. This research focused on three types of definitions, characterized by the connector between the defined term and its description. The strategy adopted can be seen as a "divide and conquer"approach. Differently from the other works representing the state of the art, specific heuristics were developed in order to deal with different types of definitions, namely copula, verbal and punctuation definitions. We used different methodology for each type of definition, namely we propose to use rule-based methods to extract punctuation definitions, machine learning with sampling algorithms for copula definitions, and machine learning with a method to increase the number of positive examples for verbal definitions. This architecture is justified by the increasing linguistic complexity that characterizes the different types of definitions. Numerous experiments have led to the conclusion that the punctuation definitions are easily described using a set of rules. These rules can be easily adapted to the relevant context and translated into other languages. However, in order to deal with the other two definitions types, the exclusive use of rules is not enough to get good performance and it asks for more advanced methods, in particular a machine learning based approach. Unlike other similar systems, which were built having in mind a specific corpus or a specific domain, the one reported here is meant to obtain good results regardless the domain or context. All the decisions made in the construction of the definition extractor take into consideration this central objective.Este trabalho de doutoramento visa proporcionar um conjunto de métodos e heurísticas para a construção de um extractor de definição ou para melhorar o desempenho de um sistema já existente, quando usado com um corpus específico. A fim de desenvolver e testar a arquitectura, um extractor de definic˛ões genérico para a língua Portuguesa foi construído. Além disso, os métodos foram testados na construção de um extractor para um idioma diferente do Português, nomeadamente Inglês, algumas heurísticas também foram testadas com uma terceira língua, ou seja o Holandês. A abordagem apresentada neste trabalho torna o extractor proposto neste trabalho completamente diferente em comparação com os outros trabalhos na área. É um fato que a maioria dos sistemas de extracção automática de definicões foram construídos tendo em conta um corpus específico com um tema bem determinado e são baseados na construc˛ão manual de um conjunto de regras ou padrões capazes de identificar uma definição num texto dum domínio específico. Esta pesquisa centrou-se em três tipos de definições, caracterizadas pela ligacão entre o termo definido e a sua descrição. A estratégia adoptada pode ser vista como uma abordagem "dividir para conquistar". Diferentemente de outras pesquisa nesta área, foram desenvolvidas heurísticas específicas a fim de lidar com as diferentes tipologias de definições, ou seja, cópula, verbais e definicões de pontuação. No presente trabalho propõe-se utilizar uma metodologia diferente para cada tipo de definição, ou seja, propomos a utilização de métodos baseados em regras para extrair as definições de pontuação, aprendizagem automática, com algoritmos de amostragem para definições cópula e aprendizagem automática com um método para aumentar automáticamente o número de exemplos positivos para a definição verbal. Esta arquitetura é justificada pela complexidade linguística crescente que caracteriza os diferentes tipos de definições. Numerosas experiências levaram à conclusão de que as definições de pontuação são facilmente descritas utilizando um conjunto de regras. Essas regras podem ser facilmente adaptadas ao contexto relevante e traduzido para outras línguas. No entanto, a fim de lidar com os outros dois tipos de definições, o uso exclusivo de regras não é suficiente para obter um bom desempenho e é preciso usar métodos mais avançados, em particular aqueles baseados em aprendizado de máquina. Ao contrário de outros sistemas semelhantes, que foram construídos tendo em mente um corpus ou um domínio específico, o sistema aqui apresentado foi desenvolvido de maneira a obter bons resultados, independentemente do domínio ou da língua. Todas as decisões tomadas na construção do extractor de definição tiveram em consideração este objectivo central.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, SFRH/ BD/36732/2007

WiFi-Based Human Activity Recognition Using Attention-Based BiLSTM

Recently, significant efforts have been made to explore human activity recognition (HAR) techniques that use information gathered by existing indoor wireless infrastructures through WiFi signals without demanding the monitored subject to carry a dedicated device. The key intuition is that different activities introduce different multi-paths in WiFi signals and generate different patterns in the time series of channel state information (CSI). In this paper, we propose and evaluate a full pipeline for a CSI-based human activity recognition framework for 12 activities in three different spatial environments using two deep learning models: ABiLSTM and CNN-ABiLSTM. Evaluation experiments have demonstrated that the proposed models outperform state-of-the-art models. Also, the experiments show that the proposed models can be applied to other environments with different configurations, albeit with some caveats. The proposed ABiLSTM model achieves an overall accuracy of 94.03%, 91.96%, and 92.59% across the 3 target environments. While the proposed CNN-ABiLSTM model reaches an accuracy of 98.54%, 94.25% and 95.09% across those same environments

Towards a linguistic worldview for artificial languages

Wydział NeofilologiiCelem rozprawy była ocena możliwości zastosowania teorii oraz badań empirycznych formułowanych w ramach metodologii tzw. Lubelskiej Szkoły Etnolingwistycznej do lingwistycznej analizy języków sztucznych oraz zaprezentowanie ograniczeń wynikających z takiego podejścia. W części końcowej rozprawy zostały sformułowane następujące wnioski z badań: 1. Języki sztuczne nie stanowią jednolitej grupy, a ich różnorodne cechy wymuszają różne perspektywy przy próbie zastosowania paradygmatu lubelskiego. 2. Obalony został binarny podział na języki sztuczne i naturalne; zaproponowana została skala naturalności/sztuczności. 3. Językiem, który może w ramach Lubelskiej Szkoły Etnolingwistycznej być traktowany jako naturalny jest bez wątpienia esperanto. 4. Wszelkie badania języków sztucznych w ramach paradygmatu lubelskiego wymagają uwzględnienia transferu z innych języków znanych respondentom a także wpływów kulturowych. Wykazano również istnienie JOS typowego dla esperanta i konsekwentnie prezentowanego w następujących obszarach: • koncepty kulturowe związane z Ruchem; • stereotyp esperantysty.The main objective of the present dissertation was to evaluate the applicability of the theory and practice developed within the methodological framework of the so-called Ethnolinguistic School of Lublin to the linguistic analysis of artificial languages and to present the limitations of such an approach. The following research conclusions were formulated: 1. Artificial languages are not a homogeneous group, and their various characteristics necessitate different perspectives in the application of the Lublin paradigm. 2. The binary division between artificial and natural languages is disproved; a scale of naturalness/artificiality is proposed. 3. The language which may be treated as natural within the Ethnolinguistic School of Lublin is undoubtedly Esperanto. 4. Any study of artificial languages within this paradigm needs to take into account a transfer from other languages known to the respondents as well as cultural influences. The existence of a linguistic worldview typical of Esperanto and presented consistently in the following areas was proved: • cultural concepts related to the Movement • stereotype of an Esperantis

Inventing languages, inventing worlds. Towards a linguistic worldview for artificial languages

The present book evaluates the applicability of the linguistic worldview framework to the analysis of artificial languages and presents the limitations of such an approach. The following research conclusions were formulated: 1. Artificial languages are not a homogeneous group, and their various characteristics necessitate different perspectives in the application of the framework. 2. The binary division between artificial and natural languages is disproved; a scale of naturalness/artificiality is proposed. 3. The language which may be treated as natural is undoubtedly Esperanto. 4. Any study of artificial languages within this framework needs to take into account transfer from other languages known to the respondents as well as cultural influences. The existence of a linguistic worldview typical of Esperanto and presented consistently in the following areas was proved: cultural concepts related to the Movement and stereotype of an Esperantist

Mapping Acoustic and Semantic Dimensions of Auditory Perception

Auditory categorisation is a function of sensory perception which allows humans to generalise across many different sounds present in the environment and classify them into behaviourally relevant categories. These categories cover not only the variance of acoustic properties of the signal but also a wide variety of sound sources. However, it is unclear to what extent the acoustic structure of sound is associated with, and conveys, different facets of semantic category information. Whether people use such data and what drives their decisions when both acoustic and semantic information about the sound is available, also remains unknown. To answer these questions, we used the existing methods broadly practised in linguistics, acoustics and cognitive science, and bridged these domains by delineating their shared space. Firstly, we took a model-free exploratory approach to examine the underlying structure and inherent patterns in our dataset. To this end, we ran principal components, clustering and multidimensional scaling analyses. At the same time, we drew sound labels’ semantic space topography based on corpus-based word embeddings vectors. We then built an LDA model predicting class membership and compared the model-free approach and model predictions with the actual taxonomy. Finally, by conducting a series of web-based behavioural experiments, we investigated whether acoustic and semantic topographies relate to perceptual judgements. This analysis pipeline showed that natural sound categories could be successfully predicted based on the acoustic information alone and that perception of natural sound categories has some acoustic grounding. Results from our studies help to recognise the role of physical sound characteristics and their meaning in the process of sound perception and give an invaluable insight into the mechanisms governing the machine-based and human classifications

The puzzle of (un)countability in English : a study in cognitive grammar

Monografia poświęcona jest zagadnieniu policzalności i niepoliczalności rzeczownika w języku angielskim. Przyjmując punkt widzenia jednej z teorii językoznawstwa kognitywnego – Gramatyki Kognitywnej Ronalda Langackera – praca stawia sobie dwa cele. Po pierwsze, weryfikuje jedno z twierdzeń tej teorii, iż prawdopodobnie każdy rzeczownik może wystąpić zarówno w formie policzalnej, jak i niepoliczalnej. Po drugie, wskazuje regularności zmian tych własności gramatycznych rzeczownika. Książka składa się z dwóch rozdziałów. W pierwszym z nich autor dokonuje przeglądu literatury poświęconej zagadnieniu policzalności i niepoliczalności i przedstawia najważniejsze osiągnięcia wypracowane w ramach różnych podejść: logicznego, morfologicznego, syntaktycznego, semantycznego oraz pragmatycznego. Zarysowano tu również główne założenia oraz aparat terminologiczny Gramatyki Kognitywnej, która stanowi bazę teoretyczną dla przeprowadzonej w drugiej części monografii analizy. Rozdział kończy zestawienie wybranych założeń Gramatyki Kognitywnej z postulatami poszczególnych podejść. Rozdział drugi to część badawcza, której trzon stanowi analiza 30 rzeczowników klasyfikowanych w słownikach języka angielskiego jako policzalne oraz 30 rzeczowników typowo niepoliczalnych. Badanie dotyczy użyć tych rzeczowników w kontekstach, w których przejawiają one odwrotną własność gramatyczną. Analizę przeprowadzono na podstawie autentycznego materiału językowego obejmującego ponad 1700 wypowiedzi rodzimych użytkowników języka angielskiego. W ramach analizy opisano szereg ekstensji semantycznych, głównie metonimicznych, towarzyszących omawianym tu zmianom gramatycznym. Na wyższym poziomie abstrakcji ekstensje te ujęte zostały w formie schematów rozszerzenia semantycznego. W podsumowaniu autor ocenia wiarygodność twierdzenia dotyczącego możliwości użycia każdego rzeczownika zarówno w formie policzalnej, jak i niepoliczalnej oraz przedstawia zestaw regularności dotyczących zmian tych własności gramatycznych rzeczownika. Poza odniesieniem się do dwóch głównych celów monografii, autor wskazuje również inne zjawiska językowe związane z omawianą zmianą własności gramatycznych rzeczownika, takie jak elipsa czy łańcuchy punktów odniesienia

Making music through real-time voice timbre analysis: machine learning and timbral control

PhDPeople can achieve rich musical expression through vocal sound { see for example human beatboxing, which achieves a wide timbral variety through a range of extended techniques. Yet the vocal modality is under-exploited as a controller for music systems. If we can analyse a vocal performance suitably in real time, then this information could be used to create voice-based interfaces with the potential for intuitive and ful lling levels of expressive control. Conversely, many modern techniques for music synthesis do not imply any particular interface. Should a given parameter be controlled via a MIDI keyboard, or a slider/fader, or a rotary dial? Automatic vocal analysis could provide a fruitful basis for expressive interfaces to such electronic musical instruments. The principal questions in applying vocal-based control are how to extract musically meaningful information from the voice signal in real time, and how to convert that information suitably into control data. In this thesis we address these questions, with a focus on timbral control, and in particular we develop approaches that can be used with a wide variety of musical instruments by applying machine learning techniques to automatically derive the mappings between expressive audio input and control output. The vocal audio signal is construed to include a broad range of expression, in particular encompassing the extended techniques used in human beatboxing. The central contribution of this work is the application of supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques to automatically map vocal timbre to synthesiser timbre and controls. Component contributions include a delayed decision-making strategy for low-latency sound classi cation, a regression-tree method to learn associations between regions of two unlabelled datasets, a fast estimator of multidimensional di erential entropy and a qualitative method for evaluating musical interfaces based on discourse analysis