A Transition-Based Directed Acyclic Graph Parser for UCCA

We present the first parser for UCCA, a cross-linguistically applicable framework for semantic representation, which builds on extensive typological work and supports rapid annotation. UCCA poses a challenge for existing parsing techniques, as it exhibits reentrancy (resulting in DAG structures), discontinuous structures and non-terminal nodes corresponding to complex semantic units. To our knowledge, the conjunction of these formal properties is not supported by any existing parser. Our transition-based parser, which uses a novel transition set and features based on bidirectional LSTMs, has value not just for UCCA parsing: its ability to handle more general graph structures can inform the development of parsers for other semantic DAG structures, and in languages that frequently use discontinuous structures.Comment: 16 pages; Accepted as long paper at ACL201

A Grammar for Reproducible and Painless Extract-Transform-Load Operations on Medium Data

Many interesting data sets available on the Internet are of a medium size---too big to fit into a personal computer's memory, but not so large that they won't fit comfortably on its hard disk. In the coming years, data sets of this magnitude will inform vital research in a wide array of application domains. However, due to a variety of constraints they are cumbersome to ingest, wrangle, analyze, and share in a reproducible fashion. These obstructions hamper thorough peer-review and thus disrupt the forward progress of science. We propose a predictable and pipeable framework for R (the state-of-the-art statistical computing environment) that leverages SQL (the venerable database architecture and query language) to make reproducible research on medium data a painless reality.Comment: 30 pages, plus supplementary material

Adaptive music: Automated music composition and distribution

Creativity, or the ability to produce new useful ideas, is commonly associated to the human being; but there are many other examples in nature where this phenomenon can be observed. Inspired by this fact, in engineering, and particularly in computational sciences, many different models have been developed to tackle a number of problems. Music, a form of art broadly present along the human history, is the main field addressed in this thesis, taking advantage of the kind of ideas that bring diversity and creativity to nature and computation. We present Melomics, an algorithmic composition method based on evolutionary search, with a genetic encoding of the solutions, which are interpreted in a complex developmental process that leads to music in the standard formats. This bioinspired compositional system has exhibited a high creative power and versatility to produce music of different type, which in many occasions has proven to be indistinguishable from the music made by human composers. The system also has enabled the emergence of a set of completely novel applications: from effective tools to help anyone to easily obtain the precise music they need, to radically new uses like adaptive music for therapy, amusement or many other purposes. It is clear to us that there is much research work yet to do in this field; and that countless and new unimaginable uses will derive from it

Distributional Tensor Space Model of Natural Language Semantics

We propose a novel Distributional Tensor Space Model of natural language semantics employing 3d order tensors that accounts for order dependent word contexts and assigns to words characteristic matrices such that semantic composition can be realized in a linguistically and cognitively plausible way. The proposed model achieves state-of-the-art results for important tasks of linguistic semantics by using a relatively small text corpus and without any sophisticated preprocessing

Fantasy and functionality : Surveying personal italo disco related musical experience as a metaphoric-affective conceptualization process

In this thesis, I study personal musical experience in the light of so-called embodied cognition. According to this research paradigm, meaning arises from our interaction with the physical world in a process where the human body has a mediating role. The process has been shown to be metaphorical by nature, due to which I base my introspective findings mostly on the conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) of Lakoff & Johnson. Interaction with environment invokes affects, which has consequences in terms of person’s preference for metaphoric content. The goal of my work is to investigate reasons for my penchant for certain kind of music. Addressing this involves scrutinising my own perceptions and feelings when listening to italo disco, thus, music that I like, and supporting the findings with theories and earlier research. Besides CMT and also traditional music analysis, I utilise, for example, the complementary theories of the sonic object and musical gestures in pointing out experiential entities from textural and timbral elements of an italo disco song. The entities (sonic objects) are expected to arise from an affective sensation of motion, a process where conceptual metaphor plays an important role. Therefore, at the second stage of the analysis, I demonstrate metaphors on the grounds of the sonic objects in an attempt of establishing at least a part of my personal “metaphorical repertoire”. Arnie Cox’s mimetic hypothesis and framework for the study of musical affect is applied particularly during the second part of the analysis. The results of the inquiry confirm my hypothesis about the central role of conceptual metaphor in the emergence of (personal) musical experience. The set of metaphors I succeeded to point out suggest that I’m inclined to music that communicates powerful and energetic, thus clearly arousing affects–music that responds to the need of indulging in fantasy.Tutkin työssäni yksilöllistä musiikkikokemusta niin sanotun kehollisen kognition paradigman kautta. Tämän lähestymistavan mukaan merkitykset syntyvät vuorovaikutuksessa fyysisen maailman kanssa. Keholla on tässä prosessissa välittävä rooli. Prosessi on osoittautunut metaforiseksi, minkä vuoksi pohjaan introspektiiviset havaintoni pääasiassa Lakoffin & Johnsonin käsitteelliseen metaforateoriaan. Ympäristön kanssa vuorovaikutuksessa oleminen herättää affekteja, millä on vaikutusta siihen, minkälaisen metaforasisällön henkilö laittaa etusijalle. Työni tavoitteena on tutkia syitä musiikkimieltymyksiini. Metodina käytän omien aistimusteni ja tunteideni tarkkailua kuunnellessani italodiskoa–musiikkia, joka vetoaa minuun. Tuen introspektion tuloksia eri teorioilla sekä aiemmalla tutkimuksella. Käsitteellisen metaforateorian ja esimerkiksi perinteisen musiikkianalyysin lisäksi käytän muun muassa niin sanotun ääniobjektin ja musiikillisten eleiden teorioita pyrkiessäni osoittamaan kokemusperäisiä kokonaisuuksia italodiskokappaleen tekstuurisista ja äänenvärillisistä osatekijöistä. Kokonaisuuksien (ääniobjektien) voidaan olettaa syntyvän affektiivisen liikkeen aistimuksen pohjalta. Tässä prosessissa käsitteellinen metafora on tärkeässä roolissa. Siksi analyysin toisessa vaiheessa osoitan ääniobjekteihin pohjautuvia käsitteellisiä metaforia tarkoituksenani esitellä osa henkilökohtaisesta ”metaforarepertuaaristani”. Arnie Coxin mimeettistä hypoteesia ja musiikillisen affektin viitekehystä sovelletaan varsinkin analyysin toisessa vaiheessa. Tutkimuksen tulokset vahvistavat hypoteesini käsitteellisen metaforan keskeisestä roolista (henkilökohtaisen) musiikkikokemuksen synnyssä. Osoittamani metaforakokoelma viittaa viehtymykseeni voimakkaita ja energisiä, selvästi kiihottavia affekteja viestivää musiikkia kohtaan–musiikkia, joka mahdollistaa heittäytymisen fantasian maailmaan

A multiparameter analysis of a select repertoire of British punk rock of the first wave, 1976-1979

Thesis (M.Mus.)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Since 1979, the year in which British punk came to an end, it has enjoyed prominence in cultural studies, both in the United Kingdom and abroad. The majority of serious academic discourse on punk has dealt almost exclusively with the cultural significance thereof, taking into account its political stance, its fashion sense, its attitude towards class, and its legacy in Britain. Although there is a considerable amount of literature written about punk rock, there have not yet been any publications that deal explicitly with the music itself. Musicology has still not applied itself satisfactorily to popular music. Instead, musicologists use a variety of existing methods to analyse popular music, but with varying degrees of success. It is important to have an applicable analytical method, but the analyst must know where to find meaning in popular music first. In this thesis I attempt to find the loci of meaning in punk rock in order to demonstrate the musical significance of this extraordinary music. The study begins with an analysis of political and social conditions in postwar Britain, with particular reference to the emergence of punk as youth subculture. This is followed by a comparative discussion of existing approaches to popular music study (and their respective strengths and weaknesses), at the end of which Philip Tagg's multiparameter model of analysis is identified as particularly satisfactory. This model is then used to pay particular attention to the two major solidifications of popular music, namely structure and transmission. Once the various loci of meaning in music as sounding object, i.e. music in performance, have been identified, particular examples of punk rock are subjected to a set of parametric analyses according to an extensive checklist of what Tagg calls "parameters of musical expression", also taking into account aspects of musical performance that cannot be captured by music notation. Based on the findings of the multiparameter analyses of twenty-six punk songs, the thesis is concluded with some general remarks regarding the misrepresentation of punk rock in the existing literature.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sedert 1979, die jaar waarin Britse punk tot 'n einde gekom het, beklee dit 'n prominente posisie in kulturele studies in die Verenigde Koninkryk, maar oak oorsee. Die meerderheid ernstige akademiese diskoerse oar punk het tot dusverfeitlik uitsluitlik gehandel oar die kulturele belang daarvan, met inbegrip van die politieke sieninge, die modesin, die houding teenoor klas, en die nalatenskap in Brittanje. Hoewel daar aansienlike literatuur bestaan met punk rock as onderwerp, is daar tot dusver nag geen publikasies wat die musiek op sigself bestudeer nie. Die Musiekweteskap het homself nag nie bevredigend toegespits op populere musiek nie. In plaas daarvan gebruik musiekwetenskaplikes 'n verskeidenheid bestaande metodes om populere musiek te analiseer, maar met gemengde welslae. Dit is belangrik om 'n toepaslike analitiese metode te he, maar eerstens moet die analis weet waar om betekenis in populere musiek op te spoor. In hierdie tesis poog ek om die ligging van betekenis in punk rock op te spoor, om sodoende die musikale beduidenis van hierdie uitsonderlike musiek te demonstreer. Die studie begin met 'n analise van die politieke en sosiale omstandighede in naoorlogse Brittanje, met besondere verwysing na die totstandkoming van punk as jeugsubkultuur. Hierop volg 'n vergelykende bespreking van bestaande benaderings tot die studie van populere musiek (en hul onderskeie sterk en swak punte), waarna Philip Tagg se veelparameter analitiese model as besonder bevredigend ge"identifiseer word. Hierdie model word dan gebruik om in die besonder aandag te skenk aan die twee hoofverwesenlikinge van populere musiek, naamlik struktuur en transmissie. Nadat die liggings van betekenis van musiek as klinkende objek, d.i. musiek in uitvoering, ge"identifiseer is, word spesifieke voorbeelde van punk rock onderwerp aan 'n stel parametriese analises, aan die hand van 'n uitgebreide oorsiglys van wat Tagg "parameters van musikale uitdrukking" noem, met inbegrip van aspekte van musiekuitvoering wat nie deur musieknotasie weergegee kan word nie. Op grand van die bevindinge van die veelparameter-analise van ses-en-twintig punkliedere, word die tesis afgesluit met enkele algemene opmerkings oar die wanvoorstelling van punk rock in die bestaande literatuur.Maste