New Perspectives in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew

"Most of the papers in this volume originated as presentations at the conference Biblical Hebrew and Rabbinic Hebrew: New Perspectives in Philology and Linguistics, which was held at the University of Cambridge, 8–10th July, 2019. The aim of the conference was to build bridges between various strands of research in the field of Hebrew language studies that rarely meet, namely philologists working on Biblical Hebrew, philologists working on Rabbinic Hebrew and theoretical linguists. This volume is the published outcome of this initiative. It contains peer-reviewed papers in the fields of Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew that advance the field by the philological investigation of primary sources and the application of cutting-edge linguistic theory. These include contributions by established scholars and by students and early career researchers.

New Perspectives in Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew

"Most of the papers in this volume originated as presentations at the conference Biblical Hebrew and Rabbinic Hebrew: New Perspectives in Philology and Linguistics, which was held at the University of Cambridge, 8–10th July, 2019. The aim of the conference was to build bridges between various strands of research in the field of Hebrew language studies that rarely meet, namely philologists working on Biblical Hebrew, philologists working on Rabbinic Hebrew and theoretical linguists. This volume is the published outcome of this initiative. It contains peer-reviewed papers in the fields of Biblical and Rabbinic Hebrew that advance the field by the philological investigation of primary sources and the application of cutting-edge linguistic theory. These include contributions by established scholars and by students and early career researchers.

The literal/non-literal divide synchronically and diachronically: The lexical semantics of an English posture verb

This thesis' main research goal is to provide an account of the English posture verb sit, from a synchronic a diachronic perspective. My proposed account of sit comprises various components, including a characterisation of the different possible meanings of sit and a comparison with stand and lie. The two relevant meanings are a literal one and non-literal one (The girl is sitting on the chair vs. The wine bottle is sitting on the chair; in the former the subject is described to be in a sitting position, while in the latter the subject is not in a sitting position). I analyse each meaning/use separately, noting which semantic patterns occur with one type only and those which occur with both. I argue that the non-literal use is diachronically connected to the literal one, and I motivate this claim based on the shared components identified in the thesis and on data from corpus studies reported in the thesis. A consequence of acknowledging a divide between the literal and non-literal uses---a perspective not usually taken in theoretical linguistics---is that I am able to account for important semantic details which might be otherwise overlooked. The cognitive and typological literature includes account of posture verbs cross-linguistically, but in the theoretical literature these verbs have not received much attention. In this thesis, I review existing proposals and highlight the uncertainties surrounding the posture verbs. In order to fillthese gaps in the literature and to better understand the phenomena, I analyse data from synchronic and diachronic corpus studies, and incorporate these insights into my account of sitEl principal objetivo de investigación de esta tesis es dar cuenta del verbo de postura inglés sit (`sentarse¿), desde una perspectiva sincrónica y diacrónica. La descripción que propongo de sit comprende varios componentes, incluida una caracterización de los diferentes significados posibles de sit y una comparación con stand (`estar de pie¿) y lie (`estar echado¿). La literatura cognitiva y tipológica incluye una descripción de los verbos de postura de forma interlingüística, pero en la literatura teórica estos verbos no han recibido mucha atención. En esta tesis, reviso las propuestas existentes y destaco las preguntas sin responder que rodean a los verbos de postura. Para llenar estos vacíos en la literatura científica y comprender mejor los fenómenos, analizo datos de estudios de corpus sincrónicos y diacrónicos, e incorporo estos conocimientos en mi explicación de sit. Los dos significados relevantes son uno literal y uno no literal (The girl is sitting on the chair `La niña está sentada en la silla' vs. The wine bottle is sitting on the chair `(lit.) La botella de vino está sentada en la silla¿; en la primera frase, se describe el sujeto en posición de estar sentado, mientras que en la segunda frase el sujeto no está sentado). Analizo cada significado/uso por separado, notando qué patrones semánticos ocurren con un solo tipo y cuáles ocurren con ambos. Argumento que el uso no literal está conectado diacrónicamente con el literal, y motivo esta afirmación a partir de los componentes compartidos identificados en la tesis y en los datos de los estudios de corpus tratados en la tesis. Una consecuencia de reconocer una división entre los usos literales y no literales (una perspectiva que no suele adoptarse en la lingüística teórica) es que se consigue dar cuenta de importantes detalles semánticos que de otro modo podrían pasarse por alto

Understanding search

This thesis provides a framework for information retrieval based on a set of models which together illustrate how users of search engines come to express their needs in a particular way. With such insights, we may be able to improve systems’ capabilities of understanding users’ requests and through that eventually the ability to satisfy their needs. Developing the framework necessitates discussion of context, relevance, need development, and the cybernetics of search, all of which are controversial topics. Transaction log data from two enterprise search engines are analysed using a specially developed method which classifies queries according to what aspect of the need they refer to

Theories of Informetrics and Scholarly Communication

Scientometrics have become an essential element in the practice and evaluation of science and research, including both the evaluation of individuals and national assessment exercises. Yet, researchers and practitioners in this field have lacked clear theories to guide their work. As early as 1981, then doctoral student Blaise Cronin published "The need for a theory of citing" —a call to arms for the fledgling scientometric community to produce foundational theories upon which the work of the field could be based. More than three decades later, the time has come to reach out the field again and ask how they have responded to this call. This book compiles the foundational theories that guide informetrics and scholarly communication research. It is a much needed compilation by leading scholars in the field that gathers together the theories that guide our understanding of authorship, citing, and impact

Beyond Flatland : exploring graphs in many dimensions

Societies, technologies, economies, ecosystems, organisms, . . . Our world is composed of complex networks—systems with many elements that interact in nontrivial ways. Graphs are natural models of these systems, and scientists have made tremendous progress in developing tools for their analysis. However, research has long focused on relatively simple graph representations and problem specifications, often discarding valuable real-world information in the process. In recent years, the limitations of this approach have become increasingly apparent, but we are just starting to comprehend how more intricate data representations and problem formulations might benefit our understanding of relational phenomena. Against this background, our thesis sets out to explore graphs in five dimensions: descriptivity, multiplicity, complexity, expressivity, and responsibility. Leveraging tools from graph theory, information theory, probability theory, geometry, and topology, we develop methods to (1) descriptively compare individual graphs, (2) characterize similarities and differences between groups of multiple graphs, (3) critically assess the complexity of relational data representations and their associated scientific culture, (4) extract expressive features from and for hypergraphs, and (5) responsibly mitigate the risks induced by graph-structured content recommendations. Thus, our thesis is naturally situated at the intersection of graph mining, graph learning, and network analysis.Gesellschaften, Technologien, Volkswirtschaften, Ökosysteme, Organismen, . . . Unsere Welt besteht aus komplexen Netzwerken—Systemen mit vielen Elementen, die auf nichttriviale Weise interagieren. Graphen sind natürliche Modelle dieser Systeme, und die Wissenschaft hat bei der Entwicklung von Methoden zu ihrer Analyse große Fortschritte gemacht. Allerdings hat sich die Forschung lange auf relativ einfache Graphrepräsentationen und Problemspezifikationen beschränkt, oft unter Vernachlässigung wertvoller Informationen aus der realen Welt. In den vergangenen Jahren sind die Grenzen dieser Herangehensweise zunehmend deutlich geworden, aber wir beginnen gerade erst zu erfassen, wie unser Verständnis relationaler Phänomene von intrikateren Datenrepräsentationen und Problemstellungen profitieren kann. Vor diesem Hintergrund erkundet unsere Dissertation Graphen in fünf Dimensionen: Deskriptivität, Multiplizität, Komplexität, Expressivität, und Verantwortung. Mithilfe von Graphentheorie, Informationstheorie, Wahrscheinlichkeitstheorie, Geometrie und Topologie entwickeln wir Methoden, welche (1) einzelne Graphen deskriptiv vergleichen, (2) Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede zwischen Gruppen multipler Graphen charakterisieren, (3) die Komplexität relationaler Datenrepräsentationen und der mit ihnen verbundenen Wissenschaftskultur kritisch beleuchten, (4) expressive Merkmale von und für Hypergraphen extrahieren, und (5) verantwortungsvoll den Risiken begegnen, welche die Graphstruktur von Inhaltsempfehlungen mit sich bringt. Damit liegt unsere Dissertation naturgemäß an der Schnittstelle zwischen Graph Mining, Graph Learning und Netzwerkanalyse

Theories of Informetrics and Scholarly Communication

Scientometrics have become an essential element in the practice and evaluation of science and research, including both the evaluation of individuals and national assessment exercises. Yet, researchers and practitioners in this field have lacked clear theories to guide their work. As early as 1981, then doctoral student Blaise Cronin published The need for a theory of citing - a call to arms for the fledgling scientometric community to produce foundational theories upon which the work of the field could be based. More than three decades later, the time has come to reach out the field again and ask how they have responded to this call. This book compiles the foundational theories that guide informetrics and scholarly communication research. It is a much needed compilation by leading scholars in the field that gathers together the theories that guide our understanding of authorship, citing, and impact

I Belong to the Band: The Music of Reverend Gary Davis

“I Belong to the Band” is the first extensive analytical examination of the music of guitarist/singer Reverend Gary Davis (1896-1972), whose vast repertoire and instrumental virtuosity made him a favorite performer and teacher during the folk and blues revival. Discussed in detail are his songs and aspects of musical technique as well as larger issues such as appropriation in traditional song, the interplay of sacred and secular content and style in African American song, the role(s) of blindness in musical culture, and contrastive and associative symmetries in blues performances. To better glean Davis’s music and the world in which he lived, numerous methodologies were called on including the use of musicological, structuralist, and Jungian interpretative models, textual linguistics in my examination of visual and violent imagery and inference in Davis’s songs, and contextual and biographical analysis. This dissertation also contains the most complete and accurate discography of Davis to date, plus analysis and classification of songs and performances through a number of data-driven as well as hermeneutic approaches including key choice, sacred or secular content, stanzaic structures, and lyric tropes. In the process, I have debunked certain well-established generalizations about Davis, pointing out the extent to which he cultivated a secular repertoire later in his life despite frequent claims by writers that he did not, and I have shown the overreaching influence blindness had on his music and his life. At the same time, this examination of a “folk” figure suggests avenues of research beyond typical folkloric and biographic models, notably through a kind of musicological rigor rarely applied to the performances of such artists. Much can still be culled from this rich swath of musical history simply by revisiting the songs themselves with a more pointed, analytical pen. Ultimately, “I Belong to the Band” demonstrates how one traditional musician forged a highly personalized style from layers of “belonging” and foundation building, from his rural Carolina and African American regional and cultural roots to the rootless solidarity of the Piedmont blues scene to his Christian faith and its expression through gospel music and finally to the “discipleship” he engendered in others who continue to perform his music