89,557 research outputs found
Objects for lexical analysis
This paper presents a new idea for lexical analysis: lolo (language-oriented lexer objects) is strictly based on the object orientation paradigm. We introduce the idea behind the system, describe the implementation, and compare it to the conventional approach using lex[1] or flex[2].lolo[3] extracts symbols from a sequence of input characters belonging to the ASCII or Unicode sets. lolo scanners can be extended without access to the source code: symbol recognizers can be derived by inheritance and an executing scanner can be reconfigured for different contexts. Recognizer actions are represented by objects which may be replaced at any time. Recognizers need not be based on finite state automata; therefore, lolo can recognize symbols that systems like lex cannot recognize directly
Objects of attitudes
The standard relational analysis of attitude verbs assumes that they denote a relation between an experiencer and an abstract object. The fact that these objects have only a shadowy linguistic manifestation has led to a rejection of this kind of analysis.I show here that the relational view can be preserved if one complicates substancially the lexical constraints which control the construction of semantic interpretation and separates in particular the lexical objects selected by the verbs from the ontlogical objects of attitude, which lead a more secret life, apart from the lexicon, inside rich interpretation structures, a fact which accounts for their well-known resistance to ordinary linguistics tests
Recommended from our members
Digital Corpus of Cuneiform Lexical Texts
Funding from the Stahl Endowment in 2018 was used for adding more material to the Digital Corpus of Cuneiform Lexical Lists (DCCLT). Lexical texts are lists of words and lists of cuneiform signs that were used by ancient Mesopotamian scribes and scholars to teach and document the complex cuneiform writing system. These texts play an important role in the study of the history of education and scholarship, but are also of crucial and foundational importance for the decipherment of cuneiform and the reconstruction of Sumerian vocabulary. Last year's effort added, among other things, important bilingual lists of hides and leather objects and of metal objects. The editions are freely available through the internet; the data can also be downloaded in JSON format for re-use (for instance in Computational Text Analysis)
Understanding the Developmental Dynamics of Subject Omission: The Role of Processing Limitations in Learning
P. Bloom’s (1990) data on subject omission are often taken as strong support for the view that child language can be explained in terms of full competence coupled with processing limitations in production. This paper examines whether processing limitations in learning may provide a more parsimonious explanation of the data without the need to assume full competence. We extended P. Bloom’s study by using a larger sample (12 children) and measuring subject-omission phenomena in three developmental phases. The results revealed a Verb Phrase-length effect consistent with that reported by P. Bloom. However, contrary to the predictions of the processing limitations account, the proportion of overt subjects that were pronominal increased with developmental phase. The data were simulated with MOSAIC, a computational model that learns to produce progressively longer utterances as a function of training. MOSAIC was able to capture all of the effects reported by P. Bloom through a resource-limited distributional analysis of child-directed speech. Since MOSAIC does not have any built-in linguistic knowledge, these results show that the phenomena identified by P. Bloom do not constitute evidence for underlying competence on the part of the child. They also underline the need to develop more empirically grounded models of the way that processing limitations in learning might influence the language acquisition process
Semantic Types, Lexical Sorts and Classifiers
We propose a cognitively and linguistically motivated set of sorts for
lexical semantics in a compositional setting: the classifiers in languages that
do have such pronouns. These sorts are needed to include lexical considerations
in a semantical analyser such as Boxer or Grail. Indeed, all proposed lexical
extensions of usual Montague semantics to model restriction of selection,
felicitous and infelicitous copredication require a rich and refined type
system whose base types are the lexical sorts, the basis of the many-sorted
logic in which semantical representations of sentences are stated. However,
none of those approaches define precisely the actual base types or sorts to be
used in the lexicon. In this article, we shall discuss some of the options
commonly adopted by researchers in formal lexical semantics, and defend the
view that classifiers in the languages which have such pronouns are an
appealing solution, both linguistically and cognitively motivated
Lexical Flexibility, Natural Language, and Ontology
The Realist that investigates questions of ontology by appeal to the quantificational structure of language assumes that the semantics for the privileged language of ontology is externalist. I argue that such a language cannot be (some variant of) a natural language, as some Realists propose. The flexibility exhibited by natural language expressions noted by Chomsky and others cannot obviously be characterized by the rigid models available to the externalist. If natural languages are hostile to externalist treatments, then the meanings of natural language expressions serve as poor guides for ontological investigation, insofar as their meanings will fail to determine the referents of their constituents. This undermines the Realist’s use of natural languages to settle disputes in metaphysics
Grounding the Lexical Semantics of Verbs in Visual Perception using Force Dynamics and Event Logic
This paper presents an implemented system for recognizing the occurrence of
events described by simple spatial-motion verbs in short image sequences. The
semantics of these verbs is specified with event-logic expressions that
describe changes in the state of force-dynamic relations between the
participants of the event. An efficient finite representation is introduced for
the infinite sets of intervals that occur when describing liquid and
semi-liquid events. Additionally, an efficient procedure using this
representation is presented for inferring occurrences of compound events,
described with event-logic expressions, from occurrences of primitive events.
Using force dynamics and event logic to specify the lexical semantics of events
allows the system to be more robust than prior systems based on motion profile
- …