Quantum decoherence in a pragmatist view: Part I

The quantum theory of decoherence plays an important role in a pragmatist interpretation of quantum theory. It governs the descriptive content of claims about values of physical magnitudes and offers advice on when to use quantum probabilities as a guide to their truth. The content of a claim is to be understood in terms of its role in inferences. This promises a better treatment of meaning than that of Bohr. Quantum theory models physical systems with no mention of measurement: it is decoherence, not measurement, that licenses application of Born's probability rule. So quantum theory also offers advice on its own application. I show how this works in a simple model of decoherence, and then in applications to both laboratory experiments and natural systems. Applications to quantum field theory and the measurement problem will be discussed elsewhere

Sequence of tenses in complementation structures: lexical restrictions and effects on language acquisition

In this paper we discuss the combinations of tenses in main and complement clauses of European Portuguese, focusing on the issue that restrictions on the tenses allowed in complement clauses are observed with some predicates but not with others. We show that these lexical restrictions are independent of the mood occurring in the complement clause, though an integrated analysis of mood and tense may be achieved. The proposal is made that the observed lex-ical restrictions on embedded tenses have a semantic basis and fol-low from the fact that Portuguese is an SOT-language; i.e., a lan-guage where embedded tenses have semantic import. A preliminary investigation is conducted on the sequences of tenses produced at early stages of language acquisition.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Generalized belief change with imprecise probabilities and graphical models

We provide a theoretical investigation of probabilistic belief revision in complex frameworks, under extended conditions of uncertainty, inconsistency and imprecision. We motivate our kinematical approach by specializing our discussion to probabilistic reasoning with graphical models, whose modular representation allows for efficient inference. Most results in this direction are derived from the relevant work of Chan and Darwiche (2005), that first proved the inter-reducibility of virtual and probabilistic evidence. Such forms of information, deeply distinct in their meaning, are extended to the conditional and imprecise frameworks, allowing further generalizations, e.g. to experts' qualitative assessments. Belief aggregation and iterated revision of a rational agent's belief are also explored

On certain conditionals

Die Dissertation befasst sich mit der Semantik diverser Formen von Konditionalsätzen. In zwei von drei Haupt-Kapiteln geht es um sogenannte kontrafaktische (CF) Konditionale. Kapitel 2 argumentiert, einer Idee in von Fintel & Iatridou 2017 folgend, dass es sich bei CF-Wünschen (Ich wünschte, die Sonne schiene) um implizite CF-Konditionale handelt. Die vorgeschlagene Analyse behandelt die CF-Markierung am Einstellungsverb wünschen als semantisch leer. Kapitel 3 berichtet eine Akzeptabilitätsstudie, die sich präsens-orientierten CF-Konditionalen des Deutschen annähert, mit Schwerpunkt auf der implizierten Falschheit des Antezedens. Gegenüber seinem indikativischen Gegenstück steht ein deutsches CF-Konditional im Konjunktiv 2; letztlich geht es darum, den Bedeutungsbeitrag des jeweiligen Modus näher zu bestimmen. Kapitel 4 befasst sich schließlich mit zwei skalaren Partikeln und deren Beitrag zu Konditionalgefügen, dem mandarinchinesischen ‚jiu‘ und dem deutschen ‚schon‘. In der von Lai 1999 und Liu 2017 inspirierten Analyse verorten ‚jiu‘ und ‚schon‘ ihr einziges Argument – im konditionalen Fall das Antezedens – am unteren Ende einer kontextuell salienten Skala

Temporal implicatures

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 207-213).This dissertation proposes a theory of temporal implicatures, and applies it to the study of tense in Mbyá Guaraní. It is composed of two parts. In the first one, I discuss the analyses of temporal implicatures developed by Musan (1995, 1997) and Magri (2009). Although I argue in favor of Magri's (2009) analysis, I reject two aspects of his proposal: that tense is universally or generically quantified in individual level sentences, and that the present tense is vacuous (following Sauerland 2002). Building on the semantics of tense presented in chapter 2, I propose a revision of Magri's analysis in chapter 3, which integrates Katzir's (2008) theory of structurally defined alternatives, and relies on a more conservative non-vacuous analysis of the present. Sauerland's (2002) arguments that the present tense is vacuous are criticized in chapter 5. In the second part of the dissertation, I study the expression and interpretation of tense in Mbyá. Like its close relative Paraguayan Guarani, Mbyá has two temporal morphemes -kue and -rã that can be used either in clauses or inside noun phrases. However, the nominal uses of -kue and -rã license inferences that are not attested in their clausal uses. This lead Tonhauser (2006, 2007, 2011b) to argue that the nominal uses of -kue and -rã are not tenses, and that Paraguayan Guarani is a tenseless language. I challenge both of these claims in Mbyá. After presenting a descriptive overview of the expression of tense in Mbyá in chapter 6, I argue in chapter 7 that -kue in its clausal uses is best analyzed as a relative past tense, and -rã as a future oriented modal. I conclude that Mbyá is not a tenseless language. In chapter 8, I propose a unified analysis of nominal and clausal uses of -kue and -rã. I argue that the special properties of their nominal uses are due to the interaction between temporal implicatures and independently attested presuppositions of noun phrases. I show that these temporal implicatures are also attested in clausal uses of -kue and -rã, although they are obligatory in their nominal uses, while they can be blocked in their clausal uses. I propose an explanation of this contrast.by Guillaume Thomas.Ph.D

Aiming for Cognitive Equivalence – Mental Models as a Tertium Comparationis for Translation and Empirical Semantics

This paper introduces my concept of cognitive equivalence (cf. Mandelblit, 1997), an attempt to reconcile elements of Nida’s dynamic equivalence with recent innovations in cognitive linguistics and cognitive psychology, and building on the current focus on translators’ mental processes in translation studies (see e.g. Göpferich et al., 2009, Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, 2010; Halverson, 2014). My approach shares its general impetus with Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk’s concept of re-conceptualization, but is independently derived from findings in cognitive linguistics and simulation theory (see e.g. Langacker, 2008; Feldman, 2006; Barsalou, 1999; Zwaan, 2004). Against this background, I propose a model of translation processing focused on the internal simulation of reader reception and the calibration of these simulations to achieve similarity between ST and TT impact. The concept of cognitive equivalence is exemplarily tested by exploring a conceptual / lexical field (MALE BALDNESS) through the way that English, German and Japanese lexical items in this field are linked to matching visual-conceptual representations by native speaker informants. The visual data gathered via this empirical method can be used to effectively triangulate the linguistic items involved, enabling an extra-linguistic comparison across languages. Results show that there is a reassuring level of interinformant agreement within languages, but that the conceptual domain for BALDNESS is linguistically structured in systematically different ways across languages. The findings are interpreted as strengthening the call for a cognition-focused, embodied approach to translation

Real Islamic Logic

Four options for assigning a meaning to Islamic Logic are surveyed including a new proposal for an option named "Real Islamic Logic" (RIL). That approach to Islamic Logic should serve modern Islamic objectives in a way comparable to the functionality of Islamic Finance. The prospective role of RIL is analyzed from several perspectives: (i) parallel distributed systems design, (ii) reception by a community structured audience, (iii) informal logic and applied non-classical logics, and (iv) (in)tractability and artificial intelligence