Spurious ambiguity and focalization

Spurious ambiguity is the phenomenon whereby distinct derivations in grammar may assign the same structural reading, resulting in redundancy in the parse search space and inefficiency in parsing. Understanding the problem depends on identifying the essential mathematical structure of derivations. This is trivial in the case of context free grammar, where the parse structures are ordered trees; in the case of type logical categorial grammar, the parse structures are proof nets. However, with respect to multiplicatives, intrinsic proof nets have not yet been given for displacement calculus, and proof nets for additives, which have applications to polymorphism, are not easy to characterize. In this context we approach here multiplicative-additive spurious ambiguity by means of the proof-theoretic technique of focalization.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Multiplicative-Additive Focusing for Parsing as Deduction

Spurious ambiguity is the phenomenon whereby distinct derivations in grammar may assign the same structural reading, resulting in redundancy in the parse search space and inefficiency in parsing. Understanding the problem depends on identifying the essential mathematical structure of derivations. This is trivial in the case of context free grammar, where the parse structures are ordered trees; in the case of categorial grammar, the parse structures are proof nets. However, with respect to multiplicatives intrinsic proof nets have not yet been given for displacement calculus, and proof nets for additives, which have applications to polymorphism, are involved. Here we approach multiplicative-additive spurious ambiguity by means of the proof-theoretic technique of focalisation.Comment: In Proceedings WoF'15, arXiv:1511.0252

Parsing/theorem-proving for logical grammar CatLog3

CatLog3 is a 7000 line Prolog parser/theorem-prover for logical categorial grammar. In such logical categorial grammar syntax is universal and grammar is reduced to logic: an expression is grammatical if and only if an associated logical statement is a theorem of a fixed calculus. Since the syntactic component is invariant, being the logic of the calculus, logical categorial grammar is purely lexicalist and a particular language model is defined by just a lexical dictionary. The foundational logic of continuity was established by Lambek (Am Math Mon 65:154–170, 1958) (the Lambek calculus) while a corresponding extension including also logic of discontinuity was established by Morrill and Valentín (Linguist Anal 36(1–4):167–192, 2010) (the displacement calculus). CatLog3 implements a logic including as primitive connectives the continuous (concatenation) and discontinuous (intercalation) connectives of the displacement calculus, additives, 1st order quantifiers, normal modalities, bracket modalities, and universal and existential subexponentials. In this paper we review the rules of inference for these primitive connectives and their linguistic applications, and we survey the principles of Andreoli’s focusing, and of a generalisation of van Benthem’s count-invariance, on the basis of which CatLog3 is implemented.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

The Narrative Mood of Jean Rhys\u27 Quartet

This article evaluates the application of dominant institutional discourses, such as psychoanalysis, in the interpretation of literary fiction. I take up the case of Jean Rhys and her 1929 novel Quartet. Both author and novel have been analyzed through the concept of masochism, as creating masochistic characters or a masochistic aesthetic. But what do we mean when we classify or diagnose authors of literature or fictional characters as in the case of Rhys\u27 and Quartet\u27s protagonist? Against this mode of reading, I argue that Rhys\u27 novel asks us, in various ways, to understand it on its own terms, suggesting a mode that I call immanent reading. It enjoins the reader to understand rather than to classify the famously problematic Rhys heroine. Ultimately, Quartet foregrounds the instability of moral and social positions, implicitly arguing against what it calls the mania for classification employed by the novel\u27s antagonists. Quartet cautions against diagnostic interpretations by dramatizing scenes of hypothetical focalization, emphasizing the modal nature of reality, and providing the novel with its characteristically shadowy mood. Mood is a term drawn from Gérard Genette, which describes how certain narrative choices and devices (or mode) compose a discursive narrative atmosphere (or mood). This project suggests the untapped potential of narratology for analyzing affect in fictional narrative

Quantifying the ideational context: political frames, meaning trajectories and punctuated equilibria in Spanish mainstream press during the Catalan nationalist challenge

This article presents a quantitative method for mapping semantic spaces and tracing political frames’ trajectories, that facilitate the analysis of the connections between changes in ideas and socio-political phenomena. We test our approach in Spain, where the Catalan conflict fostered a competition in terms of decontestation of meanings of key political concepts. Using unsupervised machine learning, we track the salience, level of semantic fragmentation and fluctuations in meanings of 216 frames in the two largest Spanish newspapers, El País and El Mundo, throughout 8 years. This is achieved via the extraction, vectorization, and comparison of over 70,000 words. We apply Latent Semantic Analysis, an innovative methodology for the alignment of semantic spaces, and new institutional theory. Our exploratory study suggests that the evolution of many nationalism-related frames resembles a punctuated equilibrium model, and that political events in Catalonia, acted as critical junctures, altering the meanings reflected in the Spanish press

The Narrative Mood of Jean Rhys' Quartet

Abstract: This article evaluates the application of dominant institutional discourses, such as psychoanalysis, in the interpretation of literary fiction. I take up the case of Jean Rhys and her 1929 novel _Quartet_. Both author and novel have been analyzed through the concept of masochism, as creating masochistic characters or a masochistic aesthetic. But what do we mean when we classify or “diagnose” authors of literature or fictional characters as in the case of Rhys’ and _Quartet’s_ protagonist? Against this mode of reading, I argue that Rhys’ novel asks us, in various ways, to understand it on its own terms, suggesting a mode that I call _immanent reading_. It enjoins the reader to understand rather than to classify the famously problematic Rhys “heroine.” Ultimately, _Quartet_ foregrounds the instability of moral and social positions, implicitly arguing against what it calls the “mania for classification” employed by the novel’s antagonists. _Quartet_ cautions against diagnostic interpretations by dramatizing scenes of hypothetical focalization, emphasizing the modal nature of reality, and providing the novel with its characteristically shadowy mood. _Mood_ is a term drawn from Gérard Genette, which describes how certain narrative choices and devices (or _mode_) compose a discursive narrative atmosphere (or _mood_). is project suggests the untapped potential of narratology for analyzing affect in fictional narrative

The Sentence Is Most Important: Styles of Engagement in William T. Vollmann’s Fictions

William T. Vollmann frequently asserts that his ideal reader will appreciate the functionality and beauty of his sentences. This article begins by taking such claims seriously, and draws on both literary and rhetorical stylistics to explore some of the many ways that his texts answer to his intention to find “the right sentence for the right job.” In particular, this article argues that Vollmann’s stylistic decisions are most notable when they most directly satisfy his effort to produce texts that foster empathetic knowledge, serve truth, resist abusive power, and encourage charitable action. Extended close analyses of passages from an early and from a mid-career text (The Rainbow Storiesand Europe Central) illustrate Vollmann’s consistency across two decades of his career regarding choices in the areas of figuration (including schemes and tropes of comparison, repetition, balance, naming, and amplification), grammar, deixis, allusion, and other compositional strategies. Particular attention is paid to passages that display the stylistic mechanisms underlying Vollmann’s negotiation of his texts’ moral qualities, including both the moral content of the worlds represented in the texts, and the moral responsibility the texts bear with regard to their audience. The results of my analyses demonstrate that Vollmann typically prioritizes openness, critique, and dialogue not only in terms of incident and character, but also on the scale of the phrase, clause, and sentence. Ultimately, this article shows how Vollmann’s sentences serve his declared intentions and allow readers to recognize compatibilities between Vollmann’s works and the characteristic features of post-postmodernist writing in general

Multiplicative-additive focusing for parsing as deduction

Spurious ambiguity is the phenomenon whereby distinct derivations in grammar may assign the same structural reading, resulting in redundancy in the parse search space and inefficiency in parsing. Understanding the problem depends on identifying the essential mathematical structure of derivations. This is trivial in the case of context free grammar, where the parse structures are ordered trees; in the case of type logical categorial grammar, the parse structures are proof nets. However, with respect to multiplicatives intrinsic proof nets have not yet been given for displacement calculus, and proof nets for additives, which have applications to polymorphism, are not easy to characterise. Here we approach multiplicative-additive spurious ambiguity by means of the proof-theoretic technique of focalisation.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

\u27Everything Looks Different up Close\u27: Perception in Margaret Atwood\u27s Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood

In the first two books of her MaddAdam series (a projected trilogy), Margaret Atwood explores a series of events from three very different perspectives. A close reading of the two texts suggests that the specific focalizers chosen, and their very different ways of perceiving the world around them, are central issues in the novels. In Oryx and Crake, Atwood establishes the apocalypse as a problem of dystopian vision through the book\u27s deeply flawed focalizer. In The Year of the Flood two alternative visions are offered in order to rehabilitate the perceptual problems of the first text. In the three chapters of this paper, I will explore the devices used to establish each focalizer\u27s specific vision, the ways in which each focalizer views apocalypse, and the relationship of each focalizer to the utopian perspective that appears poised to redeem dystopia and apocalypse

Narrative Concepts in the Study of Eighteenth-Century Literature

This collection of essays studies the encounter between allegedly ahistorical concepts of narratology and eighteenth-century literature. It questions whether the general concepts of narratology are as such applicable to historically specific fields, or whether they need further specification. Furthermore, at issue is the question whether the theoretical concepts actually are, despite their appearance of ahistorical generality, derived from the historical study of a particular period and type of literature. In the essays such concepts as genre, plot, character, event, tellability, perspective, temporality, description, reading, metadiegetic narration, and paratext are scrutinized in the context of eighteenth-century texts. The writers include some of the leading theorists of both narratology and eighteenth-century literature