Information and Experience in Metaphor: A Perspective From Computer Analysis

Novel linguistic metaphor can be seen as the assignment of attributes to a topic through a vehicle belonging to another domain. The experience evoked by the vehicle is a significant aspect of the meaning of the metaphor, especially for abstract metaphor, which involves more than mere physical similarity. In this article I indicate, through description of a specific model, some possibilities as well as limitations of computer processing directed toward both informative and experiential/affective aspects of metaphor. A background to the discussion is given by other computational treatments of metaphor analysis, as well as by some questions about metaphor originating in other disciplines. The approach on which the present metaphor analysis model is based is consistent with a theory of language comprehension that includes both the intent of the originator and the effect on the recipient of the metaphor. The model addresses the dual problem of (a) determining potentially salient properties of the vehicle concept, and (b) defining extensible symbolic representations of such properties, including affective and other connotations. The nature of the linguistic analysis underlying the model suggests how metaphoric expression of experiential components in abstract metaphor is dependent on the nominalization of actions and attributes. The inverse process of undoing such nominalizations in computer analysis of metaphor constitutes a translation of a metaphor to a more literal expression within the metaphor-nonmetaphor dichotomy

Partial Perception and Approximate Understanding

What is discussed in the present paper is the assumption concerning a human narrowed sense of perception of external world and, resulting from this, a basically approximate nature of concepts that are to portray it. Apart from the perceptual vagueness, other types of vagueness are also discussed, involving both the nature of things, indeterminacy of linguistic expressions and psycho-sociological conditioning of discourse actions in one language and in translational contexts. The second part of the paper discusses the concept of conceptual and linguistic resemblance (similarity, equivalence) and discourse approximating strategies and proposes a Resemblance Matrix, presenting ways used to narrow the approximation gap between the interacting parties in monolingual and translational discourses

Crosslinguistic Image Schema Differential Hypothesis Clarifies Non-Prototypical and Polysemous Spatial Preposition ‘on’ for L2 Learners

A key question for linguistics involves how to determine and account for expressions of non-prototypical spatial relationships between languages. To address this issue, Crosslinguistic Image Schema Differential (CISD) hypothesis is introduced to examine various uses of the English preposition on produced by L2 (second language) learners. Data collection consisted of a grammar test designed to elicit and measure participants’ knowledge of the English preposition on by completing cloze sentences in English, translating these sentences into the L1 (first language), and then drawing visual images of the sentences presented as redescriptions of perceptual events, i.e., image schemas. The most remarkable findings were that two space-relational types (‘encirclement with contact’ and ‘at an edge’) and one image schema (‘concave surface’) were almost completely lacking in the Japanese learners of English (JLEs) who participated in this study. This investigation indicates that simple explicit explanations are possible utilizing the CISD hypothesis.アクセプト後にアブストラクトの変更あり

A probabilistic framework for analysing the compositionality of conceptual combinations

Conceptual combination performs a fundamental role in creating the broad range of compound phrases utilised in everyday language. This article provides a novel probabilistic framework for assessing whether the semantics of conceptual combinations are compositional, and so can be considered as a function of the semantics of the constituent concepts, or not. While the systematicity and productivity of language provide a strong argument in favor of assuming compositionality, this very assumption is still regularly questioned in both cognitive science and philosophy. Additionally, the principle of semantic compositionality is underspecified, which means that notions of both "strong" and "weak" compositionality appear in the literature. Rather than adjudicating between different grades of compositionality, the framework presented here contributes formal methods for determining a clear dividing line between compositional and non-compositional semantics. In addition, we suggest that the distinction between these is contextually sensitive. Compositionality is equated with a joint probability distribution modeling how the constituent concepts in the combination are interpreted. Marginal selectivity is introduced as a pivotal probabilistic constraint for the application of the Bell/CH and CHSH systems of inequalities. Non-compositionality is equated with a failure of marginal selectivity, or violation of either system of inequalities in the presence of marginal selectivity. This means that the conceptual combination cannot be modeled in a joint probability distribution, the variables of which correspond to how the constituent concepts are being interpreted. The formal analysis methods are demonstrated by applying them to an empirical illustration of twenty-four non-lexicalised conceptual combinations

Functional Anatomy: A Taxonomic Proposal

It is argued that medical science requires a classificatory system that (a) puts functions in the taxonomic center and (b) does justice ontologically to the difference between the processes which are the realizations of functions and the objects which are their bearers. We propose formulae for constructing such a system and describe some of its benefits. The arguments are general enough to be of interest to all the life sciences

Varieties of intensification

This paper is a commentary on Beltrama and Bochnak (2015), who propose a uniform semantics for different uses of cross-categorial intensifiers -issimo in Italian and šému in Washo as universal quantifiers over contexts. Two concerns of their uniform semantics are raised, (i) unexpected restrictions on intensification, and (ii) non-truth-conditional intensification. It is argued that a uniform semantics like Beltrama and Bochnak’s is unachievable, and suggested that the multitude of uses commonly observed with intensifiers should be captured in terms of semantic similarity, rather than semantic identit

The Semantics of ja and ye: Semantic variation in Marathi motion verbs

Ja and ye ('go' and 'come' respectively, from the Indian language Marathi) are first semantically examined as basic verbs of physical motion. Then instances which vary from this basic 'sense' of the words are analysed with respect to theories of polysemy via semantic extension (through metaphor and metonymy), and deixis. Some evidence is found to support theories of 'figurative' deixis, utilizing the concept of 'subjectivity' as a primary grounding force in our construction of meaning. Subjectivity is also implicated in the dominant mechanism of semantic shift by 'result' metonymy, wherein the word designating the event is semantically narrowed to designate only the result or outcome of the event. In discussing semantic extension through metaphor, the fundamental problem of distinguishing metaphorical from literal meaning is addressed, and 'image schemas' are invoked in the analysis of ja and ye. Data are chiefly from books on Ayurveda, and hence largely focus on the use of the ja and ye with reference to the human body

The situated common-sense knowledge in FunGramKB

It has been widely demonstrated that expectation-based schemata, along the lines of Lakoff's propositional Idealized Cognitive Models, play a crucial role in text comprehension. Discourse inferences are grounded on the shared generalized knowledge which is activated from the situational model underlying the text surface dimension. From a cognitive-plausible and linguistic-aware approach to knowledge representation, FunGramKB stands out for being a dynamic repository of lexical, constructional and conceptual knowledge which contributes to simulate human-level reasoning. The objective of this paper is to present a script model as a carrier of the situated common-sense knowledge required to help knowledge engineers construct more "intelligent" natural language processing systems.Periñán Pascual, JC. (2012). The situated common-sense knowledge in FunGramKB. Review of Cognitive Linguistics. 10(1):184-214. doi:10.1075/rcl.10.1.06perS18421410