A unified analysis of the same, phrasal comparatives, and superlatives

We present a unified categorial analysis of several types of English comparative, superlative, and THE SAME/DIFFERENT (S/D) sentences, thereby accounting for parallels among these constructions first noted in Heim ms. Our analysis, couched in a linear-logic-based from of categorial grammar along the lines of Oehrle 1994, builds on the basic insights underlying Barker's (2007) `parasitic scope' analysis of internal readings of THE SAME, but is simpler and more general than Barker's. Ours is also the first unified analysis of all three kinds of phenomena. Our analysis of phrasal comparatives captures their essential similarity to associate-remnant S/D constructions such as ANNA READ THE SAME BOOK AS BILL

Persistent prelimbic cortex activity contributes to enhanced learned fear expression in females

Anxiety disorders, such as post-traumatic stress, are more prevalent in women and are characterized by impaired inhibition of learned fear and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) dysfunction. Here we examined sex differences in fear extinction and mPFC activity in rats. Females showed more learned fear expression during extinction and its recall, but not fear conditioning. They also showed more spontaneous fear recovery and more contextual fear before extinction and its recall. Moreover, enhanced learned fear expression in females was associated with sustained prelimbic (PL) cortex activity. These results suggest that sex differences in learned fear expression may involve persistent PL activation

On the Syntax-Semantics Interface: From Convergent Grammar to Abstract Categorial Grammar

International audienceCooper's storage technique for scoping in situ operators has been employed in theoretical and computational grammars of natural language (NL) for over thirty years, but has been widely viewed as ad hoc and unprincipled. Recent work by Pollard within the framework of convergent grammar (CVG) took a step in the direction of clarifying the logical status of Cooper storage by encoding its rules within an explicit but nonstandard natural deduction (ND) format. Here we provide further clarification by showing how to encode a CVG with storage within a logical grammar framework---abstract categorial grammar (ACG)---that utilizes no logical resources beyond those of standard linear deduction

About Parallel and Syntactocentric Formalisms: A Perspective from the Encoding of Convergent Grammar into Abstract Categorial Grammar

International audienceRecent discussions of grammatical architectures have distinguished two competing approaches to the syntax-semantics interface: syntactocentrism, wherein syntactic structures are mapped or transduced to semantics (and phonology), vs. parallelism, wherein semantics (and phonology) communicates with syntax via a nondirectional (or relational) interface. This contrast arises for instance in dealing with in situ operators. The aim of this paper is threefold: first, we show how the essential content of a parallel framework, convergent grammar (CVG), can be encoded within abstract categorial grammar (ACG), a generic framework which has mainly been used, until now, to encode syntactocentric architectures. Second, using such a generic framework allows us to relate the mathematical characterization of parallelism in CVG with that of syntactocentrism in mainstream categorial grammar (CG), suggesting that the distinction between parallel and syntactocentric formalisms is superficial in nature. More generally, it shows how to provide mildly context sensitive languages (MCSL), which are a clearly defined class of languages in terms of ACG, with a relational syntax-semantics interface. Finally, while most of the studies on the generative power of ACG have been related to formal languages, we show that ACG can illuminate a linguistically motivated framework such as CVG.De récentes analyses des architectures grammaticales ont distingué deux approches concurrentes de l'interface syntaxe-sémantique : une approche centrée sur la syntaxe, où les structures syntaxiques sont traduites vers la sémantique (et la phonologie), et une approche parallèle où la sémantique (et la phonologie) communique avec la syntaxe par une interface relationnelle non orientée. Cette distinction apparaît par exemple dans la modélisation des opérateurs in situ. L'objectif de cet article est triple: d'abord, nous montrons comment l'essentiel d'un formalisme parallèle, les grammaires convergentes (CVG) peut être encodé dans le formalisme des grammaires catégorielles abstraites (ACG), un formalisme générique qui a été utilisé principalement jusqu'à présent pour encoder des formalismes centrés sur la syntaxe. Deuxièmement, l'utilisation d'un tel cadre générique nous permet de relier la caractérisation mathématique du parallèlisme en CVG à celui centré sur la syntaxe des grammaires catégorielles standards (CG), suggérant que la distinction entre formalismes centrés sur la syntaxe et formalismes parallèles est de nature superficielle. Plus généralement, cela montre comment donner aux langages faiblement contextuels (MCSL), qui sont une classe de langages clairement définie en termes d'ACG, une interface syntaxe-sémantique relationnelle. Enfin, alors que la plupart des études sur le pouvoir génératif des ACG a porté sur les langages formels, nous montrons comment les ACG peuvent éclairer un formalisme motivé linguistiquement comme les CVG

Unification and Grammatical Theory

This paper informally presents a new view of grammar that has emerged from a number of distinct but related lines of investigation in theoretical and computational linguistics. Under this view, many current linguistic theories—-including Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG), Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar (GPSG), Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG), and categorial grammar (CG)—-fall within a general framework of unification grammar. In such theories the linguistic objects under study are associated with linguistic information about the objects, which information is modeled by mathematical objects called feature structures. Linguistic phenomena are modeled by constraints of equality over the feature structures; the fundamental operation upon the feature structures, allowing solution of such systems of equations, is a simple merging of their information content called unification. Although differences among these theories remain great, this new appreciation of the common threads in research paradigms previously thought ideologically incompatible provides an opportunity for a uniting of efforts and results among these areas, as well as the ability to compare previously incommensurate claims.Engineering and Applied Science

Persistent circulation of a fluoroquinolone-resistant Salmonella enterica Typhi clone in the Indian subcontinent.

BACKGROUND: The molecular structure of circulating enteric fever pathogens was studied using hospital-based genomic surveillance in a tertiary care referral centre in South India as a first genomic surveillance study, to our knowledge, of blood culture-confirmed enteric fever in the region. METHODS: Blood culture surveillance was conducted at St John's Medical College Hospital, Bengaluru, between July 2016 and June 2017. The bacterial isolates collected were linked to demographic variables of patients and subjected to WGS. The resulting pathogen genomic data were also globally contextualized to gauge possible phylogeographical patterns. RESULTS: Hospital-based genomic surveillance for enteric fever in Bengaluru, India, identified 101 Salmonella enterica Typhi and 14 S. Paratyphi A in a 1 year period. Ninety-six percent of isolates displayed non-susceptibility to fluoroquinolones. WGS showed the dominant pathogen was S. Typhi genotype 4.3.1.2 (H58 lineage II). A fluoroquinolone-resistant triple-mutant clone of S. Typhi 4.3.1.2 previously associated with gatifloxacin treatment failure in Nepal was implicated in 18% of enteric fever cases, indicating ongoing inter-regional circulation. CONCLUSIONS: Enteric fever in South India continues to be a major public health issue and is strongly associated with antimicrobial resistance. Robust microbiological surveillance is necessary to direct appropriate treatment and preventive strategies. Of particular concern is the emergence and expansion of the highly fluoroquinolone-resistant triple-mutant S. Typhi clone and its ongoing inter- and intra-country transmission in South Asia, which highlights the need for regional coordination of intervention strategies, including vaccination and longer-term strategies such as improvements to support hygiene and sanitation