Plural indefinite descriptions with unos and the interpretation of number

[Abstract] It has been noticed that indefinite descriptions with the Spanish determiner unos (plural-“one”) have a group denotation (Villalta 1994). That meaning has been explained within DRT (Laca and Tasmowski 1996, Gutiérrez Rexach 2001). Unos introduces a group referent variable in the discourse, which is associated to an atomic condition and does not trigger box-splitting (Gutiérrez Rexach 2001). However, the group interpretation is unstable, and there are cases in which unos DPs may have an individual reading too. We suggest that instability is best understood as an epistemic fact. Unos is not a semantic determiner of the plural noun that follows it but it is composed with a covert group-denoting noun, which restricts the variable domain to sets of groups. The plural noun denotes the member’s class and is related to the covert group term through a group-constitute function (Barker 1992). The group interpretation is unstable because it relies on our implicit knowledge of a covert group-denoting nominal head. The variability in the group interpretation also shows the role of perception in processing groups. We propose an explanation of the instability of unos in terms of Kratzer’s version of a Skolem Choice Function. Unos denotes a Perspectival Choice Function that combines with a predicate denoting a set of groups and returns a unique group.We use the perspectival argument to represent the holder of the beliefs from which the implicit meaning is inferred. When the perspectival argument is underspecified, the unos-phrase denotes a fuzzy group, which we dub a cluster. When it is anchored to the speaker, the content of the cluster becomes transparent and the distributive reading of the group may arise. We extend the Spanish case to Galician and Catalan.[Resumen] En este artículo se estudian los factores que desencadenan las interpretaciones de 'grupo' y 'distributiva' en descripciones plurales introducidos por el artículo indefinido "unos", y modelizamos "unos" como una función de elección perspectival. La lectura de 'grupo' de "unos" fue identificado por Villalta (1994) y ha sido explicado mediante un modelo discursivo (Gutiérrez Reixach 2001) que atribuye la lectura de grupo a que, supuestamente, "unos" introduce una variable con referencia de grupo en el discurso. Sin embargo, esta explicación tropieza con contra-ejemplos en los que "unos"+SN.PL tiene interpretación 'distributiva'. Consecuentemente este modelo no puede dar cuenta de tales datos de inestabilidad semántica. Proponemos un modelo alternativo en el que la inestabilidad en la interpretación de grupo de "unos" surge como un fenómeno epistémico. En nuestro modelo, "unos" contiene una categoría nominal vacía con referencia a variables de conjuntos de grupos. Una función de constitución de grupo (Barker 1992) vincula el nombre descriptivo léxico con la categoría vacía de 'grupo'. La interpretación de grupo es inestable porque depende de cómo procesamos los grupos. En nuestro modelo, "unos" denota una función de elección perspectival que se combina con un predicado nominal y da como resultado un único grupo. El argumento perspectival representa la creencia del hablante. Cuando el argumento perspectival no está especificado, el sintagma con "unos" denota un grupo borroso ("cluster"). Cuando está anclado con el hablante, el contenido del cluster se hace transparente, en cuyo caso puede darse la lectura 'distributiva' del grupo

The grammar of Egyptian NPs and statements with fractional number expressions

[Abstract] Egyptian fractional numerals are partitive expressions of two types: (a) A simple substantive specific for naming the natural fractions ‘half’ gs, ‘quarter’ hsb, ‘third’ r, ‘two thirds’ r.wj. (b) A complex partitive numeral formed with the substantive r ‘part’ and a number, r-num (meaning ‘the nth-part’), which became generalized – also for ‘quarter’ and ‘third’ – as the standard Middle Egyptian denomination for fractional numbers. Fractional numerals documented in Middle Egyptian hieratic mathematical papyri are related to their argument by means of genitival syntax: gÈ n r.wj ‘half of two parts’; aha, r.wj=f ‘a quantity, two parts of it’. We propose a syntactic structure for Egyptian fractional numerals that specifies the lexical and grammatical categories and the linguistic operations used to build the numeral and its relation with the argument operated over.[Resumen] Estudiamos la gramática de expresiones nominales con numerales fraccionarios documentadas en papiros matemáticos de la 12va dinastía simbolizados en escritura hierática. Los numerales fraccionarios usados en egipcio medio aparecen simbolizados mediante expresiones partitivas de 2 tipos: (a) Un sustantivo simple usado para nombrar las fracciones naturales ‘mitad’ “gs”, ‘cuarto’ “hsb”, ‘tercio’ “r”, ‘dos tercios’ “r.wj”. (b) Un numeral partitivo compuesto formado por el sustantivo “r” ‘parte’ y un número, “r.NUM” (que denota ‘la nva-parte’), que se usó de forma generalizada en egipcio medio para nombrar los numerales fraccionarios. Los numerales fraccionarios documentados en los papiros matemáticos de egipcio medio se asocian a su argumento por medio de sintaxis genitiva: “gs n r.wj” ‘la mitad de dos partes’; “aha, r.wj=f” ‘una cantidad, dos partes de ella’. Proponemos una estructura sintáctica para los numerales fraccionarios egipcios que especifica las categorías léxicas y gramaticales y las operaciones lingüísticas usadas para construir el numeral y para representar la relación del numeral con el argumento sobre el que opera

Voice Prints

[Resumen] La composición Voice Prints es un homenaje a nuestros antepasados y a las lenguas que emplearon para extender en bastos dominios grandes civilizaciones. ¿Ubi sunt? ¿Dónde están ahora nuestros poderosos antepasados? Han desaparecido de nuestro mundo? Esos pueblos y los lugares en donde habitaron perviven como personajes fundidos en una imagen mental que encadena eventos infinitos creados por nuestros pensamientos. Podemos oír las resonancias de sus voces en “la espiral del bramido del tiempo” (Llamazares). En VP las voces y lenguas de los antepasados están articuladas en la voz del barítono y la voz del violín, que mezclan sus timbre en resonancias de la voz de un padre distante (los armónicos 2, 3, 4, 4, 7, 9 del tono fundamental si bemol, usado por Stockhausen en Stimmung). ¿Cómo identificamos esas voces con la imagen mental de las voces de los antepasados? Lo hacemos contrastando los rasgos acústicos de las voces del barítono y del violín con los rasgos acústicos de la imagen acústica mental que tenemos de las voces de nuestros antecesores

The expressive function in wor songs

[Abstract] We study some musical and expressive features of traditional Wor vocal music, an ancestral gender of the Biaks (Indonesia). A core aspect in Wor songs is the expression of wonder, which Biaks have developed into an Aesthetics of Surprise [1, 2]. We describe some key structural features in the pitch and time domain used as means to express such an aesthetics. We represent the acoustic and prosodic features encoding expressive content by means of an Expressive Function which contains expressive indices with internal structure [3, 4]. We propose an augmented expressive score [5] for the transcription of unaccompanied Wor songs.[Resumen] En este trabajo estudiamos la estructura musical y la técnica empleada en el canto no acompañado de la música vocal Wor, un género ancestral de música creado por el pueblo Biak (Indonesia) para celebrar momentos importantes de su historia o de su vida cotidiana. Un aspecto crucial del género Wor es la expresión de sorpresa y maravilla, que el pueblo Biak ha elaborado en una Estética del Asombro. Analizamos algunos de los rasgos cruciales en el dominio de la frecuencia y del tiempo que se emplean para expresar emociones y afectos de maravilla y asombro. Representamos los rasgos acústicos y prosódicos de contenido expresivo mediante una Función Expresiva, que contiene índices expresivos con estructura interna. Proponemos una Partitura Expresiva Aumentada como transcripción de la música vocal Wor cantada a capella

Homage to Darwin

El documento es una versión ampliada de la ponencia presentada en la International Conference on Contemporary Music[Abstract] The DM is a sonic simulation of the origin and evolution of human language inspired in Darwin’s ”The Descent of Man” (1871) and his conjectures on the evolution of hominid species descendant of ancestral homo. It focuses on the sounds allegedly uttered by 5 species: Australopithecus afarensis (4,2-2,6 mill.), Homo habilis (2,5-1,6 mill.), Homo erectus (1 mill.-100.000), Homo antecesor (800.000). Australopithecus afarensis uses barks, pant hoots, screaming vocalizations to express his emotions and to communicate with fellows. The syntax is holistic and the sentences are not articulated in simple units. The sentences express different type of emotions:whispers, growls, complaints, pleasure, acceptance, power, fear, danger alarm. The scream sentences have 2 peaks of frequencies of ca. 2 or 3 octaves. Homo habilis invents tools and develops a technique of hard percussion. We represent this specie by simple rhythms. Homo ergaster discovers symmetry and develops a technique for carving stone (Achealense Culture). We represent him by percussive sound with complex symmetric rhythms. Homo erectus lives in groups of hunter-gatherers. He discovers melody, and is capable of identifying intermediate points between the extreme frequency peaks of the scream-Sentences. He utters melody sentences within a range of 1 -2 octaves. Those sentences are not articulated in phonemes. They are uttered as mmm-sentences. Homo antecesor live in groups of hunter-gatherer. They burry the dead . They develop a more complex melodic-tonal language. Are capable of holding dialogues and narrating stories.Xunta de Galicia; IN809 A 2009/10

Aspects of Multilingualism in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

[Abstract] The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a multilingual country where 214 native languages (Ethnologue) are spoken among circa 68 million inhabitants (2008). The situations derived from the practice of a multilingual mode of communication have had important linguistic effects on the languages in contact. Those have been particularly crucial in the rural areas, where the relations between the individual speakers of different micro linguistic groups have contributed to varied degrees of modification of the grammatical code of the languages. The contact that resulted from migratory movements could also explain why some linguistic features (i.e. logophoricity, Güldemann 2003) are shared by genetically diverse languages spoken across a large macro-area. The coexistence of such a large number of languages in the DRC has important cultural, economical, sanitary and political effects on the life of the Congolese people, who could be cruc ially affected by the decisions on language policy taken by the Administration

Los numerales partitivos en español

Estudiamos la gramática de los determinantes numerales partitivos que denotan el concepto de número racional en español. Los datos incluyen la mitad, dos terceras partes, dos tercios. Los numerales partitivos forman una clase gramatical heterogénea. Las distintas expresiones numerales partitivas categorizan algunos de los algoritmos usados durante el largo proceso de invención del concepto de número racional. A excepción de la fracción natural medio, que es un adjetivo numeral partitivo simple, los demás numerales partitivos son expresiones nominales complejas que resultan de aplicar un operador de partición a dos argumentos numerales (divisor y dividendo). Proponemos que el operador de partición, expresado en español por el nombre parte o por un sufijo nominal partitivo, es núcleo de un sintagma número partitivo, que se proyecta en sintaxis en una estructura nominal escindida Sn, SN. La relación partitiva entre dos números denotada por los numerales partitivos es expresada por medio del morfema de plural del núcleo nominal del sintagma de número partitivo

Third International Conference on Technologies for Music Notation and Representation TENOR 2017

The third International Conference on Technologies for Music Notation and Representation seeks to focus on a set of specific research issues associated with Music Notation that were elaborated at the first two editions of TENOR in Paris and Cambridge. The theme of the conference is vocal music, whereas the pre-conference workshops focus on innovative technological approaches to music notation

The relationship between jumping to conclusions and social cognition in first-episode psychosis

Altres ajuts: Obra Social La Caixa (RecerCaixa call 2013), and Obra Social Sant Joan de Déu (BML), Generalitat de Catalunya, Health Department, PERIS call (SLT006/17/00231), and the CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya. Andalusian Regional Ministry of Health, grant PI-0634/2011Jumping to conclusions (JTC) and impaired social cognition (SC) affect the decoding, processing, and use of social information by people with psychosis. However, the relationship between them had not been deeply explored within psychosis in general, and in first-episode psychosis (FEP) in particular. Our aim was to study the relationship between JTC and SC in a sample with FEP. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 121 patients with FEP, with measures to assess JTC (easy, hard, and salient probability tasks) and SC (emotional recognition, attributional style, and theory of mind). We performed Student's t-test and logistic regression in order to analyse these associations.We found a statistically significant and consistent relationship of small-moderate effect size between JTC (all three tasks) and impaired emotional recognition. Also, our results suggest a relationship between JTC and internal attributions for negative events. Relationships between JTC and theory of mind were not found. These results highlight the importance of psychological treatments oriented to work on a hasty reasoning style and on improving processing of social information linked to emotional recognition and single-cause attributions

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons bioaccessibility in seafood: Culinary practices effects on dietary exposure

This work aimed to determine the effect of culinary practices on the contamination level and bioaccessibility of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in seafood. The selected farmed seafood species (marine shrimp, clams and seaweed) were commercially available in Portugal. The mean concentrations of PAHs varied between 0.23 and 51.8 µg kg-1, with the lowest value being observed in raw shrimp and the highest in dried seaweed. The number of compounds detected in seaweed and clams (naphthalene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, benzo(b)fluoranthene and benzo(j)fluoranthene) were higher than in shrimp (fluorene and pyrene). Among the PAHs measured, fluorene was the predominant one. There was a significant interaction effect between species and culinary treatment (p < 0.05), thus boiled and dried seaweed samples presented the lowest and the highest levels of fluorene (0.13 and 1.8 µg kg-1), respectively. The daily intake of PAHs decreased with bioaccessibility, varying from 22% for benzo(k)fluoranthene (in raw clam) to 84% for phenanthrene (in steamed clam). According to the potency equivalent concentrations, screening values and bioaccessibility of PAHs, the consumption of marine shrimp, clam and seaweed is considered as safe for consumers.This work received financial support from European (FEDER funds through COMPETE) and Portuguese funds (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia Project UID/QUI/50006/2013). The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology supported the Ph.D. Grant of ALM (SFRH/BD/103569/2014) as well as the post-doc Grant of P.A. (SFRH/BPD/100728/2014) and the IF2014 contract of AM.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio