Experimental Support of Argument-based Syntactic Computation

Linguistic theory, cognitive, information, and mathematical modeling are all useful while we attempt to achieve a better understanding of the Language Faculty (LF). This cross-disciplinary approach will eventually lead to the identification of the key principles applicable in the systems of Natural Language Processing. The present work concentrates on the syntax-semantics interface. We start from recursive definitions and application of optimization principles, and gradually develop a formal model of syntactic operations. The result – a Fibonacci- like syntactic tree – is in fact an argument-based variant of the natural language syntax. This representation (argument-centered model, ACM) is derived by a recursive calculus that generates a mode which connects arguments and expresses relations between them. The reiterative operation assigns primary role to entities as the key components of syntactic structure. We provide experimental evidence in support of the argument-based model. We also show that mental computation of syntax is influenced by the inter-conceptual relations between the images of entities in a semantic space

Information Processing in a Cognitive Model of NLP

A model of the cognitive process of natural language processing has been developed using the formalism of generalized nets. Following this stage-simulating model, the treatment of information inevitably includes phases, which require joint operations in two knowledge spaces – language and semantics. In order to examine and formalize the relations between the language and the semantic levels of treatment, the language is presented as an information system, conceived on the bases of human cognitive resources, semantic primitives, semantic operators and language rules and data. This approach is applied for modeling a specific grammatical rule – the secondary predication in Russian. Grammatical rules of the language space are expressed as operators in the semantic space. Examples from the linguistics domain are treated and several conclusions for the semantics of the modeled rule are made. The results of applying the information system approach to the language turn up to be consistent with the stages of treatment modeled with the generalized net

A Cognitive Science Reasoning in Recognition of Emotions in Audio-Visual Speech

In this report we summarize the state-of-the-art of speech emotion recognition from the signal processing point of view. On the bases of multi-corporal experiments with machine-learning classifiers, the observation is made that existing approaches for supervised machine learning lead to database dependent classifiers which can not be applied for multi-language speech emotion recognition without additional training because they discriminate the emotion classes following the used training language. As there are experimental results showing that Humans can perform language independent categorisation, we made a parallel between machine recognition and the cognitive process and tried to discover the sources of these divergent results. The analysis suggests that the main difference is that the speech perception allows extraction of language independent features although language dependent features are incorporated in all levels of the speech signal and play as a strong discriminative function in human perception. Based on several results in related domains, we have suggested that in addition, the cognitive process of emotion-recognition is based on categorisation, assisted by some hierarchical structure of the emotional categories, existing in the cognitive space of all humans. We propose a strategy for developing language independent machine emotion recognition, related to the identification of language independent speech features and the use of additional information from visual (expression) features

Cognitive Approach to e-Learning in Sciences and Technologies

This article describes the approach adopted and the results obtained by the international team developing WBLST (Web Based Learning in Sciences and Technologies) a Web-based application for e-learning, developed for the students of “UVPL: Université Virtuelle des Pays de la Loire”. The developed e-learning system covers three levels of learning activities - content, exercises, and laboratory. The delivery model is designed to operate with domain concepts as relevant providers of semantic links. The aim is to facilitate the overview and to help the establishment of a mental map of the learning material. The implemented system is strongly based on the organization of the instruction in virtual classes. The obtained quality of the system is evaluated on the bases of feedback form students and professors

ON NATIVE SEMANTIC ROLES – COMPARATIVE STUDY BASED ON DATA FROM CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH

This study explores statistically child language-acquisition using data extracted from large collections for acquisition in two languages – English and French. Comparison of the two collections reveals that the advancement in acquiring vocabulary displays very big differences when the children’s speech is classified by the parts of speech deployed, as these are formally defined in the two languages, despite there being no reasons to suppose that the two language groups of children should show significant differences in cognitive development. The hypothesis put forward is that there exist general classes of meaning-representation and the challenge is to obtain evidence corroborating this. A specific set of classes is proposed, derived according to their different contributing roles in the mental representation of the world, considered from the perspective of an “Actor in the environment” cognitive model. The identified parts of speech from the two languages are sorted into the proposed classes. It is shown statistically that when children’s speech is discriminated to these classes, the acquisition processes in the two languages are very alike. Examining the data, the use of these classes is evident from the onset of language production. Some particularities related to factors influencing the use of communicators, interjections and onomatopoeias in children’s speech are discussed in addition to the study’s overall findings

On native semantic roles – comparative study based on data from child language acquisition of english and french

This study explores statistically child language-acquisition using data extracted from large collections for acquisition in two languages – English and French. Comparison of the two collections reveals that the advancement in acquiring vocabulary displays very big differences when the children’s speech is classified by the parts of speech deployed, as these are formally defined in the two languages, despite there being no reasons to suppose that the two language groups of children should show significant differences in cognitive development. The hypothesis put forward is that there exist general classes of meaning-representation and the challenge is to obtain evidence corroborating this. A specific set of classes is proposed, derived according to their different contributing roles in the mental representation of the world, considered from the perspective of an “Actor in the environment” cognitive model. The identified parts of speech from the two languages are sorted into the proposed classes. It is shown statistically that when children’s speech is discriminated to these classes, the acquisition processes in the two languages are very alike. Examining the data, the use of these classes is evident from the onset of language production. Some particularities related to factors influencing the use of communicators, interjections and onomatopoeias in children’s speech are discussed in addition to the study’s overall findings

Towards emotion recognition in texts – a sound-symbolic experiment

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the phonetic content of prose texts in English and the emotion that the texts inspire, namely - the effect of vowel-consonant bi-phones on subjects’ evaluation of positive or negative emotional valence when reading. The methodology is based on data from an experiment where the participants, native speakers of three different languages, evaluated the valence invoked in them by one-page texts from English books. The sub-lexical level of the texts was obtained using phonetic transcriptions of the words and their further decomposition into vowel-consonant bi-phones. The statistical investigation relies on density-measures of the investigated bi-phones over each text as a whole. The result shows that there exists a correlation between the obtained sub-lexical representation and the valence perceived by the readers. Concerning the type of the consonants in the bi-phones (abrupt or sonorant), the influence of the abrupt bi-phones is stronger. However, sub-sets of both types of bi-phones showed relatedness with the emotional valence conveyed by the texts. In conclusion, the speech, expressed in written form, is laden with emotional valence even when the words’ lexicological meaning is not taken into consideration and the words are apprehended as mere phonetic constructs. This prompts hypothesizing that words’ semantics itself is partly underpinned by some mental emotion-related level of conceptualization, influenced by sounds. For practical purposes, the result suggests that based on the syllabic content of a text it should be possible to predict the valence that the text would inspire in its readers

Using Database Tables and a Non-standard Neural Network Model, for Internal Cognitive Representations 1. Language as an Information System

One of the primary goals of a human language is to assure the information exchange between individuals. Information, residing as internal cognitive representation of the individual H1 is presented as language-coded information, communicated to another individual H2, and interpreted to internal cognitive representation of H2 (figure 1). The ‘internal cognitive representation ’ is considered as related to a semantic description of the world. As the information transmission relates two internal representations, it could be thought that the language communication builds a “semantic channel ” (Figure 1). To conceive an information system (IS), designers use the representation “input- treatment block – output”. On its input, an IS receives data and resources and on its output- obtains informative products. The treatment block functions on the bases of a particular model, which includes a number of rules and operators on data. Data emerge from a data-source, external for the system. For the correct functioning of the IS, it is essential to guarantee a permanent link between data-sources and their data-images on the system’s input. That requires categorization of data and their storage in separate data-containers, in a non-redundant way. IS engineers apply semantic modeling in order to present the data-source as a cybernetic system and, on this bases, to build a structure of data-containers, matching the model of the source. This approach is well-known in the IS domain (see for example Codd, 1979). input Resources – Cognitive resources Data – coded internal representation H1 Treatment block Language Model and method for dataprocessing. Rules and operators. Treatment – uses cognitive resources. categorization of data Organized storage Semantic channel internal representation of Language Information Syste