127 research outputs found
Linguistic meta-theory the formal and empirical conditions of acceptability of linguistic theories and descriptions
Most linguists acknowledge, explicitly or implicitly,
the relevance of epistemological questions in
linguistics but relatively few have given more than a
cursory, ad hoc or incomplete consideration to them.
The work of one of those few, Jan Mulder, forms the
starting point for much of the present discussion.
Epistemological considerations arise in many contexts
in linguistics and in many guises. It is an epistemological
matter whenever we test the adequacy of a
description or the acceptability of a theory. Epistemological
considerations are latent whenever we discuss
the form or the content of linguistic theories
and descriptions or their interrelations. The comparison
of different approaches to linguistics inevitably
raises epistemological questions concerning our
approach to linguistics or our presuppositions about it.
These questions are of a general nature and transcend
questions about particular linguistic theories and descriptions.
These epistemological questions force us to
consider what we take linguistics to be. In considering
questions of the type mentioned we are forced, for
example, to analyse what we mean by a "linguistic
theory", a "linguistic description" and what phenomena
we are aiming to understand. We are, furthermore,
forced to analyse the constraints which a scientific
attitude places upon linguistic theorising
and description-building. It is these questions concerning
the acceptability of linguistic theories and
descriptions which we call linguistic meta-theory.
This thesis falls into five main parts. Firstly,
in Chapter One, we consider the nature and scope of
linguistic meta-theory. Secondly, in Chapter Two, we
look at a number of previous approaches to the subject.
Other important contributions are discussed as they
arise in the text. Thirdly, in Chapters Three and
Four, we consider in detail the major meta-theoretical
distinctions in linguistics and their consequences.
In particular, we distinguish linguistic theories
from linguistic descriptions and discuss the nature of
linguistic phenomena. The view is put forward that
linguistics is a scientific subject. The meaning of
this assertion is analysed and the interrelations of
linguistic theories, descriptions and phenomena are
considered in the light of this analysis. The main
epistemological requirement that is put forward and
defended is that of the empiricism of linguistics.
Certain changes in our view of the philosophy of science
and in our view of the form of linguistic theories
and descriptions follow from the conjunction of
these major meta-theoretical positions.
Fourthly, we consider the main meta-theoretical
considerations concerning theories (Chapter Five) and
reject a widespread view of linguistic theory as a
non-empirical study (Chapter Six) and we consider the
main meta-theoretical conditions relating to linguistic
descriptions and some practical examples of description
-building consonant with the general positions adopted
in Chapter Seven. In Chapter Eight, we look at a concrete
example of theory-building in the light of the
meta-theoretical conditions of acceptability previously
set up. We are especially concerned to show how a
theory can meet the condition of being "applicable" or
"indirectly scientific" through the establishment of
acceptable empirical descriptions consonant with the
meta-theoretical conditions on descriptions considered
earlier.
The view that linguistics is a science implies
that we must be concerned with the empirical testing of
descriptions and, so, the fifth part of the work is
devoted to methodology. In Chapter Nine, we defend
the role and necessity of methodology in linguistics
and set up the logical framework of relations between
the methodology and theory descriptions and phenomena.
In Chapter Ten, we examine two of the known types of
empirical testing and their shortcomings. Finally, in
Chapter Eleven, we give an example of the successful
and correct application of a methodology in order to
bring out the nature of empirical testing and to demonstrate
its feasibility within a scientific linguistics
of the sort we imagine
Observational constraints on Rastall's cosmology
Rastall's theory is a modification of General Relativity, based on the
non-conservation of the stress-energy tensor. The latter is encoded in a
parameter such that restores the usual law. We test Rastall's theory in cosmology, on a flat
Robertson-Walker metric, investigating a two-fluid model and using the type Ia
supernovae Constitution dataset. One of the fluids is pressureless and obeys
the usual conservation law, whereas the other is described by an equation of
state , with constant. The Bayesian analysis of the
Constitution set does not strictly constrain the parameter and prefers
values of close to -1. We then address the evolution of small
perturbations and show that they are dramatically unstable if and
, i.e. General Relativity is the favored configuration. The only
alternative is , for which the dynamics becomes independent from
.Comment: Latex file, 14 pages, 6 figures in eps format. Substantial
modifications performed, main conclusions change
Quantum-classical transition in Scale Relativity
The theory of scale relativity provides a new insight into the origin of
fundamental laws in physics. Its application to microphysics allows us to
recover quantum mechanics as mechanics on a non-differentiable (fractal)
spacetime. The Schrodinger and Klein-Gordon equations are demonstrated as
geodesic equations in this framework. A development of the intrinsic properties
of this theory, using the mathematical tool of Hamilton's bi-quaternions, leads
us to a derivation of the Dirac equation within the scale-relativity paradigm.
The complex form of the wavefunction in the Schrodinger and Klein-Gordon
equations follows from the non-differentiability of the geometry, since it
involves a breaking of the invariance under the reflection symmetry on the
(proper) time differential element (ds - ds). This mechanism is generalized
for obtaining the bi-quaternionic nature of the Dirac spinor by adding a
further symmetry breaking due to non-differentiability, namely the differential
coordinate reflection symmetry (dx^mu - dx^mu) and by requiring invariance
under parity and time inversion. The Pauli equation is recovered as a
non-relativistic-motion approximation of the Dirac equation.Comment: 28 pages, no figur
Scalar models for the generalized Chaplygin gas and the structure formation constraints
The generalized Chaplygin gas model represents an attempt to unify dark
matter and dark energy. It is characterized by a fluid with an equation of
state . It can be obtained from a generalization of the
DBI action for a scalar, tachyonic field. At background level, this model gives
very good results, but it suffers from many drawbacks at perturbative level. We
show that, while for background analysis it is possible to consider any value
for , the perturbative analysis must be restricted to positive values
of . This restriction can be circumvented if the origin of the
generalized Chaplygin gas is traced back to a self-interacting scalar field,
instead of the DBI action. But, in doing so, the predictions coming from
formation of large scale structures reduce the generalized Chaplygin gas model
to a kind of quintessence model, and the unification scenario is lost, if the
scalar field is the canonical one. However, if the unification condition is
imposed from the beginning as a prior, the model may remain competitive. More
interesting results, concerning the unification program, are obtained if a
non-canonical self-interacting scalar field, inspired by Rastall's theory of
gravity, is imposed. In this case, an agreement with the background tests is
possible.Comment: Latex file, 25 pages, 33 figures in eps format. New section on scalar
models. Accepted for publication in Gravitation&Cosmolog
Analyzing three-player quantum games in an EPR type setup
We use the formalism of Clifford Geometric Algebra (GA) to develop an
analysis of quantum versions of three-player non-cooperative games. The quantum
games we explore are played in an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) type setting.
In this setting, the players' strategy sets remain identical to the ones in the
mixed-strategy version of the classical game that is obtained as a proper
subset of the corresponding quantum game. Using GA we investigate the outcome
of a realization of the game by players sharing GHZ state, W state, and a
mixture of GHZ and W states. As a specific example, we study the game of
three-player Prisoners' Dilemma.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure
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Interaction of convective organisation with monsoon precipitation, atmosphere, surface and sea: the 2016 INCOMPASS field campaign in India
The INCOMPASS field campaign combines airborne and ground measurements of the 2016 Indian monsoon, towards the ultimate goal of better predicting monsoon rainfall. The monsoon supplies the majority of water in South Asia, but forecasting from days to the season ahead is limited by large, rapidly developing errors in model parametrizations. The lack of detailed observations prevents thorough understanding of the monsoon circulation and its interaction with the land surface: a process governed by boundary‐layer and convective‐cloud dynamics. INCOMPASS used the UK Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe‐146 aircraft for the first project of this scale in India, to accrue almost 100 h of observations in June and July 2016. Flights from Lucknow in the northern plains sampled the dramatic contrast in surface and boundary‐layer structures between dry desert air in the west and the humid environment over the northern Bay of Bengal. These flights were repeated in pre‐monsoon and monsoon conditions. Flights from a second base at Bengaluru in southern India measured atmospheric contrasts from the Arabian Sea, over the Western Ghats mountains, to the rain shadow of southeast India and the south Bay of Bengal. Flight planning was aided by forecasts from bespoke 4 km convection‐permitting limited‐area models at the Met Office and India's NCMRWF. On the ground, INCOMPASS installed eddy‐covariance flux towers on a range of surface types, to provide detailed measurements of surface fluxes and their modulation by diurnal and seasonal cycles. These data will be used to better quantify the impacts of the atmosphere on the land surface, and vice versa. INCOMPASS also installed ground instrumentation supersites at Kanpur and Bhubaneswar. Here we motivate and describe the INCOMPASS field campaign. We use examples from two flights to illustrate contrasts in atmospheric structure, in particular the retreating mid‐level dry intrusion during the monsoon onset
Interaction of convective organisation with monsoon precipitation, atmosphere, surface and sea: the 2016 INCOMPASS field campaign in India
The INCOMPASS field campaign combines airborne and ground measurements of the 2016 Indian monsoon, towards the ultimate goal of better predicting monsoon rainfall. The monsoon supplies the majority of water in South Asia, but forecasting from days to the season ahead is limited by large, rapidly developing errors in model parametrizations. The lack of detailed observations prevents thorough understanding of the monsoon circulation and its interaction with the land surface: a process governed by boundary-layer and convective-cloud dynamics.
INCOMPASS used the UK Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146 aircraft for the first project of this scale in India, to accrue almost 100 hours of observations in June and July 2016. Flights from Lucknow in the northern plains sampled the dramatic contrast in surface and boundary layer structures between dry desert air in the west and the humid environment over the northern Bay of Bengal. These flights were repeated in pre-monsoon and monsoon conditions. Flights from a second base at Bengaluru in southern India measured atmospheric contrasts from the Arabian Sea, over the Western Ghats mountains, to the rain shadow of southeast India and the south Bay of Bengal. Flight planning was aided by forecasts from bespoke 4km convection-permitting limited-area models at the Met Office and India's NCMRWF.
On the ground, INCOMPASS installed eddy-covariance flux towers on a range of surface types, to provide detailed measurements of surface fluxes and their modulation by diurnal and seasonal cycles. These data will be used to better quantify the impacts of the atmosphere on the land surface, and vice versa. INCOMPASS also installed ground instrumentation supersites at Kanpur and Bhubaneswar.
Here we motivate and describe the INCOMPASS field campaign. We use examples from two flights to illustrate contrasts in atmospheric structure, in particular the retreating mid-level dry intrusion during the monsoon onset
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