Search results for " Languages"
showing 10 items of 1859 documents
Co-occurrence of discourse markers in English : from juxtaposition to composition
2019
Abstract In this paper, we report on a qualitative analysis of co-occurring discourse markers, that is, sequences of adjacent discourse markers that belong to the same unit but may express different functions. We examine several formal and functional features of these co-occurring strings on the basis of corpus examples extracted from conversational data in English. In particular, we focus on scope, meaning-in-context (or functions), syntactic category and position. Our analysis reveals several degrees of integration: differences in scope allow us to differentiate juxtaposition and combination of markers. In the case of combination, difference in meaning integration allows us to distinguish…
Using discourse segmentation to account for the polyfunctionality of discourse markers:The case of well
2021
Abstract A large number of studies describe the many different functions of polyfunctional discourse markers like well in different contexts and from different theoretical perspectives. In the current paper, we propose to systematize the many different uses identified based on their position with respect to the discourse units they are associated with. Not only can previous findings on well be integrated into a single coherent representation of its uses and functions, but the positions with respect to the discourse units can also be associated with specific functions, thus shedding light on how the polyfunctionality of well is brought about.
Combinations of discourse markers with repairs and repetitions in English, French and Spanish
2020
Abstract Discourse markers have a central role in planning and repairing processes of speech production. They relate with fluency and disfluency phenomena such as pauses, repetitions and reformulations. Their polyfunctionality is challenging and few form-function mappings are stable cross-linguistically. This study combines a functional and a structural approach to discourse markers and their combination with and within repetitions and self-repairs in native English, French and Spanish, in order to establish the inter-relation between these three fluency-related devices and to find potentially universal patterns of use. Qualitative coding and quantitative analyses of categories of markers a…
Epichristoffel Words and Minimization of Moore Automata
2014
This paper is focused on the connection between the combinatorics of words and minimization of automata. The three main ingredients are the epichristoffel words, Moore automata and a variant of Hopcroft's algorithm for their minimization. Epichristoffel words defined in [14] generalize some properties of circular sturmian words. Here we prove a factorization property and the existence of the reduction tree, that uniquely identifies the structure of the word. Furthermore, in the paper we investigate the problem of the minimization of Moore automata by defining a variant of Hopcroft's minimization algorithm. The use of this variant makes simpler the computation of the running time and consequ…
On the Shuffle of Star-Free Languages
2012
Motivated by the general problem to characterize families of languages closed under shuffle, we investigate some conditions under which the shuffle of two star-free languages is star-free. Some of the special cases here approached give rise to new problems in combinatorics on words.
A note on renewal systems
1992
Abstract A renewal system is a symbolic dynamical system generated by free concatenations of a finite set of words. In this paper we prove that, given two systems which are both renewal and Markov systems, it is decidable whether they are topologically conjugate. The proof makes use of the methods and the techniques of formal language theory.
Regularly Algebraizable Logics
2001
A sentential logic (S, C) is regularly algebraizable (alias 1-algebraizable) if it possesses a non-empty system E(p, q) of equivalence sentences such that E(p, q) ⊆ C(p, q).
On Sturmian Graphs
2007
AbstractIn this paper we define Sturmian graphs and we prove that all of them have a certain “counting” property. We show deep connections between this counting property and two conjectures, by Moser and by Zaremba, on the continued fraction expansion of real numbers. These graphs turn out to be the underlying graphs of compact directed acyclic word graphs of central Sturmian words. In order to prove this result, we give a characterization of the maximal repeats of central Sturmian words. We show also that, in analogy with the case of Sturmian words, these graphs converge to infinite ones.
A decidable word problem without equivalent canonical term rewriting system
1989
We present a weak associative single-axiom system having the following property: the word problem is decidable with an efficient algorithm even though there does not exist any finite equivalent canonical term rewriting system.
Forbidden words in symbolic dynamics
2000
AbstractWe introduce an equivalence relation≃between functions from N to N. By describing a symbolic dynamical system in terms of forbidden words, we prove that the≃-equivalence class of the function that counts the minimal forbidden words of a system is a topological invariant of the system. We show that the new invariant is independent from previous ones, but it is not characteristic. In the case of sofic systems, we prove that the≃-equivalence of the corresponding functions is a decidable question. As a more special application, we show, by using the new invariant, that two systems associated to Sturmian words having “different slope” are not conjugate.