Search results for " semantics"
showing 10 items of 95 documents
An alternative perspective on “semantic P600” effects in language comprehension
2008
Abstract The literature on the electrophysiology of language comprehension has recently seen a very prominent discussion of “semantic P600” effects, which have been observed, for example, in sentences involving an implausible thematic role assignment to an argument that would be a highly plausible filler for a different thematic role of the same verb. These findings have sparked a discussion about underlying properties of the language comprehension architecture, as they have generally been viewed as a challenge to established models of language processing and specifically to the notion that syntax precedes semantics in the comprehension process. In this paper, we review the literature on se…
A Formalism Supplementing Cognitive Semantics Based on Mereology
2007
ABSTRACT This paper is motivated by and aims to supplement Cognitive Semantics. Details of this latter prominent approach within contemporary linguistic research will not be discussed here. Rather, we focus on a formalization of the concept of Gestalt and provide a formal semantics that can be used to interpret a certain formal language (LM 0) with respect to a universe of structured wholes (Gestalts). Since a great deal of the analyses of linguistic organization that has been provided by Cognitive Semantics since the mid-1970s is based on the concept of Gestalt, the semantics unfolded in the following may be viewed as an attempt to provide a starting point for supplementing the yet informa…
On Referring to Gestalts
2010
This paper discusses a fresh approach to formal semantics based on mereology and Gestalt Theory. While Wiegand (2007, Spacial Cognition & Computation, Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum) unfolds the technical details of this new approach, the following paper aims to discuss the philosophical motivation an implications of what I have called mereological semantics. Particular attention will be given to an ongoing debate on the nature of relations.
The evolution of evolvability
2005
Ever since Ruth Garrett Millikan burst on the scene with her famous 1984 book Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories [1] she has continued to make substantial contributions, in a remarkably sustained effort that significantly shaped the theoretical landscape in a number of fast-moving fields, from cognitive science to the philosophies of mind, language and biology [1–3]. One of her many achievements lies in the development of a new theoretical approach to cognitive semantics, which philosophers know under the heading of ‘teleofunctionalism’.
Between Composition and Emergentness: A Cognitive Semantics Re-Reading of the Way-Construction
2016
This study re-analyzes the English way-construction by having recourse to diverse concepts and tools of Talmy’s cognitive semantics. Drawing on his theory of recombinance and its relevance for conceptualizing the construction, the article implements Talmy’s theory of event integration, categorizes the way-construction as an instantiation of the open path event frame, considers link-ups of the schematic systems of force dynamics and attention as they become instantiated in the construction, and probes into its motion-aspect patterning, grounded in a conformation of space and time and resulting in a strategy that is called de-conflation. Further, it will recruit Talmy’s types of semantic conf…
Default Semantics and the architecture of the mind
2011
In this paper, I explore the relationship between Relevance Theory and Jaszczolt's Default Semantics, framing this debate within the picture of massive modularity tempered by the idea of brain plasticity (Perkins, 2007). While Relevance Theory focuses on processing (see cognitive efforts and contextual effects interplay), Default Semantics focuses on types of sources from which addressees draw information and types of processes that interact in providing it. In particular, I argue that Relevance Theory interacts with default semantics by standardizing inferences which are ultimately compressed (to use a term by Bach, 1998) into a default semantics. I briefly discuss potential obstacles to t…
The Case of Gabriel: A Linguistic Therapy of Evaluation Perspective
2010
This article describes the treatment of Gabriel, 24, an undergraduate student suffering from performance anxiety. His main symptoms were heart palpitations, aching muscles, inability to relax, nervousness, worry, and negative anticipation about performance in various classes. The treatment applied was 13 sessions of linguistic therapy of evaluation (LTE), a variety of cognitive therapy based on the theory of general semantics. The main therapeutic techniques involved emphasizing the difference between words and “facts” (the “map” and the “territory”), general semantics debate, and the focusing on orders of abstraction. Across treatment Gabriel showed a clear shift from an intensional orient…
(De)terminologisation processes in wine tasting notes : How expressive are canonical and non-canonical hedonic markers?
2022
Following the proposal of Gautier (2018), an important part of the “terminology” of wine tasting notes is made up by hedonic markers that cannot always be treated as terms – in the traditional meaning of technical/specialised terms – as they lack a consensual definition acknowledged by field experts. The main challenges of such markers concern at least the following three dimensions: (i) they are directly linked to the gustative experience of the taster/speaker and his/her experiential memory; (ii) they are also linked to the field knowledge and the degree of expertise of the taster/speaker – be it a “true” knowledge or his/her ability to imitate expert discourse and (iii) they are mostly s…
Object-Oriented Operational Semantics
2016
Operational semantics is one way of providing meaning to an executable language. On a high level of abstraction, operational semantics means to define an interpreter or an abstract machine for the language. In this article, we review the concept of operational semantics in the scope of meta-model-based language definitions and identify challenges and issues. We provide a clean conceptual approach using an object-oriented runtime environment and state change operations, which relies on an underlying abstract virtual machine. We present the approach using a sample language.
A Formal Semantics and a Client Synthesis for a BPEL Service
2008
A complex Web service described with languages like BPEL4WS, consists of an executable process and its observable behaviour (called an abstract process) based on the messages exchanged with the client. The abstract process behaviour is non deterministic due to the internal choices during the service execution. Furthermore the specification often includes timing constraints which must be taken into account by the client. Thus given a service specification, we identify the synthesis of a client as a key issue for the development of Web services. To this end, we propose an approach based on (dense) timed automata to first describe the observable service behaviour and then to build correct inte…