On Ivlev’s Semantics for Modality

This paper explores the relationship between dynamic and truth conditional semantics for epistemic modals. It provides a generalization of a standard dynamic update semantics for modals. This new semantics derives a Kripke semantics for modals and a standard dynamic semantics for modals as special cases. The semantics allows for new characterizations of a variety of principles in modal logic, including the inconsistency of ‘p and might not p’. Finally, the semantics provides a construction procedure for transforming any truth conditional semantics for modals into a dynamic semantics for modals with similar properties.

Ninety-two adolescents with learning disabilities were randomly assigned to four groups to determine the effects of semantic and syntactic complexity on the reading comprehension of content area prose. One group served as a control and read a social studies passage without change. The three treatment groups read passages with syntactic and/or semantic modifications. Comprehension was significantly better for those groups reading passages with combined semantic and syntactic modifications and syntactic modifications alone, when compared to the control group. Semantic modifications alone did not significantly improve comprehension.

A semantic restriction is presented for use with paramodulation in automated theorem-proving programs. The method applies to first-order formulas with equality whole clause forms are Horn sets. In this method, an interpretation is given to the program along with the set of clauses to be refuted. The intention is to have the interpretation serve as an example to guide the search for a refutation. The semantic restriction was incorporated into an existing automated theorem-proving program, and a number of experiments were conducted on theorems in abstract algebra. Semantic paramodulation is an extension of set-of-support paramodulation. A comparison of the two strategies was used as the basis for experimentation. The semantic searches performed markedly better than the corresponding set-of-support searches in many of the comparisons. The semantic restriction seems to make the program less sensitive to the choice of rewrite rules and supported clauses.

The paper investigates the functions of idioms and types of modification in illustrated advertising texts and women's fashion online magazines. Types of idiom modification are discussed: a) formal modification without semantic modification; b) formal modification with semantic modification; c) semantic modification without formal modification. The relation of idioms to the image, text and title is established, the pragmatic functions of idioms are investigated and named.

Semantic modality, a core notion in linguistics, pertains to how language expresses meanings associated with possibility, necessity, and capability. In the last 20 years, research on semantic modality has significantly expanded, highlighting its interdisciplinary importance in linguistics, cognitive science, and computational technology. This study utilizes bibliometric analysis to examine trends, topic focusses, and significant contributions in semantic modality research from 2005 to 2024. A total of 3,025 articles obtained from the Scopus database were examined utilizing applications such as VOSviewer and Biblioshiny. The results indicate a significant rise in publications, especially post-2016, propelled by progress in natural language processing (NLP), deep learning, and multimodal technologies. Thematic mapping revealed “Human” and “Semantics” as essential themes in the research, emphasizing the amalgamation of language theories with cognitive and computational applications. Furthermore, terms like “multi-modal” and “cross-modal” highlight the increasing interest in multimodal interactions, which include text, visual, and auditory data. This study highlights the necessity for more regional and linguistic representation to improve cultural and linguistic variety, notwithstanding the dominance of China and the United States in the research environment. Significant problems were observed, including biases in datasets and deficiencies in the effective integration of cross-media modalities. This study offers an in-depth analysis of the progression of semantic modality research and presents essential recommendations for subsequent investigations. It emphasizes the necessity of diversifying datasets, enhancing interdisciplinary cooperation, and utilizing advanced AI models like GPT-4 and CLIP to enrich semantic comprehension across many cultural contexts.

Instructional theories emphasize the structural modality of the information design, that is, whether the information is visual (e.g., text vs. graphics vs. animations) or auditory. However, we argue that semantic modality, the internal cognitive representation, must also be considered in order to reduce working memory load imposed by cognitive operations. A within-subjects design comparing performance on a dual mode task demonstrated the importance of considering semantic modality. The hypothesized factor resulting in the change in performance was the type of mental processing required while physical stimuli were held constant. Significant differences in performance between control and experimental trials were found for experimental conditions in which a visual task was manipulated to interfere with an auditory task during internal coding. No significant differences were found when the experimental condition was a visual task manipulated to allow separate internal coding. The results have implications for cognitive theories of multimedia learning with respect to issues of optimal methods of information design.

This paper addresses the role of modal expressions as argumentative indicators and the importance of considering the semantics of modality in the reconstruction of argumentation. Modal expressions include modal verbs, such as the English may, can, must, should, will and many other lexical and grammatical devices. For instance, in English we find modal adjectives (possible, necessary, probable, likely, certain), adverbs (maybe, necessarily, certainly, probably, likely, perhaps) and nouns (possibility, necessity, but also less obvious ones like risk). The present investigation builds on previous linguistic work on the semantics of modality (see Rocci, 1997, 2000a, 2000b, 2005a, 2005b, 2006, 2007) which showed that modals can function as indicators of relations between discourse units in a text or dialogue, and that epistemic modals, in particular, can serve as signals of inferential, and hence argumentative, relations. Here we consider what this analysis entails for the task of reconstructing the structure of argumentation. To do so we will first go back to Toulmin’s views on the relevance of modality for understanding the structure of arguments and, more precisely, to the views he states in the very first chapter of The Uses of Argument concerning modals and fields of arguments. We will argue that Toulmin is indeed after something which is crucial for the semantics of the modals and relevant for the reconstruction of arguments, but, at the same time, his analysis is problematic on important respects. In the second part of the article we will present a view of modality, originating in linguistic research on formal semantics, which we believe can capture Toulmin’s insights but is not plagued by the same problems and thus can serve as the basis for a treatment of modals in their role of indicators of argumentation. Chapter 15 Modalities as Indicators in Argumentative Reconstruction

The chapter draws on studies of the semantics of modality in the formal semantics tradition. Moving from the need of restricting the domain of quantification in a possible worlds semantics of modality , it presents a relational context-dependent semantics of modality inspired by the theory of Relative Modality. For Relative Modality modal expressions are relational and context-dependent. This approach is immediately applied to the analysis of conditionals and to the modeling of anaphora and rhetorical relations in discourse. The chapter demonstrates the potential of this approach for shedding light on the role of modal constructions as argumentative indicators . The vagueness and ad hoc-ness of modal conversational backgrounds plays an important role in the basic task of determining the propositional commitments of the arguers and for the potential for fallacy inherent in that vagueness. The contextual specification of modal conversational backgrounds is comparable to specifying the domain of quantifiers . Specifying the exact contribution of context dependent modal meanings to propositional content can impact, in turn, further aspects of the reconstruction of an argumentative discussion, notably including the semantic type of the propositions functioning as standpoints, the loci-relations supporting the inference from the premises to the standpoint, and the macrostructure of the argument .

The proposed article analyzes the means of realizing modal semantics in sentences with simple complex predicates. It is noted that modal particles, which serve as formal complicators of the simple verbal predicate and as modal modifiers of the predicative attribute, occupy a significant place among the means of expressing modal semantics. It has been found that constructions with modal modification partly arise due to the addition directly into the preposition to the verb-predicate of comparative connective particles, which mark the predicate correlated with it with a shade of assumption-comparison and probability. It is observed that these modal nuances may arise through the reduction of complex subordinate sentences to simple ones, where complex subordinate sentences with comparative subordinates constitute the derivational base for simple sentences with the meaning of assumption-comparison, and for simple sentences with the meaning of probability, complex subordinate sentences with explanatory subordinates. It is characteristic that in sentences with the meaning of assumption-comparison, the semantics of the vertex component are mostly represented by predicates of the process, expressing quantitative and qualitative changes of the passive carrier of the process, as assumption-comparison arises mainly due to the direct perception by the speaker of external characteristics of the object at the moment of speech. Similarly, the meanings of assumptioncomparison and probability are fixed in sentences with predicates of action and state. It is postulated that within action predicates, modal operators introduce a shade of metaphorical assumption-comparison into the simple verbal predicate, whereas in constructions where verbs perform the main predicative role used in the direct sense, the conveyed action mostly only appears as such, verbalizing the logical assessment of probability.

Modal logic and modal semantics are primarily concerned with the notions of necessity, possibility and related concepts. Their development may in retrospect be seen to have proceeded in several stages. C.I. Lewis [90] on intuitive considerations proposed formal systems of modal propositional logic (MPL) extending standard propositional logic (PL) to include an operator ‘◊’ for possibility and defining the necessity operator as ‘-◊-’, later abbreviated as ‘□’. Alternative notations in common use are ‘M’ and ‘N’.

ჩვენ დიდ-ვაჭართა ზედა-გვაც დარბაზს მიღება ძღვენისა" [რუსთ. 1122:1]. "We great merchants are bound to take presents to court" [უორ. 1101:1]. "We great merchants are bound to take rich presents to the king and queen" [კოფ. 1130:1].

We present a cross-linguistic dataset of force-flavor combinations in modal elements, which currently contains information on modal semantics in 24 languages and is accessible at https://github.com/EdinburghMeaning​Sciences/modals_database. We discuss theoretical motivations for constructing the dataset, the data collection methodology, as well as the design and the format of the dataset. We also present four case studies using the data: (i) assessment of cross-linguistic generalizations on force/flavor variability; (ii) exploration of generalizations in the lexicalization of negative modality; (iii) investigation of the typology of the morphological encoding of modal strength; and (iv) examination of how future contributes to modality. These case studies illustrate that the dataset supports in-depth assessment of potential cross-linguistic generalizations as well as theory-informed investigations of cross-linguistic variations in modal semantics.

Linguistic means actualizing deontical, alethical, axiological and epistemical modality in children’s literature are researched in the article. It’s been proved that linguistic means of modal semantics refer to the effective instruments influencing the evolutionary process of child’s cognitive development. This aim is reached by the following means used by the author: lexical and grammatical forms (nonstandard syntactic structures, attitudinal lexemes), phonetic forms (phrase intonation variability due to inversion and graphical means), stylistic figures exploitation (metaphors, epithets, comparisons) that present the functional field of subjective modality semantics. Key words: subjective modality, semantics, children’s literature, linguistic means.

This paper examines some aspects of the grammar of measurement based on data from non-split and split measure phrase (MP) constructions in Japanese. I claim that the non-split MP construction involves measurement of individuals, while the split MP construction involves measurement of events as well as of individuals. This claim is based on the observation that, while both constructions are subject to some semantic restrictions in the nominal domain, only the split MP construction is sensitive to restrictions in the verbal domain (namely, incompatibility with single-occurrence events and with individual-level predicates, and (un)availability of collective readings). It is shown that these semantic restrictions can be explained by a uniform semantic constraint on the measure function, namely, Schwarzschild’s [(2002). The grammar of measurement. The Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistics Theory, 24, 241–306] monotonicity constraint. In particular, I argue that, in the two constructions at issue, the measure function is subject to the monotonicity constraint, and that we observe different semantic restrictions depending on whether the measure function applies to a nominal or a verbal domain.

In last years, XML has become the standard for information representing, exchanging, and publishing. So, querying XML data is a well-explored topic in both database (DB) and information retrieval (IR) fields, which shows proximity search is well suited to XML documents, which are often modelled as labelled trees. Based on the observations that there are some semantic restrictions in userpsilas query, this paper first analysis query restrictions on elements and their values, and then proposes to approximately extract XML elements by using semantic restrictions.