Evidential Function Research Articles

Pragmatic motivations for the development of evidential and modal meaning in the construction “be supposed to X”

The English construction “be supposed to X” is used in a variety of functions in Present-day English, including evidential, epistemic, and deontic functions. This research offers description and explanations for the development of the evidential, epistemic, and deontic functions from an earlier passive construction, through distinct processes of reanalysis (Hopper and Traugott 1993). I argue that the motivations for these semantic and syntactic shifts are motivated by pragmatic inferences based on: discourse function, discourse expectations about human subjects, frequency effects related to semantic properties of the construction in discourse, and reader-writer expectations about genre type. The results indicate that the evidential function is not part of the general category of epistemicity for this construction, following de Haan (1999, 2001b); that this construction does not exhibit the predicted pathway of semantic development from deontic to epistemic functions (Traugott 1989) due to constraints imposed by the source construction; and that genre plays an important role not only in the relative frequency of the construction (Biber et al. 1999), but also in the emergence of the deontic function diachronically. Finally, I situate the construction in relation to cross-linguistic patterns (Bybee et al. 1994), noting how it parallels broader patterns in the development of the deontic function.

EvIA - Evidential Interval Algebra and Heuristic Backtrack-Free Algorithm

The Interval Algebra (IA) framework for temporal reasoning encodes indefinite knowledge in terms of disjunctions of relations. Many problems arising in practice can have evidences from past or from other external sources to indicate that some relations in a disjunction may be more probable than others. IA framework is inadequate to encode this information. The aim of the present study is two fold. First, to extend IA framework by associating numeric weights to the relations for capturing additional information and provide a reasoning methodology for the extended framework. Second, to apply the extended framework for developing a heuristic algorithm which finds a solution of the conventional IA network problem without backtrack. We make use of well-known evidential reasoning techniques to develop the new framework, Evidential Interval Algebra (EvIA). EvIA is an augmentation of interval algebra with evidential techniques. The constraint, constraint operators namely converse, composition and intersection, and path consistency algorithm of interval algebra are overlayed by evidential function and evidential operations to get enhanced expressiveness and efficient reasoning capability. The efficiency of the EvIA framework is demonstrated in the form of a heuristic which finds a solution of the interval algebra network without backtrack. Experimental results of the heuristic algorithm reveal that the algorithm is sound and for some specific types of the problems, the success of finding a solution is more than 90 percent. The results also show that the algorithm is efficient in terms of runtime when compared with a backtrack search algorithm.

The use of Dempster–Shafer model and GIS in integration of geoscientific data for porphyry copper potential mapping, north of Shahr-e-Babak, Iran

The Dempster–Shafer (D–S) belief theory, as a knowledge-driven approach for map combination, is used for porphyry copper potential mapping, in an under-explored area, north of Shahr-e-Babak, Iran. The evidential function provides a theoretical basis for uncertainty management in data integration in an exploration project. The results of this approach show that strong support is found in the west-central part of the study area, where porphyry copper deposits are known. Plausibility for the proposition is also high in the west-central parts and coincides with the zone having strong support. The uncertainty is low in the west-central parts where there are more efficient data layers with respect to the proposition. Uncertainty is high in the zones where either there are fewer data layers or the data cannot provide strong support for the proposition or its negation.

Borrowing evidential functions from Quechua: the role of pues as a discourse marker in Andean Spanish

This paper is a tentative description of the function that the non-standard use of the particle pues has in Andean Spanish, a dialect that exists due to the contact of Spanish and Andean indigenous languages. Following Prince's framework of information status of entities, this pues will be analyzed, within a qualitative approach, as a confirmation and clarification device which is attached at the end of evoked or inferred utterances when an assumption of shared knowledge has been disturbed. After an introduction to the problem and a review of the relevant literature, an analysis will be presented with the help of examples taken from ten sociolinguistic interviews conducted with male Spanish-Quechua bilinguals. A discussion and a ‘problems and questions for further research’ section will be followed by concluding comments on how this use of pues, which has a discourse marker role in Andean Spanish, has borrowed evidential functions from Quechua.

Knowledge discovery in distributed databases using evidence theory

Distributed databases allow us to integrate data from different sources which have not previously been combined. The Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence and evidential reasoning are particularly suited to the integration of distributed databases. Evidential functions are suited to represent evidence from different sources. Evidential reasoning is carried out by the well-known orthogonal sum. Previous work has defined linguistic summaries to discover knowledge by using fuzzy set theory and using evidence theory to define summaries. In this paper we study linguistic summaries and their applications to knowledge discovery in distributed databases.

Approximate reasoning and evidence theory

One approach to approximate reasoning is to make use of results arising from research in evidence theory. In this theory, evidence is represented by evidential functions, and the reasoning is conducted by evidential operations on them. Our objective in this paper is to contribute to the understanding of these evidential operations. We discuss some basic operations on evidential functions: the orthogonal sum operation, the discount operation, the refining operation, and the coarsening operation. For example, we show that coarsening and discount operations are not commutative with the orthogonal sum operation. The relationships among the orthogonal sum, refining, coarsening, and discount operations are all investigated. A well-known case study from the evidential reasoning literature is used to illustrate the interplay between these operations.

General algorithms for Barnett’s structure in evidential reasoning

A major problem encountered when applications of the Dempster-Shafer evidence handling methods are contemplated is the computational complexity of the basic operations. Barnett has proposed a linear-time computational technique for use in evidential reasoning. However, it is restricted to theentire orthogonal sum of dichotomous evidential functions. This means that there has to be a piece of evidence for each contender for the choice being made. This paper presents more general algorithms for combining dichotomous evidential functions. The idea is based on the fact that dichotomous evidential functions generalize simple evidential functions, and a useful general formula for combining simple evidential functions is available. It is therefore natural to seek general formulae or algorithms for combining dichotomous evidential functions.

The Boeing Archival Program

I AM particularly pleased to be able to follow Professor Hidy on this program because we have been following him at Boeing all along. Following him in the sense, at least, of attempting to maintain an awareness of the fact that archives are for the purposes of history. We recognize that the expansion of commerce and the development of industry have been significantly linked with social and political change. The extent to which this relationship may be demonstrated will be reflected in the actual records saved during this historical process. The business archive thus serves this documentary or evidential function. The particular organization of which I am a part at Boeing is composed of three people: the Administrator of Historical Services, the secretary-librarian, and myself, the Corporate Historian. The administrator's specialty is the promotion and graphic presentation of the company's history and mine is that of problem analysis and codification. Our particular personal goal is the creation of a community aircraft museum to include a display of the company's products and history. To this end it is essential that a complete line of authenticating records be retained. At this date our Historical Services organization consists of four principal elements or programs: archives, historical exhibits, historical library, and product identification. Our scope of activities thus ranges from the structuring of an archive to the assignment of a unique model number to each major product of the company. I shall discuss only the archival portion of our program, since that is our interest and topic today.