Interpretation Of Phrases Research Articles

Pitfalls in applying text mining to scientific literature

Numbers and data mining are easy. Our numerical system counts 10 digits, any combination is possible, and every measured value can be captured in a number. Large quantities of measures can be analysed efficiently using incredibly powerful calculators, and resulting information can be shown is simple clear graphs. Text is hard. Hundreds of letters and millions of different combinations can be used in the personal interpretation of information, in words and phrases that reflect one's personality rather than objective measurements. Depending on context and language, the same expression carries totally different information, or no meaning at all. Text Mining requires 'education' at different levels: for providing information, to capture, to store and to retrieve that information, and to interpret results of the mining process. I will provide a few examples of a few text mining tools in daily practice.

Use and interpretation of phrases in histopathology reports

Ceylon Medical Journal (CMJ) is a peer-reviewed, open access journal published quarterly by the Sri Lanka Medical Association in the last week of March, June, September and December each year. The mission of the CMJ is to promote the science and art of medicine and betterment of public health. The Journal publishes original papers and commentaries which have relevance to medicine and allied sciences. The CMJ is committed to maintaining and conforming to the editorial and ethical standards recommended by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors.

Interpretation of the Directives: The Role of the Court

Article 94 EC and – of primary significance today – Article 95 EC envisage legislative intervention by the EC to harmonise national laws as a means to improve the functioning of the market. In some areas diverse national rules affecting private law have been subjected to the discipline of legislative harmonisation, with the consequence that the EC has assumed the responsibility to shape private law. The European Court, which unavoidably becomes involved in the interpretation of phrases and concepts contained in these measures, is accordingly transformed into a court with a role to play in developing private law. Beneath this basically accurate yet deceptively simple explanation lurk a clutch of awkward questions. Among them: To what extent are there discernible principles which provide thematic binding to the legislative acquis? What is the scope of the Court’s role in imprinting a distinct vision on the material it is asked to interpret? This paper will touch on these questions, but its principal focus is on the European Court’s readiness to extract and develop general principles of private law from litigation arising under or near to the legislative acquis. Its track record will be shown to be intriguingly mixed, ranging from cautious interpretation of detailed provisions that resists transplant to a more general level to remarkably ambitious willingness to find solutions that are by no means evidently mandated by the explicit terms of relevant EC measures. The Court’s case law, then, is an unavoidable but inconsistent source of EC private law.

Use and interpretation of phrases in histopathology reports: interdisciplinary meetings will help to reduce the confusion

Use and interpretation of phrases in histopathology reports: interdisciplinary meetings will help to reduce the confusion

To Our Authors

To Our Authors

The Syntax and Semantics of Prepositions in the Task of Automatic Interpretation of Nominal Phrases and Compounds: A Cross-Linguistic Study

In this article we explore the syntactic and semantic properties of prepositions in the context of the semantic interpretation of nominal phrases and compounds. We investigate the problem based on cross-linguistic evidence from a set of six languages: English, Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Romanian. The focus on English and Romance languages is well motivated. Most of the time, English nominal phrases and compounds translate into constructions of the form N P N in Romance languages, where the P (preposition) may vary in ways that correlate with the semantics. Thus, we present empirical observations on the distribution of nominal phrases and compounds and the distribution of their meanings on two different corpora, based on two state-of-the-art classification tag sets: Lauer's set of eight prepositions and our list of 22 semantic relations. A mapping between the two tag sets is also provided. Furthermore, given a training set of English nominal phrases and compounds along with their translations in the five Romance languages, our algorithm automatically learns classification rules and applies them to unseen test instances for semantic interpretation. Experimental results are compared against two state-of-the-art models reported in the literature.

Definiteness and specificity in the isiXhosa determiner phrase

The article investigates questions relating to the morphosyntactic realization of (in)definiteness and (non-) specificity in isiXhosa. The interaction of syntax, semantics and pragmatics is explored in establishing the interpretation of noun phrases as regards (in)definiteness and (non-)specificity in isiXhosa, with particular attention to the object noun phrase. Properties of the noun phrase interpretation relating to the correlation between the (non-)occurrence of an object agreement prefix in the verb morphology and the preprefix of the object noun is invoked as evidence for the view that the noun class preprefix is an instantiation of the functional category Determiner. (In)definiteness and (non-)specificity readings of noun phrases containing nominal modifiers that are inherently neutral as regards (in)definiteness, namely the adjective, nominal relative and clausal relative, are invoked to argue for the syntactic status of the morpheme a-, which occurs in the inflectional morphology of these modifiers, as a determiner category heading a Determiner Phrase (DP).

The recovery of thematic role structure during noun-noun interpretation

We examined how people use their knowledge of events to recover thematic role structure during the interpretation of noun-noun phrases. All phrases included one noun that was a good-agent/ poor-patient (prosecutor) in a particular event (accuse), and the other noun was a good-patient/poor-agent (defendant) for the same event If people interpret the noun-noun phrases by inverting the nouns and applying a thematic relation (see Downing, 1977; Levi, 1978), phrases should be interpreted more easily when the head nouns typically are good agents and the modifiers are good patients for specific events. Two experiments supported these predictions. Furthermore, the results indicated that in the less preferred thematic order (agent-patient), people often generated interpretations in which the modifiers became the focus of the interpretations. This finding suggests that violating thematic role preferences is one constraint on when the inversion process occurs during noun-noun interpretation.

Priming prepositional-phrase attachment during comprehension.

Strong evidence suggests that prior syntactic context affects language production (e.g., J. K. Bock, 1986). The authors report 4 experiments that used an expression-picture matching task to investigate whether it also affects ambiguity resolution in comprehension. All experiments examined the interpretation of prepositional phrases that were ambiguous between high and low attachment. After reading a prime expression with a high-attached interpretation, participants tended to interpret an ambiguous prepositional phrase in a target expression as highly attached if it contained the same verb as the prime (Experiment 1), but not if it contained a different verb (Experiment 2). They also tended to adopt the high-attached interpretation after producing a prime with the high-attached interpretation that included the same verb (Experiment 3). Finally, they were faster to adopt a high-attached interpretation after reading an expression containing the same verb that was disambiguated to the high-attached versus the low-attached interpretation (Experiment 4).

Specificational subjects — a formal characterization and some consequences

This paper provides a formal semantic characterization of specificational copular clauses using the theory of noun phrase interpretation developed by Partee (1987). It is argued that specificational clauses involve an unusual alignment of a predicative noun phrase with the subject position. This leads to the prediction that only noun phrases capable of denoting predicates can occur in this position. The prediction is tested against three groups of NPs. While the first two groups behave as predicated, the behavior of the last group is puzzling in terms of their formal semantics. Based on the results of the corpus study reported in Birner (1996), I argue that this puzzle can be resolved by taking into account the information structure of specificational clauses, in particular the requirement that their subject be relatively familiar in the discourse.

Syntactic Aspects of Topic and Comment (review)

Reviewed by: Syntactic aspects of topic and comment by André Meinunger Katia Chirkova Syntactic aspects of topic and comment. By André Meinunger. (Linguistics today 38.) Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2000. Pp. viii, 245. $98.00. This is a revision of Meinunger’s dissertation, published in 1996 in the Groninger Arbeiten zur germanistischen Linguistik series (No. 39). Its goal is to investigate how the discourse structure of sentences (i.e. the division of information into ‘old’, known by the speaker and the hearer, topic, and ‘new’ comment) is encoded syntactically. The author uses the term ‘syntactic’ in its broader sense and discusses, besides syntactic, also morphological and phonological aspects of sentence organization. The main claim of the study is that the ordering of elements within a sentence is determined by the informational task. M begins with an overview of existing theories about sentence discourse organization, such as [End Page 445] theme-rheme, topic-comment, focus-open proposition, and two recent proposals, considered by M as the immediate predecessors of the theories developed in his book, namely Molly Diesing’s ‘mapping hypothesis’ (Indefinites [Linguistic Inquiry monographs], Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992; ‘Bare plural subjects and the derivation of logical representation’, Linguistic Inquiry 23.3.353–80, 1992), and Helen de Hoop’s ‘theory of case’ (Case configuration and noun phrase interpretation, Groningen: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen dissertation, 1992). Ch. 2 investigates the structure of the German verb phrase and demonstrates that the VP is the syntactic domain of comment. M also argues that there is no free word order in German and that the position of each element obeys a number of either grammatically or pragmatically determined constraints. In Ch. 3, M deals with the phenomena that cause changes in word order with respect to the base order. He shows that the discourse status of the constituents serves as the trigger for their movement. Ch. 4 revolves around the question of where topic arguments may be positioned in the structure of a sentence and explores, in addition, the intonational aspects of constituent movement. Ch. 5 contains examples from more than ten typologically different languages—among which are Finnish, Russian, Hindi, Japanese, and German—to provide crosslinguistic evidence for the author’s claim that topical constituents are morphosyntactically marked or marked with respect to word order. Ch. 6 shows that topics have a blocking effect on different types of movement of constituents from within them and puts forward the ‘generalized specificity condition’ which postulates that constituents which act as topics are weak islands for extraction. Ch. 7 forms the overall conclusion of this book. The author endeavors to draw a crosslinguistic picture of topic and comment encoding and offers in support of his claims a plethora of examples from typologically different languages. It is unfortunate, however, that he does not always indicate where he derives his examples from and whether these examples were checked with native speakers of these languages with respect to their acceptability. I note that some of the adduced examples are marginal or even ungrammatical (e.g. neskol’kie ‘some’ in the section on Russian on p. 162), inevitably casting a shadow on the conclusions the author arrives at. It is likewise regrettable that the book does not have an index to the languages used in the study. The book is written from a formal perspective and contains many technical terms—such as ‘extraction’, ‘extraposition’, ‘scrambling’, and ‘projection’—making preliminary acquaintance with generative grammar highly advisable for prospective readers. Katia Chirkova Leiden University Copyright © 2003 Linguistic Society of America

Icelandic Case and the Structure of Events

I argue in this paper for a novel analysis of case in Icelandic, with implications for case theory in general. I argue that structural case is the manifestation on the noun phrase of features which are semantically interpretable on verbal projections. Thus, Icelandic case does not encode features of noun phrase interpretation, but it is not uninterpretable either; case is properly seen as reflecting (interpretable) tense, aspect, or Aktionsart features. Accusative case in Icelandic is available when the two subevents introduced in a transitive verb phrase are temporally identified with each other, and dative case is available when the two parts are distinct. This analysis bears directly on the theory of feature checking in the Minimalist Program. Specifically, it is consistent with a restrictive theory of feature checking in which no features are strictly uninterpretable: all formal features come in interpretable-uninterpretable pairs, and feature checking is the matching of such pairs, driven by legibility conditions at Spell-Out.

Case and event structure

I argue in this paper for a novel analysis of case in Icelandic, with implications for case theory in general. I argue that structural case is the manifestation on the noun phrase of features which are semantically interpretable only on verbal projections; thus, Icelandic case does not encode features of noun phrase interpretation, but it is not uninterpretable either; case is properly seen as reflecting (interpretable) tense and aspect features. Accusative case in Icelandic is available when the two subevents introduced in a transitive verb phrase are identified with each other, and dative case is available when the two parts are distinct (thus Icelandic case manifests aktionsart or inner aspect, in partial contrast to Finnish). This analysis bears directly on the theory of feature checking in the Minimalist Program; specifically, it paves the way for a restrictive theory of feature checking in which no features are strictly uninterpretable: all formal features come in interpretable-uninterpretable pairs, and feature checking is the matching of such pairs, driven by legibility conditions at Spell-Out.

Efficient Creativity: Constraint‐Guided Conceptual Combination

This paper describes a theory that explains both the creativity and the efficiency of people's conceptual combination. In the constraint theory, conceptual combination is controlled by three constraints of diagnosticity, plausibility, and informativeness. The constraints derive from the pragmatics of communication as applied to compound phrases. The creativity of combination arises because the constraints can be satisfied in many different ways. The constraint theory yields an algorithmic model of the efficiency of combination. The C3 model admits the full creativity of combination and yet efficiently settles on the best interpretation for a given phrase. The constraint theory explains many empirical regularities in conceptual combination, and makes various empirically verified predictions. In computer simulations of compound phrase interpretation, the C3 model has produced results in general agreement with people's responses to the same phrases.

Efficient creativity: constraint-guided conceptual combination

This paper describes a theory that explains both the creativity and the efficiency of people’s conceptual combination. In the constraint theory, conceptual combination is controlled by three constraints of diagnosticity, plausibility, and informativeness. The constraints derive from the pragmatics of communication as applied to compound phrases. The creativity of combination arises because the constraints can be satisfied in many different ways. The constraint theory yields an algorithmic model of the efficiency of combination. The C 3 model admits the full creativity of combination and yet efficiently settles on the best interpretation for a given phrase. The constraint theory explains many empirical regularities in conceptual combination, and makes various empirically verified predictions. In computer simulations of compound phrase interpretation, the C 3 model has produced results in general agreement with people’s responses to the same phrases.

Respondents’ interpretations of impact measures for dose-response studies

Dose-response studies conducted at several National Park Service areas showed that respondents reported higher levels of impact for interference with the appreciation of natural quiet and sounds of nature than for the traditional annoyance measure of were you bothered or annoyed by aircraft noise during your visit to [SITE]? These differences led to questions about respondents’ interpretation of the two measures and the appropriateness of each for policy decisions. To probe this issue, 21 cognitive interviews were conducted with respondents to a dose-response survey sponsored by the USAF at White Sands National Monument. The interviews probed respondents’ question understanding and their interpretation of key phrases (e.g., bothered or annoyed and interference with appreciation of the sights and sounds of nature). In addition, they were asked how they selected scale points for each response and what types of events or conditions would prompt them to change their selected point. These qualitative data indicated that interference and annoyance were related concepts, but measured different types of impacts. Interference was interpreted as more event-specific and transitory, whereas annoyance was a summary evaluative term indicating a threshold level of negative reactions.

Interpretations of Probability Expressions: A Comparison Between Standard‐Setters and Accountants

This study extends the study by Laswad and Mak (1997) on the interpretation of probability expressions used in accounting standards by New Zealand standard setters, by comparing the interpretations of standard‐setters with practicing accountants. The results generally show that the ranking of phrases of probability expressions by accountants is similar to standard‐setters. Further, similar to standard‐setters, accountants interpret many different probability expressions used in accounting standards as if they denote similar probability levels. This suggests that some probability expressions are redundant. The reduction of probability expressions may facilitate greater consistency in the application of accounting standards and consequently greater comparability in financial reporting. The results also indicate that, similar to standard‐setters, there is considerable disagreement among accountants in the interpretation of probability expressions, which suggest that to enhance comparability in financial reporting, guidance in the interpretation of such phrases is needed.

Two kinds of reconstruction

This essay addresses various issues concerning noun phrase interpretation in German. It is argued that the concept of Semantic Reconstruction (Cresti 1995, Rullmann 1995) can be fruitfully employed in the derivation of quantifier scope ambiguities in German. Semantic Reconstruction will be demonstrated to be an independently needed strategy of grammar, that is not parasitic on syntactic reconstruction as expressed by Copy Theory (Chomsky 1992). The basic difference between Semantic Reconstruction and syntactic reconstruction will be traced back to their asymmetric availability in scrambling chains: scrambling can be undone only by Semantic Reconstruction.

‘Multiple Sluicing’ in Japanese and the Functional Nature of wh-Phrases

This article discusses the syntax and LF properties of ‘Multiple Sluicing’ in Japanese. Built on the LF-Copying analysis, we examine the condition imposed on the elements figuring in the IP-Copying site, and show the relevance of the functional interpretation of wh phrases. We also look at some quantificational properties of multiple wh questions. Finally, the possibility of ‘Multiple Sluicing’ in English is examined.

Mixed Messages in Risk Communication

The exchange of risk information between risk managers and affected parties is frequently hampered by differences in the understanding or interpretation of many words and phrases. Much of the terminology used by risk practitioners may have different “technical” and “colloquial” meanings, resulting in “mixed messages” in risk communication. Several words and concepts commonly used in risk management that may be resulting in these “mixed messages” are discussed. These include primary underlying concepts, such as the various meanings of the word “risk” itself, as well as the perplexity of the notions of “safety vs. zero risk” and “probability”. The potential “mixed messages” of the derived concepts of “significant vs. nonsignificant”, “negative vs. positive results”, “conservative assumptions”, “population vs. individual risk”, “relative vs. absolute risk”, and “association vs. causation” are shown to range from mild confusion to the completely opposite interpretation of these words and expressions. Suggested strategies for recognizing and mitigating the use of words and phrases which may create unnecessary confusion are presented.