General Semantics Research Articles

Aspectual triplets in Russian: semantic predictability and regularity

Russian verbs are considered to form aspectual pairs, perfective and imperfective. However, this system is complicated by the existence of so-called aspectual triplets, in which one perfective verb has two imperfective correlates (a primary imperfective and a secondary imperfective). This article offers new insights into the discussion of this controversial issue. While aspectual triplets have traditionally been treated as marginal, we present a systemic account of this phenomenon based on a corpus study of a comprehensive list of Russian aspectual triplets. In addition, contrary to some previous approaches, we propose unified semantics for the secondary imperfectives, namely, a telic process. We show that the meaning of a secondary imperfective is the result of interaction among the meaning of the prefix, the meaning of the verbal stem, and the general semantics of the secondary imperfective. We argue that the secondary imperfective is marginal if the semantics of the prefix or the semantics of the verbal stem are not compatible with the notion of result.

Intentionality and Conative Constructions in English

The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate the relation between intentionality and affectedness. Specifically, I make a semantic generalization called the Complementarity of Intentionality and Affectedness (CIA), which states that intentionality and affectedness cannot be entailed in a minimal accomplishment predicate (the combination of a verb and its complement(s) which is a causative accomplishment) at the same time. This mutual exclusivity of entailments of intentionality and affectedness is observed in Korean accomplishment predicates, which have multiple readings in which either the subject is necessarily intentional or the patient is necessarily affected, but not both. After the introduction of the CIA, I argue that English conative alternations are an instance of the CIA: The conative constructions (e.g. He kicked at the ball) entail intentionality, but not affectedness; on the contrary the corresponding transitive verb constructions (e.g. He kicked the ball) entail affectedness, but not intentionality. Finally, I discuss some predictions of the generalization and argue that the CIA can be further supported cross-linguistically.

Qualitative dynamics semantics for SBGN process description.

BackgroundQualitative dynamics semantics provide a coarse-grain modeling of networks dynamics by abstracting away kinetic parameters. They allow to capture general features of systems dynamics, such as attractors or reachability properties, for which scalable analyses exist. The Systems Biology Graphical Notation Process Description language (SBGN-PD) has become a standard to represent reaction networks. However, no qualitative dynamics semantics taking into account all the main features available in SBGN-PD had been proposed so far.ResultsWe propose two qualitative dynamics semantics for SBGN-PD reaction networks, namely the general semantics and the stories semantics, that we formalize using asynchronous automata networks. While the general semantics extends standard Boolean semantics of reaction networks by taking into account all the main features of SBGN-PD, the stories semantics allows to model several molecules of a network by a unique variable. The obtained qualitative models can be checked against dynamical properties and therefore validated with respect to biological knowledge. We apply our framework to reason on the qualitative dynamics of a large network (more than 200 nodes) modeling the regulation of the cell cycle by RB/E2F.ConclusionThe proposed semantics provide a direct formalization of SBGN-PD networks in dynamical qualitative models that can be further analyzed using standard tools for discrete models. The dynamics in stories semantics have a lower dimension than the general one and prune multiple behaviors (which can be considered as spurious) by enforcing the mutual exclusiveness between the activity of different nodes of a same story. Overall, the qualitative semantics for SBGN-PD allow to capture efficiently important dynamical features of reaction network models and can be exploited to further refine them.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12918-016-0285-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The N400 reveals how personal semantics is processed: Insights into the nature and organization of self-knowledge

There is growing recognition that some important forms of long-term memory are difficult to classify into one of the well-studied memory subtypes. One example is personal semantics. Like the episodes that are stored as part of one's autobiography, personal semantics is linked to an individual, yet, like general semantic memory, it is detached from a specific encoding context. Access to general semantics elicits an electrophysiological response known as the N400, which has been characterized across three decades of research; surprisingly, this response has not been fully examined in the context of personal semantics. In this study, we assessed responses to congruent and incongruent statements about people's own, personal preferences. We found that access to personal preferences elicited N400 responses, with congruency effects that were similar in latency and distribution to those for general semantic statements elicited from the same participants. These results suggest that the processing of personal and general semantics share important functional and neurobiological features.

Cultural Shift or Linguistic Drift? Comparing Two Computational Measures of Semantic Change.

Words shift in meaning for many reasons, including cultural factors like new technologies and regular linguistic processes like subjectification. Understanding the evolution of language and culture requires disentangling these underlying causes. Here we show how two different distributional measures can be used to detect two different types of semantic change. The first measure, which has been used in many previous works, analyzes global shifts in a word's distributional semantics; it is sensitive to changes due to regular processes of linguistic drift, such as the semantic generalization of promise ("I promise." "It promised to be exciting."). The second measure, which we develop here, focuses on local changes to a word's nearest semantic neighbors; it is more sensitive to cultural shifts, such as the change in the meaning of cell ("prison cell" "cell phone"). Comparing measurements made by these two methods allows researchers to determine whether changes are more cultural or linguistic in nature, a distinction that is essential for work in the digital humanities and historical linguistics.

动词性“自V”是主谓式还是动宾式？—词语模“自V”的语法语义和演变

动词性“自V”是主谓式还是动宾式？我们发现，上古形成了动宾式词语模“自V”，包括“客事 + 动作”和“受事 + 动作”两种语义，也有边缘结构状中式。后来，由词语模“自V”类推产生新的动词性“自V”基本遵循这一结构语义特点，动词性“自V”中并无主谓式。词语模“自V”中的“V”从语法上看，多数基本用法是动词性的；从语义上看，主要有表“心理活动”、“社交活动”、“生活工作”、“判断”、“争斗”、“管理活动”、“司法活动”的7类。在历时演变中状中式“自V”中“自”不只有“亲自”义，其泛化出“自己/独自”义。词语模“自V”中“自”有类词缀化倾向。 This paper analyses the structural and semantic features of verbal “Zi V”, about which no final conclusion has yet been reached. Verb-subject vocabulary meme “Zi V” was formed in the ancient time. During this time, it has two kinds of semantic patterns, they are “patient + action” pattern and “guest + action” pattern, the peripheral adverbial-kernel pattern is also reflected in the vocabulary meme “Zi V”. Following this structural and semantic feature, new verbal “Zi V” was generated from analogizing vocabulary meme “Zi V”. There is no subject-predicate form in verbal “Zi V”. Form the point of syntax, most basic usage is verbal about V in the vocabulary meme “Zi V”. From the semantic point of view, there are mainly 7 classes, for example, “psychological activities” “social activities” “life” “judgment” “fight” “management” “justice”. “Zi” in the adverbial-kernal verbal “Zi V” has the phenomenon of semantic generalization, it has the meaning of “by oneself” “oneself” “alone”. “Zi” in the vocabulary meme “Zi V” has the tendency to be an affix.

The history of the quasi-auxiliaryuse(d)to

This article is a corpus-based study on the grammaticalization of the quasi-auxiliary use(d) to. It describes and seeks to explain the historical process whereby use(d) to, starting from the Middle English source construction use ‘be in the habit of’ + to + verb, grammaticalized into a habitual aspect marker with idiosyncratic morphosyntactic properties. A detailed corpus study is presented, based on four historical English corpora, which together cover a time period from 1410 to 2009. The results of the corpus analysis are interpreted within the theoretical framework of usage-based grammar, with the aim of uncovering the mechanisms that propelled the gradual grammaticalization of use(d) to on the semantic, morphological, syntactic and phonological dimensions. Among the underlying mechanisms and processes identified are semantic generalization via host-class expansion and habituation, pragmatic enrichment, analogy, chunking, loss of analyzability and internal structure, as well as phonological reduction through neuromotor automation. Supported by the quantitative empirical evidence from the corpus analysis and drawing on findings from usage-based research on language change, the present study depicts the grammaticalization of use(d) to as a self-feeding process driven by frequency effects, i.e. by the effects that the increasingly high discourse frequency of the use(d) to construction had on its cognitive representation.

FLAME: a formal framework for the automated analysis of software product lines validated by automated specification testing

In a literature review on the last 20 years of automated analysis of feature models, the formalization of analysis operations was identified as the most relevant challenge in the field. This formalization could provide very valuable assets for tool developers such as a precise definition of the analysis operations and, what is more, a reference implementation, i.e., a trustworthy, not necessarily efficient implementation to compare different tools outputs. In this article, we present the FLAME framework as the result of facing this challenge. FLAME is a formal framework that can be used to formally specify not only feature models, but other variability modeling languages (VML s) as well. This reusability is achieved by its two-layered architecture. The abstract foundation layer is the bottom layer in which all VML-independent analysis operations and concepts are specified. On top of the foundation layer, a family of characteristic model layers—one for each VML to be formally specified—can be developed by redefining some abstract types and relations. The verification and validation of FLAME has followed a process in which formal verification has been performed traditionally by manual theorem proving, but validation has been performed by integrating our experience on metamorphic testing of variability analysis tools, something that has shown to be much more effective than manually designed test cases. To follow this automated, test-based validation approach, the specification of FLAME, written in Z, was translated into Prolog and 20,000 random tests were automatically generated and executed. Tests results helped to discover some inconsistencies not only in the formal specification, but also in the previous informal definitions of the analysis operations and in current analysis tools. After this process, the Prolog implementation of FLAME is being used as a reference implementation for some tool developers, some analysis operations have been formally specified for the first time with more generic semantics, and more VML s are being formally specified using FLAME.

Planning and execution with flexible timelines: a formal account

Planning for real world problems with explicit temporal constraints is a challenging problem. Among several approaches, the use of flexible timelines in Planning and Scheduling has been shown to be successful in a number of concrete applications, such as, for instance, autonomous space systems. This paper builds on previous work and presents a revised and extended formal account of flexible timelines with the aim of providing a general semantics for related planning concepts such as domains, goals, problems, constraints, and flexible plans. Some sources of uncertainty are also modeled in the proposed framework and taken into account in the characterization of valid plans that are assumed not to take decisions on components the planner cannot control. A formal definition of different forms of plan controllability is also proposed.

PROOF ANALYSIS FOR LEWIS COUNTERFACTUALS

AbstractA deductive system for Lewis counterfactuals is presented, based directly on the influential generalisation of relational semantics through ternary similarity relations introduced by Lewis. This deductive system builds on a method of enriching the syntax of sequent calculus by labels for possible worlds. The resulting labelled sequent calculus is shown to be equivalent to the axiomatic systemVCof Lewis. It is further shown to have the structural properties that are needed for an analytic proof system that supports root-first proof search. Completeness of the calculus is proved in a direct way, such that for any given sequent either a formal derivation or a countermodel is provided; it is also shown how finite countermodels for unprovable sequents can be extracted from failed proof search, by which the completeness proof turns into a proof of decidability.

A Generalization of Inquisitive Semantics

This paper introduces a generalized version of inquisitive semantics, denoted as GIS, and concentrates especially on the role of disjunction in this general framework. Two alternative semantic conditions for disjunction are compared: the first one corresponds to the so-called tensor operator of dependence logic, and the second one is the standard condition for inquisitive disjunction. It is shown that GIS is intimately related to intuitionistic logic and its Kripke semantics. Using this framework, it is shown that the main results concerning inquisitive semantics, especially the axiomatization of inquisitive logic, can be viewed as particular cases of more general phenomena. In this connection, a class of non-standard superintuitionistic logics is introduced and studied. These logics share many interesting features with inquisitive logic, which is the strongest logic of this class.

Landscape terms in Alto Perené Kampa (Arawak) of Peru

Drawing on a comprehensive analysis of landscape terms in an Amazonian Arawak language of Peru, this study examines landscape categorization among the Alto Perené Kampa. It is shown that Alto Perené culture-specific themes of ecological categorization, namely substance and shape, form a covert template of semantic generalizations that structure the landscape vocabulary set. The continuous semantic strands of landscape terms are substance and shape of geomorphic features, either expressed by simplex terms or combinations of simplex terms with various classifiers. The comprehensive hydrological and topographic vocabulary is argued to reflect Alto Perené Arawaks’ particular concern with the affordances of the surrounding landscape and their spiritual preoccupations.

Human motion capture data retrieval based on semantic thumbnail

We present a method for the efficient retrieval and browsing of immense amounts of realistic 3D human body motion capture data. The proposed method organizes motion capture data based on statistical K-means (SK---means), democratic decision making, unsupervised learning, and visual key frame extraction, thus achieving intuitive retrieval by browsing thumbnails of semantic key frames. We apply three steps for the efficient retrieval of motion capture data. The first is obtaining the basic type clusters by clustering motion capture data using the novel SK-means algorithm, and after which, immediately performing character matching. The second is learning the retrieval information of users during the retrieval process and updating the successful retrieval rate of each data; the search results are then ranked on the basis of successful retrieval rate by democratic decision making to improve accuracy. The last step is generating thumbnails with semantic generalization, which is conducted by using a novel key frame extraction algorithm based on visualized data analysis. The experiment demonstrates that this method can be utilised for the efficient organization and retrieval of enormous motion capture data.

Decidability of Logics Based on an Indeterministic Metric Tense Logic

This paper presents two general results of decidability concerning logics based on an indeterministic metric tense logic, which can be applied to, among others, logics combining knowledge, time and agency. We provide a general Kripke semantics based on a variation of the notion of synchronized Ockhamist frames. Our proof of the decidability is by way of the finite frame property, applying subframe transformations and a variant of the filtration technique.

BORROWING IN TANZANIAN NGONI LEXICON: SOME SEMANTIC TRENDS IN A LANGUAGE CONTACT SITUATION

ABSTRACTThe Tanzanian language Ngoni has interacted for long with Swahili, which is the more prestigious and dominant lingua franca in Tanzania. This language contact situation affects Ngoni, which frequently borrows terms from Swahili, both for concepts which are new to the Ngoni speakers, but also terms which replace existing Ngoni vocabulary. This paper investigates how borrowed words are integrated, based on a framework including semantic generalisation, specialisation and shift. The study is based on fieldwork conducted in the Songea District in the Ruvuma Region of Tanzania, in the three villages of Peramiho, Kilagano and Mhepai. It was found that borrowing was most frequent in the semantic fields ‘modern world’, ‘food and drink’ and ‘clothing and grooming’. Additive borrowing was found to be more frequent than substitutive. Only semantic widening of borrowed terms was attested. However, combined with a tendency of replacement of old Ngoni terms with both Swahili and Ngoni hypernyms, it indicates that speakers’ competence of the language is waning. This loss of competence may additionally be linked to a more general attrition of Ngoni culture and traditions, which may affect language maintenance.

TOPOLOGICAL COMPLETENESS OF LOGICS ABOVE S4

AbstractIt is a celebrated result of McKinsey and Tarski [28] that S4 is the logic of the closure algebra Χ+ over any dense-in-itself separable metrizable space. In particular, S4 is the logic of the closure algebra over the reals R, the rationals Q, or the Cantor space C. By [5], each logic above S4 that has the finite model property is the logic of a subalgebra of Q+, as well as the logic of a subalgebra of C+. This is no longer true for R, and the main result of [5] states that each connected logic above S4 with the finite model property is the logic of a subalgebra of the closure algebra R+.In this paper we extend these results to all logics above S4. Namely, for a normal modal logic L, we prove that the following conditions are equivalent: (i) L is above S4, (ii) L is the logic of a subalgebra of Q+, (iii) L is the logic of a subalgebra of C+. We introduce the concept of a well-connected logic above S4 and prove that the following conditions are equivalent: (i) L is a well-connected logic, (ii) L is the logic of a subalgebra of the closure algebra $\xi _2^ + $ over the infinite binary tree, (iii) L is the logic of a subalgebra of the closure algebra ${\bf{L}}_2^ + $ over the infinite binary tree with limits equipped with the Scott topology. Finally, we prove that a logic L above S4 is connected iff L is the logic of a subalgebra of R+, and transfer our results to the setting of intermediate logics.Proving these general completeness results requires new tools. We introduce the countable general frame property (CGFP) and prove that each normal modal logic has the CGFP. We introduce general topological semantics for S4, which generalizes topological semantics the same way general frame semantics generalizes Kripke semantics. We prove that the categories of descriptive frames for S4 and descriptive spaces are isomorphic. It follows that every logic above S4 is complete with respect to the corresponding class of descriptive spaces. We provide several ways of realizing the infinite binary tree with limits, and prove that when equipped with the Scott topology, it is an interior image of both C and R. Finally, we introduce gluing of general spaces and prove that the space obtained by appropriate gluing involving certain quotients of L2 is an interior image of R.

Profiling Hakka Bun 1 Causative Constructions

This paper proposes that a family of four related constructions is needed to provide a more complete account for the syntactic and semantic generalizations and idiosyncrasies of the ＂bun＂ causative constructions in Hakka by examining the features of CAUSER, CAUSEE, and EFFECT. The traditional claim of semantic entailment as a crucial feature of causation is argued to be too restrictive; pragmatic strengthening is argued to capture the dominant distribution of cause-act functions. In addition, in contrast to what is expected by the prototypical iconic sequencing of the participants in a causal chain, the sequence of a causing event and a resulting event from authentic data is shown to reveal a ground-figure asymmetry. The highlighting of the resulting event for information management is done by linguistic strategies such as topicalization or left-dislocation of CAUSEE and suppression of CAUSER. Such linguistic arrangements are speculated to prepare causative ＂bun＂ for undergoing further grammaticalization into the passive function.

Generalization of word meanings during infant sleep.

Sleep consolidates memory and promotes generalization in adults, but it is still unknown to what extent the rapidly growing infant memory benefits from sleep. Here we show that during sleep the infant brain reorganizes recent memories and creates semantic knowledge from individual episodic experiences. Infants aged between 9 and 16 months were given the opportunity to encode both objects as specific word meanings and categories as general word meanings. Event-related potentials indicate that, initially, infants acquire only the specific but not the general word meanings. About 1.5 h later, infants who napped during the retention period, but not infants who stayed awake, remember the specific word meanings and, moreover, successfully generalize words to novel category exemplars. Independently of age, the semantic generalization effect is correlated with sleep spindle activity during the nap, suggesting that sleep spindles are involved in infant sleep-dependent brain plasticity.

Semantic generalization in implicit language learning.

Despite many years of investigation into implicit learning in nonlinguistic domains, the potential for implicit learning to deliver the kinds of generalizations that underlie natural language competence remains unclear. In a series of experiments, we investigated implicit learning of the semantic preferences of novel verbs, specifically, whether they collocate with abstract or concrete nouns. After reading sentences containing the verbs, participants were required to judge the familiarity of pairs of novel verbs and nouns and to indicate their confidence or the basis of their judgment (i.e., guess, intuition, memory). Although all of the words had occurred in the texts, none of the critical items had actually occurred together. However, endorsement rates were significantly higher for pairs that respected the semantic preference rules than those that did not. Through analysis of subjective measures and verbal report, we argue that, for the majority of participants, this effect was based on unconscious knowledge. We argue that implicit learning of the kind of generalizations underlying semantic preferences is possible even after limited exposure.

Marketing on the couch

The purpose of this essay is to relate my experience with psychoanalytic thought, its application in my personal life, in my work as a consultant marketing researcher for management, and as a marketing professor. I was a student at the University of Chicago in the late 1940s and early 1950s when psychoanalysis was riding high as a theory of human behavior and a form of psychotherapy. As a doctoral student in the interdisciplinary Committee on Human Development, I had a course with Bruno Bettelheim on fundamentals of psychoanalytic theory. He was irritated by a woman knitting in class and said, ‘‘You must realize that knitting is symbolic masturbation.’’ She was not daunted and asserted, ‘‘Professor Bettelheim, when I knit, I knit, and when I masturbate, I masturbate!’’ This experience fed my interest in symbolic behavior that had already been spurred by reading in the field of general semantics and taught me to think about these matters in a discriminating way. Bettelheim’s book (1976), The Uses of Enchantment, is a wonderful example of thoughtful (Freudian!) analysis of the conscious and unconscious meanings of fairy tales. I found it a model of instruction in the application of psychoanalytic thinking to cultural phenomena and consumer behavior. It informed the article I wrote about the use of projective techniques called ‘‘Dreams, Fairy Tales, Animals, and Cars’’ (Levy, 1985). The Social Service Administration program on campus was psychoanalytically oriented. I took a class there also and wrote a paper about fire setting among children. I surveyed the literature and found no insights except in psychoanalytic studies. Most other comments were superficial, saying that children were attracted to fire because it is warm and active. I called this the theory of sheer delight. The most helpful article was by Freud (1932), titled ‘‘The Acquisition of Power over Fire.’’ I wrote: