Semantic View Research Articles

Mechanisms, Wide Functions, and Content: Towards a Computational Pluralism

In recent years, the ‘mechanistic view’ (MV) has developed as a popular alternative to the ‘semantic view’ concerning the identity of physical computation. However, semanticists have provided power...

Learning Dual Encoding Model for Adaptive Visual Understanding in Visual Dialogue.

Different from Visual Question Answering task that requires to answer only one question about an image, Visual Dialogue task involves multiple rounds of dialogues which cover a broad range of visual content that could be related to any objects, relationships or high-level semantics. Thus one of the key challenges in Visual Dialogue task is to learn a more comprehensive and semantic-rich image representation that can adaptively attend to the visual content referred by variant questions. In this paper, we first propose a novel scheme to depict an image from both visual and semantic views. Specifically, the visual view aims to capture the appearance-level information in an image, including objects and their visual relationships, while the semantic view enables the agent to understand high-level visual semantics from the whole image to the local regions. Furthermore, on top of such dual-view image representations, we propose a Dual Encoding Visual Dialogue (DualVD) module, which is able to adaptively select question-relevant information from the visual and semantic views in a hierarchical mode. To demonstrate the effectiveness of DualVD, we propose two novel visual dialogue models by applying it to the Late Fusion framework and Memory Network framework. The proposed models achieve state-of-the-art results on three benchmark datasets. A critical advantage of the DualVD module lies in its interpretability. We can analyze which modality (visual or semantic) has more contribution in answering the current question by explicitly visualizing the gate values. It gives us insights in understanding of information selection mode in the Visual Dialogue task. The code is available at https://github.com/JXZe/Learning_DualVD.

« Perspectives »Global Regionalization Processes and (Macro)-Regional Integration. In Favor of Generalization in Geography

Many researchers concur in observing that globalization has abolished neither distance, nor the usefulness of geographical proximity. Spatial constraints continue to shape exchanges, as well as the density and quality of interactions between societies. Even in a globalized world, pervaded with networks that disrupt traditional territorialities, it can be useful and even inevitable to build relationships with one’s neighbors. In this context, the notion of (macro)regional (or multi-state) integration deserves to be exploited. In particular, geographical research has so far eluded this concept, despite this discipline’s recognized expertise on the notions of region, distance, territory and territorial development, which are at the heart of the understanding of regional integration, both theoretically and empirically. This contribution aims to clarify the words, objects and methods of (macro)regional integration from the point of view of geographical semantics, as well as the evolution of theoretical approaches to the notion of region.

On the fulfillment of coordination requirements in open-source software projects: An exploratory study

In large-scale open-source software projects, where developers are often distributed across the entire planet, coordination among developers is crucial. To estimate whether a state of socio-technical congruence is achieved, which is associated with software quality and project success, we assess the alignment of collaboration and communication in such software projects in terms of coordination requirements. By means of an empirical study on a substantial set of large-scale open-source software projects—the development histories of all projects sum up to over 180 years—we aim at shedding light on this issue. To this end, to take a more semantic view on this phenomenon in comparison to previous work, we do not only identify coordination requirements arising from files and functions only, but also those arising from features. We found that open-source developers fulfill coordination requirements intentionally, but mostly those coordination requirements that arise from coupled source-code artifacts, while they resolve simpler ones independently. Furthermore, neither of the considered abstraction levels of source-code artifacts (files, functions, features) is more suitable to construct coordination requirements with respect to their fulfillment. This finding strongly indicates that features do not play an as important role in the development process as expected and commonly believed by the research community in the area of feature-oriented and feature-driven development. Finally, we identified notable evolutionary trends in the fulfillment of coordination requirements and showed that far-reaching social events (such as organizational issues) have a huge impact on their fulfillment, both negatively and positively. The key findings of our empirical study are that socio-technical relations are important to understand open-source development communities and that the incorporation of different abstraction levels for developer collaboration does yield important insights to further improve the evolution in open-source software projects.

The detrimental effect of semantic similarity in short-term memory tasks: A meta-regression approach.

The literature suggests that semantic similarity has a weak or null effect for immediate serial reconstruction and a facilitative effect for immediate serial recall. These observed semantic similarity effects are inconsistent with the assumptions of short-term memory (STM) models on the detrimental effect of similarity (e.g., confusion) and with observations of a robust detrimental effect of phonological similarity. Our review indicates that the experimental results are likely dependent on the manipulation strength for semantic similarity and that manipulations used in previous studies might have affected semantic assvociation as well as semantic similarity. To address these possible issues, two indices are proposed: (a) strength of manipulation on semantic similarity, gained by quantifying semantic similarity based on Osgood and associates' dimensional view of semantics, and (b) inter-item associative strength, a possible confounding factor. Our review and the results of a meta-regression analysis using these two indices suggest that semantic similarity has a detrimental effect on both serial reconstruction and serial recall, while semantic association, which is correlated with semantic similarity, contributes to an apparent facilitative effect. An effect that is not attributable to similarity or association was also implied. Review on item and order memory further suggests the facilitative effect of semantic association on item memory and the detrimental effect of the semantic similarity on order memory. Based on our findings, we propose a unified explanation of observations of semantic similarity effects for both serial reconstruction and serial recall that is in good accord with STM models.

Daniil Kharms’ Phraseology as Translated into English, Serbian, and Irish: Semantics and National/Cultural Peculiarities

This article examines the meaning and use of idioms with reference to parallel texts, nominations of gestures and speech formulas, and the national/cultural peculiarities of an author’s phraseology. The article refers to translations of Daniil Kharms’ Incidences into Serbian, English, and Irish. The author studies the meanings of idioms used by Kharms and their modifications, the actualisation of certain semantic components as part of the translation process, and the rendition of the national/cultural peculiarities of idioms. The choice of a translation equivalent for an idiom depends of the author’s ability to use idioms and their modifications. Kharms does not use idioms very often, but there are idioms in his texts whose use is untypical from the point of view of semantics: this makes the search for an equivalent in the language of translation challenging. The author analyses the culture-specific nature of Russian idioms in the text, including situations where the equivalent in the translation is also culture-specific (e. g. in the case of the Russian idiom хоть святых вон выноси). The article also focuses on the shades of meaning in international idioms and the appearance of translator’s false friends in case of dated idioms (cf. поставить себя на какую-л. ногу, i. e. ‘start behaving in a certain way’ vs. поставить кого-л. на ноги). Additionally, the work considers the influence of the linguistic worldview on translation transformations, such as the specification of urban landscape in the Irish translation, i. e. the use of the language of the rural population.

Autoepistemic answer set programming

Defined by Gelfond in 1991, epistemic specifications constitute an extension of Answer Set Programming (ASP) that introduces subjective literals. A subjective literal allows checking whether some regular literal is true in all (or in some of) the answer sets of the program, that are further collected in a set called world view. One epistemic program may yield several world views but, under the original semantics, some of them resulted from self-supported derivations. During the last eight years, several alternative approaches have been proposed to get rid of these self-supported world views. Unfortunately, their success could only be measured by studying their behaviour on a set of common examples in the literature, since no formal property of “self-supportedness” had been defined. To fill this gap, we extend in this paper the idea of unfounded set from standard logic programming to the epistemic case. We define when a world view is founded with respect to some program. Accordingly, we define the foundedness property for an arbitrary semantics, so it holds when its world views are always founded. Using counterexamples, we explain that the previous approaches violate foundedness, and proceed to propose a new semantics based on a combination of Moore's Autoepistemic Logic and Pearce's Equilibrium Logic. This combination paves the way for the development of an autoepistemic extension of ASP. The main result proves that this new semantics precisely captures the set of world views of the original semantics that are founded.

Multiview Active Learning for Scene Classification with High-Level Semantic-Based Hypothesis Generation

Multiview active learning (MVAL) is a technique which can result in a large decrease in the size of the version space than traditional active learning and has great potential applications in large-scale data analysis. This paper made research on MVAL-based scene classification for helping the computer accurately understand diverse and complex environments macroscopically, which has been widely used in many fields such as image retrieval and autonomous driving. The main contribution of this paper is that different high-level image semantics are used for replacing the traditional low-level features to generate more independent and diverse hypotheses in MVAL. First, our algorithm uses different object detectors to achieve local object responses in the scenes. Furthermore, we design a cascaded online LDA model for mining the theme semantic of an image. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed theme modeling strategy fits the large-scale data learning, and our MVAL algorithm with both high-level semantic views can achieve significant improvement in the scene classification than traditional active learning-based algorithms.

Lexical-semantic processing of action verbs and non-action nouns in Persian speakers: Behavioral evidence from the semantic similarity judgment task

The processing of sensory-motor aspect of word's meaning, and its difference between nouns and verbs, is the main topic of neurolinguistic research. The present study aimed to examine the lexical-semantic processing of Persian non-action nouns and action verbs. The possible effects of semantic correlates on noun/verb dissociation were evaluated without morphological confound. A total of 62 neurologically intact Persian speakers responded to a computerized semantic similarity judgment task, including 34 triplets of non-action nouns and 34 triplets of action verbs by pressing a key. Response Time (RT) and percentage error were considered as indirect measures of lexical-semantic encoding efficiency. We also assessed the latency of hand movement execution with no linguistic demand. The results showed that action verbs elicited more errors and had slower RT compared with object nouns. Mixed ANOVA revealed that the observed noun/verb distinction was not affected by demographic factors. These results provided evidence that the lexical-semantic encoding of Persian action verbs, compared to non-action nouns, requires more support from cognitive sources‏ ‏during the processing of the motor‏-‏related semantic feature. The possible accounts for the different processing of action verbs in terms of semantic view are suggested.

Linguistic Data Model for Natural Languages and Artificial Intelligence. Part 5. Introduction to Logic

Introduction. The article continues the series of publications on the linguistics of relations (hereinafter R–linguistics) and is devoted to an introduction to the logic of natural language in relation to the approach considered in the series. The problem of natural language logic still remains relevant, since this logic differs significantly from traditional mathematical logic. Moreover, with the appearance of artificial intelligence systems, the importance of this problem only increases. The article analyzes logical problems that prevent the application of classical logic methods to natural languages. This is possible because R-linguistics forms the semantics of a language in the form of world model structures in which language sentences are interpreted.Methodology and sources. The results obtained in the previous parts of the series are used as research tools. To develop the necessary mathematical representations in the field of logic and semantics, the formulated concept of the interpretation operator is used.Results and discussion. The problems that arise when studying the logic of natural language in the framework of R–linguistics are analyzed. These issues are discussed in three aspects: the logical aspect itself; the linguistic aspect; the aspect of correlation with reality. A very General approach to language semantics is considered and semantic axioms of the language are formulated. The problems of the language and its logic related to the most General view of semantics are shown.Conclusion. It is shown that the application of mathematical logic, regardless of its type, to the study of natural language logic faces significant problems. This is a consequence of the inconsistency of existing approaches with the world model. But it is the coherence with the world model that allows us to build a new logical approach. Matching with the model means a semantic approach to logic. Even the most General view of semantics allows to formulate important results about the properties of languages that lack meaning. The simplest examples of semantic interpretation of traditional logic demonstrate its semantic problems (primarily related to negation).

DualVD: An Adaptive Dual Encoding Model for Deep Visual Understanding in Visual Dialogue

Different from Visual Question Answering task that requires to answer only one question about an image, Visual Dialogue involves multiple questions which cover a broad range of visual content that could be related to any objects, relationships or semantics. The key challenge in Visual Dialogue task is thus to learn a more comprehensive and semantic-rich image representation which may have adaptive attentions on the image for variant questions. In this research, we propose a novel model to depict an image from both visual and semantic perspectives. Specifically, the visual view helps capture the appearance-level information, including objects and their relationships, while the semantic view enables the agent to understand high-level visual semantics from the whole image to the local regions. Futhermore, on top of such multi-view image features, we propose a feature selection framework which is able to adaptively capture question-relevant information hierarchically in fine-grained level. The proposed method achieved state-of-the-art results on benchmark Visual Dialogue datasets. More importantly, we can tell which modality (visual or semantic) has more contribution in answering the current question by visualizing the gate values. It gives us insights in understanding of human cognition in Visual Dialogue.

SYNTACTIC-SEMANTIC FEATURES OF MULTI-VERBS IN THE RUSSIAN AND UZBEK LANGUAGES

The article deals with semantic classes of verbs with different valences. Based on the interpretation of the semantic class of verbs, in the process of teaching the Russian language, semantic representations are used that are the result of the segmentation of the gestalt interpretation, so that the prepositional-case forms and verbs align the semantic in variants - the frame. From the point of view of semantics, the first actant is the subject of action, i.e. the one who performs the action; the second actant is an object that is impacted by a direct action object, a direct object; the third actant is an indirect or further object to whose benefit or to the detriment of which an indirect complement is performed. The semantic side of a sentence assumes its surface form, i.e. the sentence is considered as a sign that has a plan of content and a plan of expression. Both plans are closely related, but a comprehensive approach is needed to clarify the specifics of the organization of each of them and establish their relationship. L. Tenier also emphasized that trivalent verbs, the most structurally complex and the most difficult to master, fall out of the researcher's field of vision. Therefore, the selection of semantic classes of such verbs is of great theoretical and practical importance. The semantics of a verb includes the verb and subject features. The latter are the semantic basis of the valency of the verb. It can be assumed that as part of the semantic interpretation of the distributive-transformational scheme, the correlation between frames and the minimal interpretation determines the case value of each of the actants. To determine the meaning of the case, it is sufficient and necessary to refer the word of this case form to the distributional transformational feature and name the frame corresponding to the segment of interpretation of this noun.

Semantic realism in the semantic conception of theories

Semantic realism can be characterised as the idea that scientific theories are truth-bearers, and that they are true or false in virtue of the world. This notion is often assumed, but rarely discussed in the literature. I examine how it fares in the context of the semantic view of theories and in connection with the literature on scientific representation. Making sense of semantic realism requires specifying the conditions of application of theoretical models, even for models that are not actually used, which leads to several difficulties. My conclusion is that semantic realism is far more demanding than one would expect. Finally, I briefly examine some pragmatist alternatives.

Proper Names in the Legal Terminology of the English Language

The article deals with the problem of coining terms and nomenclature signs with proper names illustrated by the example of the English language legal terminology. The article begins with the discussion of the problems of intersection of two linguistic areas (those of terminology and onomastics) and differentiation between terms and nomenclature signs. It is observed that linguistic units with proper names possess a cultural specificity in the legal English as compared to the Russian terminological system of law. Linguistic and extra-linguistic factors influencing language units’ formation with the help of proper names in legal English, their structural and semantic specificity are revealed. The latter is considered from the point of view of the two-level semantics of language signs. The authors come to the following conclusions: (1) structural variability of the units under consideration especially strongly manifest in formation of legal nomenclature; (2) systemic linguistic oppositions of terms and nomenclature signs with proper names determine the semantics of these units; (3) the basis of the meaning of a term and a nomenclature sign is a notion, its essential components being included into the definitions; (4) differential semes of the meanings are assigned to the proper name elements of terms; (5) all semes of nomenclature signs with proper names constitute an inseparable whole and are not assigned to any specific elements of these units; (6) the meanings of nomenclature signs with proper names specify those of the terms in the hierarchical structure of the terminological system and in particular legal situations.

The semantic theory of language

Traditional linguistics was based on the idea that language is an activity that links sounds and meaning, an idea that has been referred to as ‘the code view of language’ because codes are the most familiar processes that generate meaning. Ever since the work of Noam Chomsky, however, this view has been increasingly replaced by ‘the syntax view of language’, the idea that children learn a language because they have an innate mechanism that allows them to grasp the syntax of whatever language they grow up with. This innate mechanism has been given various names – first Universal Grammar, then Language Acquisition Device (LAD), and finally Faculty of Language – but despite decades of research attempts there still is no evidence that such a device actually exists. At the same time, it has become increasingly clear that codes are not the sole processes that generate meaning. Another such process is the ability of higher animals to interpret what goes on in the world, and interpretation is different from coding because it is not based on fixed rules but on a process that Charles Peirce called abduction. This allows us to generalize the code view of language into the semantic view of language, a theory which maintains that language is primarily a semantic activity that gives meaning to sounds either by codes or by processes of interpretation. This view, furthermore, gives us a new theoretical framework for studying the origin of language without resorting to any deus ex machina device. In this framework the origin of language is compared with the origin of life and the origin of mind, because those mega transitions generated the three great families of codes that we find in Nature – the organic codes, the neural codes and the cultural codes – and it is possible that a comparative study allows us to catch a glimpse of the mechanisms that gave origin to language.

Kartofle i ziemniaki w muzyce, czyli o twórczym wykorzystaniu potencjału językowego z perspektywy semantyki encyklopedycznej

The object of analysis is the uses of lexemes kartofel i ziemniak and their derivations found in the language of contemporary Polish musicians. The analysis aims to describe these uses from the point of view of encyclopaedic semantics postulated by Cognitive Grammar. Describing the change of sense in terms of semantic extension and focusing on encyclopaedic knowledge, the paper attempts to specify what embedding extension in such knowledge is about. The analysis indicates the key role that this knowledge plays in the process of categorisation, the basis of semantic extension, in the process of entrenchment of the complex structure constituting the extended sense, and in further creative processes exploiting this structure.

Мотивы благопожеланий в обрядах детского цикла тувинцев Китая, России и Монголии

In the ritual folklore of the Tuvans of China, Russia and Mongolia, the main verbal component of the rituals of the children’s cycle is good wishes, which functions from the beginning to the end of each rite. The article identifies twelve motives of good wishes uttered in the structure of the rituals of the children’s cycle. These motives of good wishes contain traditional moral and ethical values, in which cultural symbols, mythological representations and the main priorities of Tuvan culture are presented in a short and concise form. Each motive of good wishes is analyzed in detail from the point of view of semantics, structure and pragmatics of the ritual practice of Chinese, Russian and Mongolian Tuvans. It is established that these motives of good wishes depend on a range of factors: the specific ritual situation, the purpose and meaning of the ritual, the gender and age characteristics of the recipient of the ritual. Nine of them (longevity, fate, respect, human vitality, physical qualities of the child, well- being, education, service to the Motherland, gaining skills) are characteristic only in the rites of the child’s cycle, because in these rituals the future life of the child, the recipient of good wishes, “forms” with the help of verbal elements. The other three motives (blissful state, strengthening the strength of the spirit and the presence of numerous relatives), except for the rituals of the children’s cycle, are used as good wishes in the wedding ceremony. The analysis shows that the ritual texts of the Tuvans of China, Russia and Mongolia in the structure of the rituals of the children’s cycle have largely preserved the ancient layer of common Tuvan folklore, which still has an authentic performance. In the texts of good wishes, mythological ideas about the well-being and fate of the child, the invocation of a prosperous life for him, as well as modeling the life path of the child are common. Enclave traditions to a greater extent have a single fund of good wishes, common features compared to the mother field are observed in them. According to the compositional structure in the good wishes of Chinese Tuvans, in comparison with other ethnolocal Tuvan groups, the stable formula “let it be a blessing” applies. The obtained results can be applied for further comparative research in the field of Tuvan folklore.

Изъяснительные конструкции в русском поэтическом дискурсе XXI века: тенденции использования

This article provides a semantic view of selection and use of units capable of acting as explanatory markers. Based on the Russian National Corpus, I analyse the use of tools that form the explanation paradigm in the Russian language — i. e. relevant complex sentences, sentences with parenthetical components, paratactic explanatory sentences, propositional phrases and deliberatives — in the poetic discourse of the last two decades. This makes it possible to determine the main trends in how explanatory structures are used in the poetic discourse, shedding light on a number of specific issues: the unique traits of explanatory structures in the poetic discourse; motivation behind the specific explanatory structures driven by the structural and semantic traits of lyrical poetry and discursively motivated syntactic phenomena connected to the presentation of the modus. The analysis of the regularities that determine the use of explanatory structures in poetic discourse has demonstrated that the author’s choice of explanatory tools is motivated by communicative, stylistic, cognitive and aesthetic reasons. Major conclusions of the study are as follows: the dialogic mode — which implies that communicants rely on a common knowledge base — and the desire for ambiguity are the key communicative factors that drive the choice of explanatory tools in the poetic discourse; the shift towards colloquialism causes a change in the frequency of various explanatory structures, namely more conjunctionless structures and sentences with an introductory component relative to complex sentences; explanatory structures demonstrate features that are not typical of other types of written literary discourse. i. e. model contamination, syntax-directed syncretism and ambiguous syntax; the expansion of the referential composition and the deliberate referential uncertainty of the modal subject are discursively motivated in the sphere of modus presentation. These trends and facts do not only explain why explanatory structures are scarce in poetry in general, but also their unique functional load which compensates for the low frequency of their use.

Ichthyological Hapax Legomena in Marcellus’ "De piscibus"

Marcellus of Side, a physician and didactic poet of the second century AD, mentions fourteen exclusive ichthyonyms in the preserved fragment De piscibus, extracted from the 42-volume epic poem entitled Cheironides. The author discusses Greek names of fish and sea animals that appear only in Marcellus’ work. They belong to the so-called hapax legomena. The following appellatives are carefully analyzed: ἁλιπλεύμων, ἅρπη, βούφθαλμος, βράχατος, γαρίσκος, γερῖνος, ἐρυθρός, θρανίας, θῦρος, κόλλουρος, περόνη, τραγίσκος, τυφλῖνος, χρύσοφος. It is assumed that Marcellus of Side introduced a number of ichthyonyms of Pamphylian origin, e.g. Pamph. θῦρος (< *θύρσος), βράχατος (instead of βάτραχος), ἐρυθρός (= ἐρυθρῖνος), θρανίας (instead of θράνις), χρύσοφος (instead of χρύσοφρυς). Also new identifications of fish are suggested, e.g. Gk. βούφθαλ- μος ‘large-eye dentex, Dentex macrophthalmus Bloch’, Gk. κόλλουρος ‘slender sunfish, Ranzania laevis Pennant’. All the discusssed ichthyonyms, as well as names of other sea animals, are explained from the point of view of phonology, morphology or semantics, e.g. ἁλιπλεύμων ‘jellyfish’ (literally ‘sea lung’), ἅρπη ‘a kind of ray fish’ (literally ‘a kite’).

An Internal Schematic View and Simulation of Major Diagonal Mesh Network-on-Chip

NoC is a competent communication for on chip network architectures. It make more efficient the computational and high congestion communication on a single chip. In this paper, we are proposing a NoC topologies, i.e., Major Diagonal Mesh NoC called MD-Mesh NoC. In MD-Mesh NoC the corner of major diagonal linked with each other so that the efficiency of the communication among the corner can be increase. The internal semantic view and register transfer logic (RTL) View has been shown. As number of connections among the nodes increases and number of hopes decreases, performance of packet traversing will get increases. The synthesis and simulation has been done on Vertex 5 FPGA. The hardware parameters like number of slices and memory usage with respect to increase the number of nodes has been calculated on FPGA Vertex 5.