scholarly journals Approaching explanatory adequacy in phonology using Minimum Description Length

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ezer Rasin ◽  
Iddo Berger ◽  
Nur Lan ◽  
Itamar Shefi ◽  
Roni Katzir
Keyword(s):  
Minimum Description Length ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Explanatory Adequacy ◽  
The Right ◽  
Linguistically Appropriate

A linguistic theory reaches explanatory adequacy if it arrives at a linguistically-appropriate grammar based on the kind of input available to children. In phonology, we assume that children can succeed even when the input consists of surface evidence alone, with no corrections or explicit paradigmatic information – that is, in learning from distributional evidence. We take the grammar to include both a lexicon of underlying representations and a mapping from the lexicon to surface forms. Moreover, this mapping should be able to express optionality and opacity, among other textbook patterns. This learning challenge has not yet been addressed in the literature. We argue that the principle of Minimum Description Length (MDL) offers the right kind of guidance to the learner – favoring generalizations that are neither overly general nor overly specific – and can help the learner overcome the learning challenge. We illustrate with an implemented MDL learner that succeeds in learning various linguistically-relevant patterns from small corpora.

scholarly journals Spanish participios activos are adjectival antipassives

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Grant Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Word Formation ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
External Argument ◽  
The Past ◽  
Linguistic Inquiry ◽  
Adjectival Passives ◽  
The Right ◽  
Semantic Properties

Abstract In many languages a set of adjectives are characterized by their “past/passive” participial morphology. Lexicalist and syntactic approaches to word formation converge on the claim that such adjectives can be derived from verbal inputs with no external argument but never from verbal inputs with an external argument. That is, there are “adjectival passives” but no “adjectival antipassives” marked with the same morphology. I argue that a sub-class of adjectives marked with the “past/passive” participial morpheme –do in Spanish, labeled participios activos in descriptive grammars, should be treated as adjectival antipassives in precisely this sense. I propose that Spanish has an Asp head that (i) is spelled out with “past/passive” participial morphology and (ii) selects an unergative verbal input creating a state/property whose argument corresponds to the external argument of that verbal source. If on the right track, the proposal supports the existence of a typology of adjectivizing heads that are spelled out uniformly with “past/passive” participial morphology but must be distinguished in terms of selectional and semantic properties (Bruening 2014, Word formation is syntactic: Adjectival passives in English. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 32. 363–422; Embick 2004, On the structure of resultative participles in English. Linguistic Inquiry 35. 355–392). It differs from previous approaches in claiming that such a typology must include root-derived adjectives, as well as ‘active (=unergative)’ and ‘passive’ deverbal adjectives.

scholarly journals Comparing the Order of Multi-Layered Modifiers in English, Chinese and Vietnamese in Language Teaching

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 66-71
Author(s):  
Vo Thi Quynh Trang
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Intimate Relationship ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Object Type ◽  
The Core ◽  
Left Branch ◽  
Cognitive Linguistic ◽  
The Cross ◽  
The Right

From the cross-linguistic perspective and cognitive linguistic theory, this study has analysed the rules of multi-layered modifiers in English, Chinese, and Vietnamese, pointing out their common points and differences. Although all three languages belong to the SVO (subject-verb-object) type but modifiers in English and Chinese are in front of the core words, which shows that English and Chinese belong to the language in the left branch, but modifiers in Vietnamese, they are behind the core words which shows that Vietnamese belongs to the right branch. All the three languages have one thing in common, whether they are on the left or on the right branch, in which modifiers have the closest relationship with the core words that will stand nearest to them. Other modifiers that have a non-intimate relationship with the core words will stand further away from them. Thus, mastering this feature of the three types of languages will help in language teaching and learning.

Chomsky, Noam (1928–)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norbert Hornstein
Keyword(s):  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Language Faculty ◽  
Linguistic Data ◽  
Grammatical Competence ◽  
Theories Of Mind ◽  
Genetic Endowment ◽  
Explanatory Adequacy ◽  
Object Of Study

Fish swim, birds fly, people talk. The talents displayed by fish and birds rest on specific biological structures whose intricate detail is attributable to genetic endowment. Human linguistic capacity similarly rests on dedicated mental structures many of whose specific details are an innate biological endowment of the species. One of Chomsky’s central concerns has been to press this analogy and uncover its implications for theories of mind, meaning and knowledge. This work has proceeded along two broad fronts. First, Chomsky has fundamentally restructured grammatical research. Due to his work, the central object of study in linguistics is ‘the language faculty’, a postulated mental organ which is dedicated to acquiring linguistic knowledge and is involved in various aspects of language-use, including the production and understanding of utterances. The aim of linguistic theory is to describe the initial state of this faculty and how it changes with exposure to linguistic data. Chomsky (1981) characterizes the initial state of the language faculty as a set of principles and parameters. Language acquisition consists in setting these open parameter values on the basis of linguistic data available to a child. The initial state of the system is a Universal Grammar (UG): a super-recipe for concocting language-specific grammars. Grammars constitute the knowledge of particular languages that result when parametric values are fixed. Linguistic theory, given these views, has a double mission. First, it aims to characterize the grammars (and hence the mental states) attained by native speakers. Theories are ‘descriptively adequate’ if they attain this goal. In addition, linguistic theory aims to explain how grammatical competence is attained. Theories are ‘explanatorily adequate’ if they show how descriptively adequate grammars can arise on the basis of exposure to ‘primary linguistic data’ (PLD): the data children are exposed to and use in attaining their native grammars. Explanatory adequacy rests on an articulated theory of UG, and in particular a detailed theory of the general principles and open parameters that characterize the initial state of the language faculty (that is, the biologically endowed mental structures). Since the mid- 1990s Chomsky has emphasized a third mission: to explain how the capacity for language could have arisen in the species. Chomsky (2004) has described theories that address this third concern as going "beyond explanatory adequacy," meaning that they not only attain explanatory adequacy, but also provide a plausible path for the emergence in humans of the "Faculty of Language" (the name given to whatever it is that allows humans to acquire language in the way that they do). Chomsky has also pursued a second set of concerns. He has vigorously criticized many philosophical nostrums from the perspective of this revitalized approach to linguistics. Three topics he has consistently returned to are: - Knowledge of language and its general epistemological implications - Indeterminacy and underdetermination in linguistic theory - Person-specific ‘I-languages’ versus socially constituted ‘E-languages’ as the proper objects of scientific study.

sunstein's heuristics provide insufficient descriptive and explanatory adequacy

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
marc d. hauser
Keyword(s):  
Moral Sense ◽  
Acquisition Process ◽  
Explanatory Adequacy ◽  
The Right

in considering a domain of knowledge – language, music, mathematics, or morality – it is necessary to derive principles that can describe the mature state and explain how an individual reaches this state. although sunstein's heuristics go some way toward a description of our moral sense, it is not clear that they are at the right level of description, and as stated, they provide no guidelines for looking at the acquisition process – the problem of explanatory adequacy.

scholarly journals Argumentationsanalyse. Grundtræk af en modulær sprogvidenskabelig tilgang

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Henning Nølke
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Semantics ◽  
Linguistic Theory ◽  
Modular Approach ◽  
Global Approach ◽  
High Complexity ◽  
Argumentative Discourse ◽  
Topos Theory ◽  
The Right ◽  
Linguistic Approach ◽  
Linguistic Material

In this article, the author presents some fundamentals of a modular linguistic approach to argumentation. Argumentation is seen as a matter of interpretation, and since interpretation phenomena depend on linguistic material as well as on context in the broad sense, genuine linguistic theory should be an integrated part of argumentation theory. A linguistic approach to argumentation should adopt instructional semantics as opposed to representational semantics and argumentative (discourse dynamic) seman-tics as opposed to referential semantics. In view of the high complexity of argumentation phenomena, rigour can be obtained only in a strictly modular approach. After a brief overview of the global approach, the author lays down some fundamental metho-dological and theoretical principles for modular studies. He then introduces three modules taking care of Lexical Semantics (the Topos Theory), Polyphony and Argu-mentative Functors. The three mini-theories involved are all inspired by the Theory of Argumentation in Language developed by the French linguists Oswald Ducrot and Jean-Claude Anscombre. Two recommendations for practitioners are formulated as conclusion: “To be efficient, use the right linguistic forms and structures!” and “To choose efficient forms, keep your eye on the purpose!”

Investor-State Dispute Settlement under NAFTA Chapter 11: The Shape of Things to Come?

1998 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 263-290
Author(s):  
J. Anthony VanDuzer
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade Agreement ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
Minimum Standards ◽  
The North ◽  
State Behaviour ◽  
Nafta Chapter 11 ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Right

SummaryRecently, there has been a proliferation of international agreements imposing minimum standards on states in respect of their treatment of foreign investors and allowing investors to initiate dispute settlement proceedings where a state violates these standards. Of greatest significance to Canada is Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which provides both standards for state behaviour and the right to initiate binding arbitration. Since 1996, four cases have been brought under Chapter 11. This note describes the Chapter 11 process and suggests some of the issues that may arise as it is increasingly resorted to by investors.

What face familiarity feelings say about the lateralization of specific entities within the core system

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Gainotti
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Memory System ◽  
Core System ◽  
The Core ◽  
Memory Traces ◽  
Specific Memory ◽  
Target Article ◽  
Temporal Structures ◽  
The Right

Abstract The target article carefully describes the memory system, centered on the temporal lobe that builds specific memory traces. It does not, however, mention the laterality effects that exist within this system. This commentary briefly surveys evidence showing that clear asymmetries exist within the temporal lobe structures subserving the core system and that the right temporal structures mainly underpin face familiarity feelings.

Study of charge transfer in FeTi

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 296-297
Author(s):  
J. Taft∅
Keyword(s):  
Charge Transfer ◽  
Charge Distribution ◽  
Electron Scattering ◽  
Periodic System ◽  
Electron Distribution ◽  
Scattering Amplitude ◽  
Transition Elements ◽  
Hartree Fock ◽  
Cscl Structure ◽  
The Right

It is well known that for reflections corresponding to large interplanar spacings (i.e., sin θ/λ small), the electron scattering amplitude, f, is sensitive to the ionicity and to the charge distribution around the atoms. We have used this in order to obtain information about the charge distribution in FeTi, which is a candidate for storage of hydrogen. Our goal is to study the changes in electron distribution in the presence of hydrogen, and also the ionicity of hydrogen in metals, but so far our study has been limited to pure FeTi. FeTi has the CsCl structure and thus Fe and Ti scatter with a phase difference of π into the 100-ref lections. Because Fe (Z = 26) is higher in the periodic system than Ti (Z = 22), an immediate “guess” would be that Fe has a larger scattering amplitude than Ti. However, relativistic Hartree-Fock calculations show that the opposite is the case for the 100-reflection. An explanation for this may be sought in the stronger localization of the d-electrons of the first row transition elements when moving to the right in the periodic table. The tabulated difference between fTi (100) and ffe (100) is small, however, and based on the values of the scattering amplitude for isolated atoms, the kinematical intensity of the 100-reflection is only 5.10-4 of the intensity of the 200-reflection.

New Dimensions in Freeze-Etching

1969 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 202-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell L. Steere ◽  
Michael Moseley
Keyword(s):  
Fracture Surfaces ◽  
Aluminum Specimen ◽  
Specimen Holder ◽  
Freeze Etching ◽  
The Right

A redesigned specimen holder and cap have made possible the freeze-etching of both fracture surfaces of a frozen fractured specimen. In principal, the procedure involves freezing a specimen between two specimen holders (as shown in A, Fig. 1, and the left side of Fig. 2). The aluminum specimen holders and brass cap are constructed so that the upper specimen holder can be forced loose, turned over, and pressed down firmly against the specimen stage to a position represented by B, Fig. 1, and the right side of Fig. 2.

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