A practical primer on processing semantic property norm data

A fundamental problem in the philosophy of logic is to characterize the concepts of ‘logical consequence’ and ‘logical truth’ in such a way as to explain what is semantically, metaphysically or epistemologically distinctive about them. One traditionally says that a sentence p is a logical consequence of a set S of sentences in a language L if and only if (1) the truth of the sentences of S in L guarantees the truth of p and (2) this guarantee is due to the ‘logical form’ of the sentences of S and the sentence p. A sentence is said to be logically true if its truth is guaranteed by its logical form (for example, ‘2 is even or 2 is not even’). There are three problems presented by this picture: to explicate the notion of logical form or structure; to explain how the logical forms of sentences give rise to the fact that the truth of certain sentences guarantees the truth of others; and to explain what such a guarantee consists in. The logical form of a sentence may be exhibited by replacing nonlogical expressions with a schematic letter. Two sentences have the same logical form when they can be mapped onto the same schema using this procedure (‘2 is even or 2 is not even’ and ‘3 is prime or 3 is not prime’ have the same logical form: ‘p or not-p’). If a sentence is logically true then each sentence sharing its logical form is true. Any characterization of logical consequence, then, presupposes a conception of logical form, which in turn assumes a prior demarcation of the logical constants. Such a demarcation yields an answer to the first problem above; the goal is to generate the demarcation in such a way as to enable a solution of the remaining two. Approaches to the characterization of logical constants and logical consequence are affected by developments in mathematical logic. One way of viewing logical constanthood is as a semantic property; a property that an expression possesses by virtue of the sort of contribution it makes to determining the truth conditions of sentences containing it. Another way is proof-theoretical: appealing to aspects of cognitive or operational role as the defining characteristics of logical expressions. Broadly, proof-theoretic accounts go naturally with the conception of logic as a theory of formal deductive inference; model-theoretic accounts complement a conception of logic as an instrument for the characterization of structure.

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Light and heavy reflexive marking

Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics ◽

10.1075/arcl.5.10cal ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 239-269 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Andreea S. Calude

Keyword(s):

Current Paper ◽

Common Denominator ◽

Semantic Property ◽

Human Language ◽

Middle Domain ◽

Cognitive Theories ◽

The Common ◽

Situation Types ◽

Middle Constructions ◽

Insight Into

In Romanian, the middle marker se is employed to encode five distinct situation types: reflexive, reciprocal, (medio-)passive, inchoative and impersonal. This work identifies the relationships among the different uses of the marker and puts forward explanations for them within a cognitive, functional framework. Following studies such as those by Faltz (1985), Haiman (1983), Haspelmath (2005), Kemmer (1993ab), Lakoff (1977), Manoliu-Manea (1994, 2000), Maldonado (1992, 1999), Manney (2000), and Yoshimura and Taylor (2004), the current paper gives a synchronic account of the Romanian Middle Domain, its organization and the relationships between the various middle constructions found inside it. Findings suggest that the semantic property of low elaboration of events (introduced by Kemmer, 1993ab) constitutes the common denominator among the different uses explored. This work provides an insight into Romanian itself, as well as a contribution to cognitive theories of human language and responds to the call for more data and further investigations of middles cross-linguistically (see Smith, 2004).

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Syntactic characterisations of amalgamation, convexity and related properties

Journal of Symbolic Logic ◽

10.2307/2272886 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 39 (3) ◽

pp. 433-451 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Paul D. Bacsich ◽

Dafydd Rowlands Hughes

Keyword(s):

General Idea ◽

Semantic Property ◽

Cylindric Algebras ◽

Real Numbers ◽

Elementary Class ◽

Preservation Theorems ◽

Semantic Properties ◽

Extra Structure

We prove that certain syntactic conditions similar to separation principles on a theory are equivalent to semantic properties such as amalgamation and strong amalgamation, by showing that appropriate classes of structures are definable by Lω1ω-sentences. Then we characterise the elements of core models and thus give a natural proof of Rabin's characterisation of convex theories.The notion of a syntactic characterisation of a semantic property of a theory is by now fairly well known. The earliest such were the classical preservation theorems: For example, a theorem of Lyndon characterised the theories whose models were closed under homomorphic images as those with a set of positive axioms.Presumably the notion of syntactic characterisation can be made precise, but it is probably better at this stage to leave it vague. The general idea is that theories are “algebras” (cylindric algebras, or logical categories, with suitable extra structure) and that a semantic property P of theories is syntactically characterisable if the class of theories with P is an “elementary” class of “algebras.”When one codes countable theories as real numbers, a syntactically characterisable property will be arithmetical. The converse does not seem reasonable, especially as it is often fairly easy to prove a property arithmetical (using extra predicates, usually), when we may not be able to find a syntactic characterisation.

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Late Merger of Degree Clauses

Linguistic Inquiry ◽

10.1162/002438904322793338 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 35 (1) ◽

pp. 1-45 ◽

Cited By ~ 61

Author(s):

Rajesh Bhatt ◽

Roumyana Pancheva

Keyword(s):

Semantic Property

In this article, we propose that degree heads and degree clauses form a constituent not at the point where the degree head is merged, but after QR of the degree head and countercyclic merger of the degree clause. We derive a generalization originally outlined in Williams 1974 that the scope of the comparative degree quantifier is exactly as high as the site of attachment of the degree clause. This generalization is shown to follow from the derivational mechanism of countercyclic merger and a semantic property of the comparative degree head, namely, its nonconservativity

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4. Syntactic orientation as a semantic property

Where have All the Adjectives Gone? ◽

10.1515/9783110822939.141 ◽

1982 ◽

Keyword(s):

Semantic Property

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Learnability in the second language acquisition of semantics: a bidirectional study of a semantic parameter

Second language Research ◽

10.1191/0267658306sr277oa ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 498-523 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Roumyana Slabakova

Keyword(s):

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Native Speaker ◽

Universal Grammar ◽

Target Language ◽

Semantic Property ◽

Negative Evidence ◽

Proper Name ◽

The One ◽

Parameter Values ◽

The Relationship

The study investigates the relationship between input, UG (Universal Grammar) parameter values, and the native language in the acquisition of a purely semantic property that is superficially unrelated to its syntactic trigger, The Bare Noun/Proper Name parameter (Longobardi, 1991; 1994; 1996; 2001; 2005). On the one hand, English and Italian bare nouns have identical syntactic form and distribution, but differ in available interpretations. On the other hand, proper names display cross-linguistic constant meaning but variable word order. Variation in this respect can be accounted for by a parameter that is set to one value in English and another one in Italian. A bidirectional study of the two properties was conducted. Individual results calculated with the native speaker accuracy as the cut-off point for successful acquisition indicate that parametric restructuring is attested in both learning directions. In the English [.arrowright] Italian direction, the lack of one native interpretation in the target language (a contracting of the grammar) is achieved in the absence of negative evidence, in a Poverty of the Stimulus situation. In both directions, the semantic property is acquired based on input and/or positive evidence for the syntactic side of the parameter.

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