Fragments and structural identity on a direct interpretation approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
JOANNA NYKIEL ◽  
JONG-BOK KIM
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Structural Identity ◽  
Direct Interpretation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Pf Deletion

This paper examines the relationship between merger and sprouting fragments, which are typically taken to involve clausal ellipsis. We argue that structural identity constraints on fragments and their correlates should, where appropriate, make reference to the argument structure of lexical heads in the antecedent clauses. Our proposal is spelled out as part of a direct interpretation approach to clausal ellipsis, but, in addition, it incorporates processing-based preferences as a means to motivate the contrast between merger and sprouting fragments. We propose specifically that phrases which are available to serve as correlates for fragments are maximal categories derived from the argument structure of lexical heads in the antecedents. This proposal successfully predicts form-matching effects that surface under clausal ellipsis, as well as well-known limits on clausal ellipsis regarding the morphosyntactic form of fragments. We take advantage of the fact that fragments are not embedded in unpronounced structures, which allows us to articulate a proposal that avoids the difficulty of having to simultaneously relate a fragment to the structure of the antecedent and to its own unpronounced structure, a difficulty that current PF-deletion accounts face.

From Argument Diagrams to Argumentation Mining in Texts

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Peldszus ◽  
Manfred Stede
Keyword(s):  
Computational Linguistics ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Automatic Analysis ◽  
Critical Survey ◽  
Formal Representation ◽  
Rhetorical Structure ◽  
Analysis Process ◽  
Argumentation Mining ◽  
The Relationship

In this paper, the authors consider argument mining as the task of building a formal representation for an argumentative piece of text. Their goal is to provide a critical survey of the literature on both the resulting representations (i.e., argument diagramming techniques) and on the various aspects of the automatic analysis process. For representation, the authors also provide a synthesized proposal of a scheme that combines advantages from several of the earlier approaches; in addition, the authors discuss the relationship between representing argument structure and the rhetorical structure of texts in the sense of Mann and Thompsons (1988) RST. Then, for the argument mining problem, the authors also cover the literature on closely-related tasks that have been tackled in Computational Linguistics, because they think that these can contribute to more powerful argument mining systems than the first prototypes that were built in recent years. The paper concludes with the authors’ suggestions for the major challenges that should be addressed in the field of argument mining.

scholarly journals ‘Future Talk’ in Newspaper Editorials: Predictions and Their Role in Argumentative Discourse

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Farzana Masroor ◽  
Muhammad Yousaf ◽  
Azhar Habib ◽  
Ijaz Ali Khan
Keyword(s):  
Speech Acts ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Argumentative Discourse ◽  
Course Of Action ◽  
The Future ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Newspaper Editorials

Newspaper editorials are known for taking a stance while fulfilling their goals of persuading the audience. In this regard, making future predictions is a crucial strategy in the argument structure of editorials. They are considered as risky acts since they are meant to outline future course of action as well as outcomes of such actions for their audience. This research is focused on the analysis of the speech acts of predictions among newspaper editorials of Pakistani, American and Malaysian newspapers. The analysis is focused on the exploration of forms, force and occurrence of these acts. The results indicate the preference of Pakistani and American newspapers in using strong predictions. The Malaysian newspaper meanwhile is found to be less explicit when predicting the future. This is indicated by less use of the strategy as well as adoption of implicit ways to express propositions related to the future. The results affirm the role of editorials as opinion leaders in their respective societies and the differences across cultures can be interpreted with respect to the extra linguistic and contextual factors that control editorial structures and strategies. The findings of the study are useful for future researchers to explore the relationship of language and its communicative purpose especially when fulfilling the goals of persuasion across cultures and contexts.

Event Structure and Verbal Decomposition

2019 ◽  
pp. 313-341
Author(s):  
Gillian Ramchand
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Event Structure ◽  
Semantic Representations ◽  
Structural Interpretation ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter explores the relationship between constrained semantic representations of events, and structured syntactic representations that express them. I show that these representations track each other systematically, and that argument structure generalizations emerge in lock-step with these structures. I therefore propose a system in which those generalizations follow from the following general principles of structural interpretation: (i) embedding corresponds to the cause/leads to relation; (ii) each subevental structure is related potentially to a participant NP; (iii) event-recursion is limited to structures with at most one dynamic predication per event phase. The maximal subevental structure consists of a stative predication embedding a dynamic one, and the dynamic one in turn embedding a stative one. This structure and its proper subsets exhaust the event types built by the grammar. These principles ensure the relative prominence of the different argument positions as well as specific entailments for the different positions.

The Macrostructure of Informal Arguments: A Proposed Model and Analysis

2003 ◽  
Vol 56 (6) ◽  
pp. 1021-1051 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Ricco
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Deductive Reasoning ◽  
Psychological Reality ◽  
Argument Analysis ◽  
Argument Strength ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
The Relationship

Theories of informal reasoning and critical thinking often maintain that everyday, informal arguments can be classified into types based on the specific organization that the premises or reasons enter into in their support for the conclusion (Snoeck Henkemans, 2000; Vorobej, 1995b). Three general types are identified: convergent, coordinately linked, and subordinately linked arguments. There has been no empirical research, however, to determine whether these structural distinctions have any psychological reality. In the first two of four experiments, college students were presented with premise pairs from larger, informal arguments and were asked to judge the nature of the relationship between the premises in a pair. The judgments involved applying “tests” of linkage, subordination, and so on, that have been proposed in the theoretical literature on argument analysis (e.g., Walton, 1996a; Yanal, 1991). Results suggest that adults can effectively distinguish between linked (interdependent) and convergent relationships and can further distinguish between interdependencies that are full and those that are merely partial. Adults also distinguished between subordinate and nonsubordinate relations. Experiments 3 and 4 provide evidence that adults make use of information about argument structure in evaluating argument strength and in categorizing arguments. Experiment 4 further suggests that facility with macrostructure is only modestly related to deductive reasoning competence. Findings are framed in terms of a speculative account of how argument structure is identified and mentally represented.

scholarly journals Going, going, gone: the acquisition of the verb ‘go’

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 783-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA L. THEAKSTON ◽  
ELENA V. M. LIEVEN ◽  
JULIAN M. PINE ◽  
CAROLINE F. ROWLAND
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Syntactic Category ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Early Argument ◽  
Abstract Rule ◽  
Category Formation ◽  
The Relationship

This study investigated different accounts of early argument structure acquisition and verb paradigm building through the detailed examination of the acquisition of the verb Go. Data from 11 children followed longitudinally between the ages of 2;0 and 3;0 were examined. Children's uses of the different forms of Go were compared with respect to syntactic structure and the semantics encoded. The data are compatible with the suggestion that the children were not operating with a single verb representation that differentiated between different forms of Go but rather that their knowledge of the relationship between the different forms of Go varied depending on the structure produced and the meaning encoded. However, a good predictor of the children's use of different forms of Go in particular structures and to express particular meanings was the frequency of use of those structures and meanings with particular forms of Go in the input. The implications of these findings for theories of syntactic category formation and abstract rule-based descriptions of grammar are discussed.

scholarly journals Arguments or macroroles? : Two functional approaches to Old English quirky case

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Martín Arista ◽  
Laura Caballero González
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Internal Variables ◽  
Motion Verbs ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Intransitive Verbs ◽  
The Relationship

After comparing two functional approaches to the question of Old English deviant accusatives, genitives and datives, this paper follows Martín Arista (2001a, b) with respect to Old English prototypical verbal constructions: the prototypical transitive construction is defined as the active accomplishment version of verbs like writan 'write', the activity implementation of creation and consumption verbs representing the less-prototypical transitive construction; the active accomplishment use of verbs such as faran 'go' characterize the prototypical intransitive construction, whereas the activity version of motion verbs define the less-prototypical intransitive construction. The conclusion is reached that quirky case is not a feature of the morphosyntax of certain intransitive verbs of state and causative state, but a characteristic of verbal constructions that, deviating from both the transitive and the intransitive prototypes, show not only case-marking irregularity but also more case-marking choices than verbs that abide by the transitive or intransitive prototype. Since marked morphosyntax -including quirky case- is considered in this paper a consequence of the non-prototypical character of argument structure, it is claimed that the relationship between canonical lexical templates and their configurations should be semantically and syntactically motivated. The Principle of Lexical Template Instantiation guarantees the suitable degree of implementation of a lexical template by stipulating that, prototypically, all the internal variables of the instantiations of lexical templates are fully specified

scholarly journals On the relationship between argument structure change and semantic change

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Bethany J. Christiansen ◽  
Brian D. Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Argument Structure ◽  
Structure Change ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Meaning Change ◽  
The Relationship

Argument structure (AS) and meaning are closely related, but the nature of the relationship is disputed. It is not entirely deterministic, as not all aspects of AS and meaning necessarily match up. Most discussion has focused on theory-internal issues and/or synchronic analysis of argument alternations. We, however, take a diachronic perspective, addressing how change in a verb’s AS correlates with meaning and vice-versa, and specifically asking if AS changes first, giving new semantics, or if meaning change triggers a different AS. We study these issues empirically via corpus work on the verb babysit, since it shows interesting changes involving AS and semantics in the relatively shallow diachrony of modern English.

scholarly journals The Convergence of Ricoeur’s and Von Wright’s Complex Models of History

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-114
Author(s):  
Linda L. Cox
Keyword(s):  
Hybrid Model ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Explanatory Model ◽  
Complex Method ◽  
Narrative History ◽  
Truth Claim ◽  
Structural Identity ◽  
Modèle Hybride ◽  
Complex Models ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between the structural identity of narrative and the truth claim of the historical narrative work is one of importance to Ricœur. He considers the attempts of two interwoven models of history emerging from analytic philosophy—explanatory and narrative—to articulate this relationship. This paper explores the trajectories of these models as well as the epistemological and ontological crises culminating from the “simple” theses of each model. The solution to these crises requires a more complex method to account for the nature of the connections underlying historical understanding. Georg Henrik von Wright’s provisional or “hybrid” model of explanation and understanding revises the simple explanatory model and is foundational for Ricœur’s own complex revision of narrativist models through his notion of questioning back. The present paper argues that the structure of this hybrid model was unsatisfactory for von Wright, and leads in the direction of Ricœur’s own narrative method. Keywords: Ricœur, von Wright, Narrative, History, Questioning back. Résumé La relation entre l’identité structurale du récit et la prétention à la vérité de l’œuvre de récit historique est fondamentale chez Ricœur. Il considère que les deux modèles historiographiques de provenance analytique – le modèle explicatif et le modèle narratif – peuvent s’articuler. Cet article explore les trajectoires de ces modèles autant que les crises épistémologiques et ontologiques qui culminent dans chacune des thèses prise dans un sens unilatéral. La solution pour remédier à ces crises requiert une méthode plus complexe pour tenir compte de la nature des liens qui sous-tendent la compréhension historique. Le modèle d’explication et de compréhension, provisoire et “hybride,” de Georg Henrik von Wright permet de réviser le simple modèle explicatif. Ceci est fondamental pour comprendre  la révision complexe que Ricœur apporte aux modèles narrativistes à travers la reprise de la notion de “questionnement à rebours.” La présente contribution fait valoir que la structure de ce modèle hybride n’est pas satisfaisante pour von Wright, et débouche dans le sens de la méthode narrative proposée par Ricœur.Mots-clés: Ricœur, von Wright, Narrative, Histoire, Questionnenement à rebours.

scholarly journals The information structure of subject extraposition in Early New High German

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caitlin Light
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Structural Effect ◽  
Narrow Focus ◽  
Early New High German ◽  
To Receive ◽  
The Relationship

This paper investigates the information-structural characteristics of extraposed subjects in Early New High German (ENHG). Based on new quantitative data from a parsed corpus of ENHG, I will argue that unlike objects, subjects in ENHG have two motivations for extraposing. First, subjects may extrapose in order to receive narrow focus, which is the pattern Bies (1996) has shown for object extraposition in ENHG. Secondly, however, subjects may extrapose in order to receive a default sentence accent, which is most visible in the case of presentational constructions. This motivation does not affect objects, which may achieve the same prosodic goal without having to extrapose. The study has two major consequences: (1) subject extraposition in ENHG demonstrates that there is not necessarily a one-to-one correspondence between syntactic structure and information structural effect (cf. Féry 2007); and (2) the overall phenomenon of DP extraposition in ENHG fits into a broader set of crosslinguistic focus phenomena which demonstrate a subject-object asymmetry (cf. Hartmann and Zimmermann 2007, Skopeteas and Fanselow 2010), raising important questions about the relationship between argument structure and information structural notions.

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