scholarly journals LOGICS FOR PROPOSITIONAL DETERMINACY AND INDEPENDENCE

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 470-506 ◽  
Author(s):  
VALENTIN GORANKO ◽  
ANTTI KUUSISTO

AbstractThis paper investigates formal logics for reasoning about determinacy and independence. Propositional Dependence Logic${\cal D}$and Propositional Independence Logic${\cal I}$are recently developed logical systems, based on team semantics, that provide a framework for such reasoning tasks. We introduce two new logics${{\cal L}_D}$and${{\cal L}_{\,I\,}}$, based on Kripke semantics, and propose them as alternatives for${\cal D}$and${\cal I}$, respectively. We analyse the relative expressive powers of these four logics and discuss the way these systems relate to natural language. We argue that${{\cal L}_D}$and${{\cal L}_{\,I\,}}$naturally resolve a range of interpretational problems that arise in${\cal D}$and${\cal I}$. We also obtain sound and complete axiomatizations for${{\cal L}_D}$and${{\cal L}_{\,I\,}}$.

2018 ◽  
pp. 35-38
Author(s):  
O. Hyryn

The article deals with natural language processing, namely that of an English sentence. The article describes the problems, which might arise during the process and which are connected with graphic, semantic, and syntactic ambiguity. The article provides the description of how the problems had been solved before the automatic syntactic analysis was applied and the way, such analysis methods could be helpful in developing new analysis algorithms. The analysis focuses on the issues, blocking the basis for the natural language processing — parsing — the process of sentence analysis according to their structure, content and meaning, which aims to analyze the grammatical structure of the sentence, the division of sentences into constituent components and defining links between them.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 722-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
TAPANI HYTTINEN ◽  
GIANLUCA PAOLINI ◽  
JOUKO VÄÄNÄNEN

AbstractA logical approach to Bell’s Inequalities of quantum mechanics has been introduced by Abramsky and Hardy (Abramsky & Hardy, 2012). We point out that the logical Bell’s Inequalities of Abramsky & Hardy (2012) are provable in the probability logic of Fagin, Halpern and Megiddo (Fagin et al., 1990). Since it is now considered empirically established that quantum mechanics violates Bell’s Inequalities, we introduce a modified probability logic, that we call quantum team logic, in which Bell’s Inequalities are not provable, and prove a Completeness theorem for this logic. For this end we generalise the team semantics of dependence logic (Väänänen, 2007) first to probabilistic team semantics, and then to what we call quantum team semantics.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Cataldo Musto ◽  
Fedelucio Narducci ◽  
Marco Polignano ◽  
Marco De Gemmis ◽  
Pasquale Lops ◽  
...  

In this article, we present MyrrorBot , a personal digital assistant implementing a natural language interface that allows the users to: (i) access online services, such as music, video, news, and food recommendation s, in a personalized way, by exploiting a strategy for implicit user modeling called holistic user profiling ; (ii) query their own user models, to inspect the features encoded in their profiles and to increase their awareness of the personalization process. Basically, the system allows the users to formulate natural language requests related to their information needs. Such needs are roughly classified in two groups: quantified self-related needs (e.g., Did I sleep enough? Am I extrovert? ) and personalized access to online services (e.g., Play a song I like ). The intent recognition strategy implemented in the platform automatically identifies the intent expressed by the user and forwards the request to specific services and modules that generate an appropriate answer that fulfills the query. In the experimental evaluation, we evaluated both qualitative (users’ acceptance of the system, usability) as well as quantitative (time required to complete basic tasks, effectiveness of the personalization strategy) aspects of the system, and the results showed that MyrrorBot can improve the way people access online services and applications. This leads to a more effective interaction and paves the way for further development of our system.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Gibson ◽  
Richard Futrell ◽  
Steven T. Piantadosi ◽  
Isabelle Dautriche ◽  
Kyle Mahowald ◽  
...  

Cognitive science applies diverse tools and perspectives to study human language. Recently, an exciting body of work has examined linguistic phenomena through the lens of efficiency in usage: what otherwise puzzling features of language find explanation in formal accounts of how language might be optimized for communication and learning? Here, we review studies that deploy formal tools from probability and information theory to understand how and why language works the way that it does, focusing on phenomena ranging from the lexicon through syntax. These studies show how apervasive pressure for efficiency guides the forms of natural language and indicate that a rich future for language research lies in connecting linguistics to cognitive psychology and mathematical theories of communication and inference.


Author(s):  
Emma Borg

There is a sense in which it is trivial to say that one accepts intention- (or convention-)based semantics. For if what is meant by this claim is simply that there is an important respect in which words and sentences have meaning (either at all or the particular meanings that they have in any given natural language) due to the fact that they are used, in the way they are, by intentional agents (i.e. speakers), then it seems no one should disagree. For imagine a possible world where there are physical things which share the shape and form of words of English or Japanese, or the acoustic properties of sentences of Finnish or Arapaho, yet where there are no intentional agents (or where any remaining intentional agents don't use language). In such a world, it seems clear that these physical objects, which are only superficially language-like, will lack all meaning.


Author(s):  
Kit Fine

I have long admired Friederike Moltmann’s work at the intersection of linguistics and philosophy; and I have always been especially impressed by the way in which she has attempted to break free of the stranglehold of the possible worlds approach by showing how the diversified ontology of objects commonly associated with traditional metaphysics provides a much better tool for the investigation of natural language than the simple and stylized ontology of Montague semantics. The present paper is a characteristically rich, original and thought-provoking contribution to the subject; and I am afraid that I can do no more than pick my way through one or two of the many interesting issues that she raises. However, any criticisms I make on this score should not be seen to detract from my broad agreement with much of what she says....


1966 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 873-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
James V. Whittaker

Suppose that two men stand at the same elevation on opposite sides of a mountain range and begin to climb in such a way that their elevations remain equal at all times. Will they ever meet along the way? It is this question, restated in mathematical terms, that we shall consider. We replace the mountain range by the graph of a continuous, real-valued function f(x) defined for x ∈ [0, 1], where f(0) = f(1) = 0, and we ask whether there exist continuous mappings ϕ(t), ψ(t) from [0, 1] into [0, 1] such that12


2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 1225-1254 ◽  
Author(s):  
RUSSELL MILLER ◽  
KENG MENG NG

AbstractWe introduce the notion of finitary computable reducibility on equivalence relations on the domainω. This is a weakening of the usual notion of computable reducibility, and we show it to be distinct in several ways. In particular, whereas no equivalence relation can be${\rm{\Pi }}_{n + 2}^0$-complete under computable reducibility, we show that, for everyn, there does exist a natural equivalence relation which is${\rm{\Pi }}_{n + 2}^0$-complete under finitary reducibility. We also show that our hierarchy of finitary reducibilities does not collapse, and illustrate how it sharpens certain known results. Along the way, we present several new results which use computable reducibility to establish the complexity of various naturally defined equivalence relations in the arithmetical hierarchy.


1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 443-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan van Benthem

The importance of the logical ‘generalized quantifiers’ (Mostowski [1957]) for the semantics of natural language was brought out clearly in Barwise & Cooper [1981]. Basically, the idea is that a quantifier phrase QA (such as “all women”, “most children”, “no men”) refers to a set of sets of individuals, viz. those B for which (QA)B holds. Thus, e.g., given a fixed model with universe E,where ⟦A⟧ is the set of individuals forming the extension of the predicate “A” in the model. This point of view permits an elegant and uniform semantic treatment of the subject-predicate form that pervades natural language.Such denotations of quantifier phrases exhibit familiar mathematical structures. Thus, for instance, all A produces filters, and no A produces ideals. The denotation of most A is neither; but it is still monotone, in the sense of being closed under supersets. Mere closure under subsets occurs too; witness a quantifier phrase like few A. These mathematical structures are at present being used in organizing linguistic observations and formulating hypotheses about them. In addition to the already mentioned paper of Barwise & Cooper, an interesting example is Zwarts [1981], containing applications to the phenomena of “negative polarity” and “conjunction reduction”. In the course of the latter investigation, several methodological issues of a wider logical interest arose, and these have inspired the present paper.In order to present these issues, let us shift the above perspective, placing the emphasis on quantifier expressions per se (“all”, “most”, “no”, “some”, etcetera), viewed as denoting relations Q between sets of individuals.


2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 927-930
Author(s):  
SIMON KIRBY

For over 35 years, beliefs about the learnability of natural language have acted as roadblocks in the way of further development in linguistics. Rigorous and useful formal work has led to the unwarranted adoption of extreme positions which in turn have tended to stifle collaboration and polarize debate. In his article, MacWhinney suggests a way around such roadblocks – or rather many ways around. He demonstrates that we should look for multiple mechanisms to help understand how it is that children learn language from the evidence to which they are exposed.


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