scholarly journals SUSZKO’S PROBLEM: MIXED CONSEQUENCE AND COMPOSITIONALITY

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 736-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
EMMANUEL CHEMLA ◽  
PAUL ÉGRÉ

AbstractSuszko’s problem is the problem of finding the minimal number of truth values needed to semantically characterize a syntactic consequence relation. Suszko proved that every Tarskian consequence relation can be characterized using only two truth values. Malinowski showed that this number can equal three if some of Tarski’s structural constraints are relaxed. By so doing, Malinowski introduced a case of so-called mixed consequence, allowing the notion of a designated value to vary between the premises and the conclusions of an argument. In this article we give a more systematic perspective on Suszko’s problem and on mixed consequence. First, we prove general representation theorems relating structural properties of a consequence relation to their semantic interpretation, uncovering the semantic counterpart of substitution-invariance, and establishing that (intersective) mixed consequence is fundamentally the semantic counterpart of the structural property of monotonicity. We use those theorems to derive maximum-rank results proved recently in a different setting by French and Ripley, as well as by Blasio, Marcos, and Wansing, for logics with various structural properties (reflexivity, transitivity, none, or both). We strengthen these results into exact rank results for nonpermeable logics (roughly, those which distinguish the role of premises and conclusions). We discuss the underlying notion of rank, and the associated reduction proposed independently by Scott and Suszko. As emphasized by Suszko, that reduction fails to preserve compositionality in general, meaning that the resulting semantics is no longer truth-functional. We propose a modification of that notion of reduction, allowing us to prove that over compact logics with what we call regular connectives, rank results are maintained even if we request the preservation of truth-functionality and additional semantic properties.

2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
JONG-BOK KIM ◽  
PETER SELLS

English binominal NPs (BNPs) (e.g., a giant of a man, a skullcracker of a headache) are of empirical and theoretical interest due to their complex syntactic and semantic properties. In this paper, we review some basic properties of the BNP construction, focusing on its headedness, semantic relations, and the role of the preposition of. We argue that these properties suggest an account in the spirit of construction grammar. In particular, we argue that the English BNP is a nominal juxtaposition construction with particular special syntactic constraints, linked to a semantic interpretation reminiscent of the subject–predicate relation.


Author(s):  
Peta Wellstead

This paper reports part of an ongoing study exploring the information behaviour of New Zealand men during periods of diminished health and wellbeing. Focus groups were used for this iteration of the study. Results indicate that New Zealand men face both personal and structural constraints to their information-seeking during periods when their health and wellbeing may be compromised. This study highlights that service providers need to develop more effective information delivery mechanisms and support services for men. These services need to be appealing to men and reflect men’s information seeking preferences. The role of LIS professionals in supporting this endeavour is discussed. Cet article présente une étude en cours explorant le comportement informationnel d’ hommes néo-zélandais durant des périodes où leur état de santé et de bien-être est amoindri. Des groupes de discussion ont été utilisés pour cette itération de l'étude. Les résultats indiquent que les hommes en Nouvelle-Zélande font face à des contraintes à la fois  personnelles et structurelles dans leur recherche d'information pendant les périodes où leur santé et leur bien-être peuvent être affaiblis. Cette étude met en évidence le besoin pour les fournisseurs de services de développer des mécanismes de diffusion de l'information plus efficaces et des services de soutien pour les hommes. Ces services doivent être attrayants et refléter les préférences des hommes dans leurs recherches d’information. Le rôle des professionnels de l'information dans le soutien à cette entreprise est discuté.


Author(s):  
Ekaterina Turakulovna Shirinova

This article discusses information on the study of terminology in Uzbek and world linguistics. Thematic grouping of banking and financial terms, which play an important role in Uzbek language vocabulary, is considered. The author gives the criteria for the distribution of terms into thematic groups, their peculiar properties examples to substantiate the hypothesis. The paradigmatic relations between the terms of this sphere are indicated. A structural analysis of the banking and financial terms of the Uzbek language is carried out.  On the basis of the anthropocentric approach, the role of the human factor in the banking and financial terminology of the Uzbek language is studied. Cognitive metaphors that exist in the terminology are considered.


Concepts stand at the centre of human cognition. We use concepts in categorizing objects and events in the world, in reasoning and action, and in social interaction. It is therefore not surprising that the study of concepts constitutes a central area of research in philosophy and psychology. Since the 1970s, psychologists have carried out intriguing experiments testing the role of concepts in categorizing and reasoning, and have found a great deal of variation in categorization behaviour across individuals and cultures. During the same period, philosophers of language and mind did important work on the semantic properties of concepts, and on how concepts are related to linguistic meaning and linguistic communication. An important motivation behind this was the idea that concepts must be shared, across individuals and cultures. However, there was little interaction between these two research programs until recently. With the dawn of experimental philosophy, the proposal that the experimental data from psychology lacks relevance to semantics is increasingly difficult to defend. Moreover, in the last decade, philosophers have approached questions about the tension between conceptual variation and shared concepts in communication from a new perspective: that of ameliorating concepts for theoretical or for social and political purposes. The volume brings together leading psychologists and philosophers working on concepts who come from these different research traditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 502 (3) ◽  
pp. 4290-4304
Author(s):  
Enrico Vesperini ◽  
Jongsuk Hong ◽  
Mirek Giersz ◽  
Arkadiusz Hypki

ABSTRACT We have carried out a set of Monte Carlo simulations to study a number of fundamental aspects of the dynamical evolution of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters with different initial masses, fractions of second generation (2G) stars, and structural properties. Our simulations explore and elucidate: (1) the role of early and long-term dynamical processes and stellar escape in the evolution of the fraction of 2G stars and the link between the evolution of the fraction of 2G stars and various dynamical parameters; (2) the link between the fraction of 2G stars inside the cluster and in the population of escaping stars during a cluster’s dynamical evolution; (3) the dynamics of the spatial mixing of the first-generation (1G) and 2G stars and the details of the structural properties of the two populations as they evolve toward mixing; (4) the implications of the initial differences between the spatial distribution of 1G and 2G stars for the evolution of the anisotropy in the velocity distribution and the expected radial profile of the 1G and 2G anisotropy for clusters at different stages of their dynamical history; and (5) the variation of the degree of energy equipartition of the 1G and the 2G populations as a function of the distance from the cluster’s centre and the cluster’s evolutionary phase.


Gels ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Ana M. Herrero ◽  
Claudia Ruiz-Capillas

Considerable attention has been paid to emulsion gels (EGs) in recent years due to their interesting applications in food. The aim of this work is to shed light on the role played by chia oil in the technological and structural properties of EGs made from soy protein isolates (SPI) and alginate. Two systems were studied: oil-free SPI gels (SPI/G) and the corresponding SPI EGs (SPI/EG) that contain chia oil. The proximate composition, technological properties (syneresis, pH, color and texture) and structural properties using Raman spectroscopy were determined for SPI/G and SPI/EG. No noticeable (p > 0.05) syneresis was observed in either sample. The pH values were similar (p > 0.05) for SPI/G and SPI/EG, but their texture and color differed significantly depending on the presence of chia oil. SPI/EG featured significantly lower redness and more lightness and yellowness and exhibited greater puncture and gel strengths than SPI/G. Raman spectroscopy revealed significant changes in the protein secondary structure, i.e., higher (p < 0.05) α-helix and lower (p < 0.05) β-sheet, turn and unordered structures, after the incorporation of chia oil to form the corresponding SPI/EG. Apparently, there is a correlation between these structural changes and the textural modifications observed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (S351) ◽  
pp. 524-527
Author(s):  
Maria A. Tiongco ◽  
Enrico Vesperini ◽  
Anna Lisa Varri

AbstractWe present several results of the study of the evolution of globular clusters’ internal kinematics, as driven by two-body relaxation and the interplay between internal angular momentum and the external Galactic tidal field. Via a large suite of N-body simulations, we explored the three-dimensional velocity space of tidally perturbed clusters, by characterizing their degree of velocity dispersion anisotropy and their rotational properties. These studies have shown that a cluster’s kinematical properties contain distinct imprints of the cluster’s initial structural properties, dynamical history, and tidal environment. Building on this fundamental understanding, we then studied the dynamics of multiple stellar populations in globular clusters, with attention to the largely unexplored role of angular momentum.


2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 2447-2467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Bögels ◽  
Herbert Schriefers ◽  
Wietske Vonk ◽  
Dorothee J. Chwilla

The present study addresses the question whether accentuation and prosodic phrasing can have a similar function, namely, to group words in a sentence together. Participants listened to locally ambiguous sentences containing object- and subject-control verbs while ERPs were measured. In Experiment 1, these sentences contained a prosodic break, which can create a certain syntactic grouping of words, or no prosodic break. At the disambiguation, an N400 effect occurred when the disambiguation was in conflict with the syntactic grouping created by the break. We found a similar N400 effect without the break, indicating that the break did not strengthen an already existing preference. This pattern held for both object- and subject-control items. In Experiment 2, the same sentences contained a break and a pitch accent on the noun following the break. We argue that the pitch accent indicates a broad focus covering two words [see Gussenhoven, C. On the limits of focus projection in English. In P. Bosch & R. van der Sandt (Eds.), Focus: Linguistic, cognitive, and computational perspectives. Cambridge: University Press, 1999], thus grouping these words together. For object-control items, this was semantically possible, which led to a “good-enough” interpretation of the sentence. Therefore, both sentences were interpreted equally well and the N400 effect found in Experiment 1 was absent. In contrast, for subject-control items, a corresponding grouping of the words was impossible, both semantically and syntactically, leading to processing difficulty in the form of an N400 effect and a late positivity. In conclusion, accentuation can group words together on the level of information structure, leading to either a semantically “good-enough” interpretation or a processing problem when such a semantic interpretation is not possible.


2002 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Munroe ◽  
Angelo Cangelosi

The Baldwin effect has been explicitly used by Pinker and Bloom as an explanation of the origins of language and the evolution of a language acquisition device. This article presents new simulations of an artificial life model for the evolution of compositional languages. It specifically addresses the role of cultural variation and of learning costs in the Baldwin effect for the evolution of language. Results show that when a high cost is associated with language learning, agents gradually assimilate in their genome some explicit features (e.g., lexical properties) of the specific language they are exposed to. When the structure of the language is allowed to vary through cultural transmission, Baldwinian processes cause, instead, the assimilation of a predisposition to learn, rather than any structural properties associated with a specific language. The analysis of the mechanisms underlying such a predisposition in terms of categorical perception supports Deacon's hypothesis regarding the Baldwinian inheritance of general underlying cognitive capabilities that serve language acquisition. This is in opposition to the thesis that argues for assimilation of structural properties needed for the specification of a full-blown language acquisition device.


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