scholarly journals Topic

Linguistics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reiko Vermeulen
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Formal Definition ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Structural Units ◽  
Discourse Context ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Other Information ◽  
Special Morphology ◽  
Prague School ◽  
Discourse Topic

The topic of a sentence is generally described as the item that the sentence is about. It is principally a notion of information structure, but it interacts in significant ways with other grammatical components, such as morphology, syntax, semantics, and phonology as well as other domains such as philosophy and psycholinguistics. Many languages have an overt, grammatical marking for topics. The nature of the marking varies greatly across languages: It can be a special morphology, a particular syntactic construction or intonation, or combination of these. As the literature reveals, it is extremely difficult to provide a formal definition for the notion of topic. First, the meaning expressed by “about” is extremely vague, being highly dependent on the discourse context, and judgements vary between speakers. Second, a difficulty arises from the fact that grammatical marking of topics is not uniform across languages. In other words, an item in a specific discourse context may be grammatically marked as a topic in one language but is not necessarily marked as such in another language. Even within one language, there is not always a one-to-one relation between a pragmatic interpretation and a linguistic marking. Finally, information structure, as an area of research, is rife with theoretical frameworks, each with its own focus and definitions. This has led to the absence of uniformity in the understanding of what a topic, among other information structural notions, is and also to there being other terminologies for the relevant item such as “theme,” “link” and “given” causing much confusion. Nonetheless, many important advances have been made toward our understanding of its properties, its role in information structure, and its interaction with the grammatical aspects of natural language. For instance, there is now a general consensus that (i) sentences are organized into different information structural units, and a topic plays a key role in its organization, along with other units such as focus (or rheme); (ii) there should be a distinction between a sentence topic, (i.e., the constituent that the sentence containing it is about) and a discourse topic (i.e., what the whole discourse is about); and (iii) there are different types of sentence topics, including aboutness topics, contrastive topics, scene-setting topics, and hanging topics, each of which is associated with a distinct set of grammatical properties. Information structure as an area of research attracted much attention in the Prague School of Linguistics, and pragmatics in the latter half of the 20th century, and since the mid-1990s, its interaction with other grammatical components has become one of the central issues in generative syntax and semantics as well as phonology and is still intensely investigated.

scholarly journals Western listeners detect boundary hierarchy in Indian music: a segmentation study

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tudor Popescu ◽  
Richard Widdess ◽  
Martin Rohrmeier
Keyword(s):  
Musical Training ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Substantial Agreement ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Structural Units ◽  
Structural Relationships ◽  
Indian Music ◽  
Time Awareness

AbstractHow are listeners able to follow and enjoy complex pieces of music? Several theoretical frameworks suggest links between the process of listening and the formal structure of music, involving a division of the musical surface into structural units at multiple hierarchical levels. Whether boundaries between structural units are perceivable to listeners unfamiliar with the style, and are identified congruently between naïve listeners and experts, remains unclear. Here, we focused on the case of Indian music, and asked 65 Western listeners (of mixed levels of musical training; most unfamiliar with Indian music) to intuitively segment into phrases a recording of sitar ālāp of two different rāga-modes. Each recording was also segmented by two experts, who identified boundary regions at section and phrase levels. Participant- and region-wise scores were computed on the basis of "clicks" inside or outside boundary regions (hits/false alarms), inserted earlier or later within those regions (high/low "promptness"). We found substantial agreement—expressed as hit rates and click densities—among participants, and between participants' and experts' segmentations. The agreement and promptness scores differed between participants, levels, and recordings. We found no effect of musical training, but detected real-time awareness of grouping completion and boundary hierarchy. The findings may potentially be explained by underlying general bottom-up processes, implicit learning of structural relationships, cross-cultural musical similarities, or universal cognitive capacities.

Rheme before theme in the noun phrase

2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 894-915
Author(s):  
Carlotta Viti
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrase ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
New Information ◽  
Prague School

Information structure in the noun phrase remains unexplored or limited to the study of the s-form and the of-form in English, which are interpreted from the perspective of the Prague School. Accordingly, the prenominal s-form is chosen if the possessor expresses old information; conversely, if the possessor expresses new information, the postnominal of-form is preferred. Ancient Greek, however, indicates that this is not the sole pattern attested. In our data, drawn from Herodotus, a postposed genitive refers to the topic of the immediately preceding clauses, and has no semantically compatible referent around it. Preposed genitives denote new or discontinuous participants, and are used in contrastive and emphatic contexts. In this case, the principle “rheme before theme” can be identified.

A Method to Extract Essential Information from Meteorological Facsimile Charts

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (01) ◽  
pp. 1954001
Author(s):  
Kefeng Mao ◽  
Xi Chen ◽  
Kelan Zhu ◽  
Dong Hu ◽  
Yan Li
Keyword(s):  
Template Matching ◽  
Weather Forecasting ◽  
Contour Detection ◽  
Connected Region ◽  
Good Effect ◽  
Weather System ◽  
Essential Information ◽  
The Us ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Other Information

Using image processing technology to extract important information, such as isoline and weather system of the meteorological facsimile chart, is conducive to integration with other information, and has important practical value in navigation operations, marine weather forecasting, target recognition, and image retrieval. In meteorological facsimile charts, there are many types of medium-value lines, dense lines in some areas, superimposition and presence of multiple information, such as isolines and isoline characters, intersection of specific weather system symbols, etc. For different types of contours, numeric characters, weather system symbols and other object characteristics, the corresponding object extraction and recognition methods are proposed: Remove the latitude and longitude lines and coastline in the meteorological facsimile map by basemap matching; According to the position and shape features of the figure box, extract the meteorological fax figure box, separate and remove the different character tagging information; On the basis of identifying triangles and semicircles in weather symbols of the frontal system, the frontal symbols are extracted based on the circumscribed triangles and template matching. First the contour character on the fax image is expanded into a block connected region. Determine the position of the character information by judging the number of pixels in the connected region, and then use rotation and template matching to identify the numeric character. Using the meteorological facsimile maps of the US Meteorological Center and the Japan Meteorological Center for the main information extraction, experiments show that the method of this paper has a good effect on the complete and accurate symbol extraction of frontal weather systems, and reduces the computational complexity of contour detection, isoline extraction and numerical recognition. The methods can detect some information from weather charts properly and the error rate is very low.

scholarly journals Discourse Intonation and Information Structure: An Empirical Study of Existential There Constructions in Non-native Spontaneous Speech

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-153
Author(s):  
Judit Nagy
Keyword(s):  
Language Learners ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Sentence Type ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
New Information ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Discourse Intonation ◽  
Problematic Area ◽  
Accented English ◽  
The Given

Abstract The management of given and new information is one of the key components of accomplishing coherence in oral discourse, which is claimed to be a problematic area for language learners (Celce-Murcia, Dörnyei, and Thurrell 1995: 14). Research on discourse intonation proposes that instead of the given/new dichotomy, givenness should be viewed as a continuum, with different types of accessibility (Baumann & Grice 2006). Moreover, Prince (1992) previously categorized information structure into Hearer-old/Hearer-new and Discourse-old/Discourse-new information. There is consensus on the fact that focus or prominence associated with new information is marked with nuclear pitch accent, and its main acoustic cue, fundamental frequency (f0) (Ward & Birner 2001: 120). Non-native intonation has been reported to display numerous differences in f0 range and patterns compared to native speech (Wennerstrom 1994; Baker 2010). This study is an attempt to address the issue of marking information structure in existential there sentences by means of f0 in non-native spontaneous speech. Data originates from task-based interactions in the Wildcat Corpus of Native- and Foreign-Accented English (Van Engen et al. 2010). This paper examines two issues: (1) information structure in relation to the notions of givenness and different types of accessibility (Baumann & Grice 2006) and to Prince’s (1992) multidimensional taxonomy and (2) the use of f0 peaks to mark the prominence of new information. Several differences were measured among native speakers regarding the use of f0, sentence type, and complexity.

scholarly journals Marked and Non-Marked Attribute Structures within a Secondary Predicate in the French Language

2020 ◽  
pp. 143-155
Author(s):  
Iuliia Zelena
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
French Language ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Status ◽  
Productive Potential ◽  
Semantic Transfer ◽  
Argumentative Structure ◽  
Transfer Mechanisms

The article is devoted to the study of marked and unmarked attributive constructions, considering the influence of semantic transfer mechanisms, taking into account their productive potential. Structuraland semantic characterization of types of attributive constructions is performed in light of two initial theories –in view ofreferentstatusand actual sentence fragmentation. An independent research of relationsbetween predication manifestations and the semanticand syntactic structure of a sentence has been performed by determining the valence properties of attributive verbs. The distinctionbetween different types of constructionswith the attribute complement isdescribed and it is specifiedthat there is a direct correlation between the type of attributive sentences and the emergence of predicative relation.The article is dedicated to the analysis of modification of the information structure and the status of the referent in sentences containing attributive object. Given the types of interpretation of attributive sentences and, based on the results of contextual analysis, it became possible to prove that change of argumentative structure in verbal group gives a reason to treat attributive verb with elements SN2 and X as a predicative focus of the sentence and permit to consider it as the complex secondary predicate.

scholarly journals Cochrane i Norge - Hvordan formidler vi resultatene fra Cochrane-oversikter?

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Glenton ◽  
Sarah Rosenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Expert Knowledge ◽  
Cochrane Collaboration ◽  
English Summary ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Cochrane Reviews ◽  
Other Information ◽  
The Cochrane Collaboration

<p>Cochrane-systematiske oversikter oppleves ofte som lite tilgjengelige. En av hovedaktivitetene til det norske Cochrane-miljøet er å utvikle måter å presentere resultatene fra Cochrane-oversikter på for at de lettere tas i bruk. Vi beskriver her fire hovedprinsipper for dette arbeidet, og gir eksempler på dokumentformater vi har vært med på å utvikle. De overordnete prinsippene er: 1) Informasjonen bør være forståelig for personer uten ekspertkunnskap om forskningsmetodikk. Vi har erfart at når det gjelder forståelsen av resultater fra systematiske oversikter går det største skillet mellom forskere og ikke-forskere og i mindre grad mellom ulike grupper som helsepersonell, pasienter og byråkrater. 2) Informasjonen bør presenteres på en mest mulig nøytral måte. 3) Informasjonen bør være brukertilpasset. Det innebærer at vi innhenter tilbakemeldinger fra sluttbrukere i utviklingsarbeidet og gjør nødvendige tilpasninger i flere omganger. 4) Informasjonsstrukturen bør følge ”1:3:25-prinsippet”. Her presenteres informasjonen både summarisk (1 side), kort oppsummert (3 sider), og mer utdypende (25 sider). I artikkelen beskriver vi flere presentasjonsformater vi har utviklet, blant annet ”Summary of Findings” der resultatene av Cochrane-oversikter presenteres i lettfattelige tabeller; ”plain language summaries”, som er tekstbaserte oppsummeringer rettet mot en bred lesergruppe; ”SUPPORT summaries” rettet mot byråkrater og ”policymakers”; og ”DECIDE Frameworks” der resultatene presenteres sammen med annen informasjon som er relevant i en beslutningsprosess.</p><p>Glenton C, Rosenbaum S. <strong>Cochrane in Norway – How do we disseminate findings from Cochrane reviews?</strong> <em>Nor J Epidemiol</em> 2013; <strong>23</strong> (2): 215-219.</p><p><strong>ENGLISH SUMMARY</strong></p><p>Cochrane systematic reviews are often perceived as inaccessible. One of the main activities of the Norwegian branch of the Cochrane Collaboration is to develop ways to present the results of Cochrane reviews so that they are easier to use. In this paper we describe four main principles that underlie this work, and several of the document formats we have helped produce. Our overarching principles: 1) Information should be understandable for people who do not have expert knowledge about research methodology. When it comes to understanding the results of systematic reviews, we have experienced that the biggest difference is between researchers and non-researchers and to a lesser extent between health personnel, patients and policy makers. 2) Information should be presented in a neutral form. 3) Information should be developed using a user-oriented approach. This involves us collecting responses from the end users in our developmental work and making the necessary adjustments in several phases. 4) The information structure should follow the “1:3:25 principle” where the information is structured in several layers, with increasing level of detail. In this paper, we describe several of the document formats that we have helped develop, including Summary of Findings tables, where we present the results of Cochrane reviews in tables; a plain language summary format where the results are presented as text-based summaries written for a broad user group; SUPPORT summaries written for policy makers; and DECIDE Frameworks, where the results are presented together with other information that may be relevant in a decision making process.</p>

scholarly journals On the different interpretations of sentence-initial ainsi ‘so’ and the competition between three types of Verb–Subject order

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Lena Karssenberg ◽  
Karen Lahousse
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Study ◽  
Discourse Context ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Manner Adverb ◽  
Preceding Discourse

Abstract This article is about different types of Subject–Verb inversion (nominal, pronominal, and complex inversion) in sentences introduced by ainsi ‘so, in this way’. We first make a distinction between four main interpretations: manner adverb ainsi, quotative ainsi, consecutive ainsi (expressing either an intentional or an unintentional consequence), and illustrative ainsi. On the basis of a corpus study, we show that nominal inversion often (but not always) combines with the manner interpretation, whereas the predominant function of ainsi + pronominal/complex inversion is to introduce an example or a consequence of the preceding discourse context. The data also contribute to the debate about the grammaticalization path of ainsi. Firstly, the unintentional consequence interpretation is argued to be a “bridging context” between manner and unintentional consequence. Secondly, given the preponderance of the illustrative interpretation, we argue that this under-researched interpretation be taken up in future diachronic and synchronic analyses of ainsi and its cross-linguistic counterparts.

Information Structure in Languages of the Caucasus

2021 ◽  
pp. 972-1002
Author(s):  
Diana Forker
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Indigenous Language ◽  
Focus Position ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Clear Preference ◽  
Sharp Difference ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Constituent Order

This chapter discusses the expression of information structure in the three indigenous language families of the Caucasus with a focus on constituent order and particles. At the clause level, all three language families show a clear preference for SOV, are generally flexible, and also admit other orders. The major focus position is pre-verbal, but postverbal focus is also attested; adjacency to the verb is a violable constraint. At the phrasal level, there is a sharp difference between Northwest Caucasian, with its prenominal and postnominal modifiers alike, and Kartvelian and Nakh-Daghestanian languages, which employ postnominal modifiers only for emphasis, contrast, or focus. Languages from all three families make wide use of cleft and pseudo-cleft constructions that normally express constituent focus. Another commonality is the frequent use of enclitics and suffixes of different types for information-structuring purposes. Modal markers, interrogative markers, additive affixes, and markers with grammatical meaning are used as focus-sensitive particles and usually placed after the item they scope over or after the head of the phrase.

Coding Principles in Adaptation

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 427-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison I. Weber ◽  
Kamesh Krishnamurthy ◽  
Adrienne L. Fairhall
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Visual System ◽  
Functional Role ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Sensory Systems ◽  
Spike Frequency Adaptation ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Common Principle

Adaptation is a common principle that recurs throughout the nervous system at all stages of processing. This principle manifests in a variety of phenomena, from spike frequency adaptation, to apparent changes in receptive fields with changes in stimulus statistics, to enhanced responses to unexpected stimuli. The ubiquity of adaptation leads naturally to the question: What purpose do these different types of adaptation serve? A diverse set of theories, often highly overlapping, has been proposed to explain the functional role of adaptive phenomena. In this review, we discuss several of these theoretical frameworks, highlighting relationships among them and clarifying distinctions. We summarize observations of the varied manifestations of adaptation, particularly as they relate to these theoretical frameworks, focusing throughout on the visual system and making connections to other sensory systems.

Agency Relationships in Marketing: A Review of the Implications and Applications of Agency and Related Theories

1992 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Bergen ◽  
Shantanu Dutta ◽  
Orville C. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Agency Theory ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Marketing Literature ◽  
Agency Relationships ◽  
Different Types

Agency and related theories have proven useful as theoretical frameworks for examining relationships between principals and their agents in many disciplines. However, though marketing involves a wide array of agency relationships, agency-based research has only recently begun to be reported in the marketing literature. The authors therefore attempt to clarify the marketing implications of agency theory by describing its major constructs, the two different types of models embedded within the theory, and some closely related theoretical structures. They also critically review past and potential agency-based research in marketing and suggest ways in which marketers might contribute to improving its validity and usefulness.

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