scholarly journals Expressing Expectations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inés Crespo ◽  
Hadil Karawani ◽  
Frank Veltman
Keyword(s):  
Intentional State ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
Gradable Adjectives ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Generic Sentences

This chapter addresses a variety of topics: (i) conditionals (there is a third kind of conditionals, somewhere between indicatives and counterfactuals); (ii) relative gradable adjectives (how do they get their evaluative force?); and (iii) generic sentences (why aren’t they all equally general?). What these topics have in common is that one cannot explain the meaning—not even the logical properties—of the expressions concerned without explaining how they affect people’s expectations. This can best be done in a framework in which the meaning of a sentence is not equated with its truth conditions but with its (potential) impact on the intentional state of an addressee.

scholarly journals The Demandingness of Virtue

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Weston Siscoe
Keyword(s):  
Small Degree ◽  
Maximal Degree ◽  
Major Difficulty ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
Gradable Adjectives ◽  
Threshold Concept ◽  
Virtuous Life ◽  
Way Of Thinking

How demanding is the virtuous life?  Can virtue exist alongside hints of vice?  Is it possible to be virtuous within a vicious society?  A line of thinking running through Diogenes and the Stoics is that even a hint of corruption is inimical to virtue, that participating in a vicious society makes it impossible for a person to be virtuous.  One response to this difficulty is to claim that virtue is a threshold concept, that context sets a threshold for what is considered virtuous.  On this way of thinking, what counts as virtuous in one society may be more demanding than what passes for virtuous in another.  This response seems plausible when considering that virtue-theoretic terms like `honest' are gradable adjectives.  Many gradable adjectives, like `tall' and `expensive,' have contextual thresholds that shift depending on the situation, and so is tenable that virtue-theoretic adjectives might function with contextual thresholds as well.   A major difficulty for this response, however, is that virtue terms are absolute gradable adjectives, a variety of gradable adjectives that do not require a contextual threshold.  Absolute gradable adjectives instead draw their truth conditions from their maximal degree, suggesting that Diogenes and the Stoics were correct to think that virtue is incompatible with even a small degree of vice.

scholarly journals Experimenting with Degree

2015 ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Stephanie Solt ◽  
Nicole Gotzner
Keyword(s):  
Scale Structure ◽  
Ordinal Scale ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
Gradable Adjectives ◽  
Comparison Class ◽  
Positive Form ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Gaining Insight

Semantic theories differ in the role they assume for degrees in the interpretation of gradable adjectives, and in the assumptions they make about the nature of degrees and the structure of the scales they comprise. We report on two experiments investigating speakers' use of gradable adjectives across varying contexts, with the goal of gaining insight into the nature of the degree ontology underlying their semantics. We find that the truth conditions for the positive form must be stated in terms of degrees rather than rankings of individuals, and further that the relevant scale structure is one where distances between scale points are meaningful, and not an ordinal scale derived from an ordering relation on a comparison class. We also find no evidence that scale structure depends on the presence or absence of a corresponding system of numerical measures.

scholarly journals "good" as a predicate of worlds

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 407-424
Author(s):  
Frank Sode
Keyword(s):  
Possible Worlds ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
Gradable Adjectives ◽  
Subjunctive Conditionals ◽  
Positive Form ◽  
Classical Notion

The paper proposes a new semantics for good-predications involving finite if -andthat-clauses. The proposal combines a standard semantics for conditionals with a standardsemantics for the positive form of gradable adjectives and a minimal semantics for modal good.The predicted truth-conditions and conditions of use solve the mood puzzle presented in thefirst part of the paper. The remainder of the paper defends the classical notion of comparativegoodness in terms of a comparison between possible worlds against Lassiter (2017)’s challenge.Keywords: gradable adjectives, subjunctive conditionals, preference predicates, factivity.

scholarly journals Experimenting with Degree

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Solt ◽  
Nicole Gotzner
Keyword(s):  
Scale Structure ◽  
Ordinal Scale ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
Gradable Adjectives ◽  
Comparison Class ◽  
Positive Form ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Gaining Insight

Semantic theories differ in the role they assume for degrees in the interpretation of gradable adjectives, and in the assumptions they make about the nature of degrees and the structure of the scales they comprise. We report on two experiments investigating speakers' use of gradable adjectives across varying contexts, with the goal of gaining insight into the nature of the degree ontology underlying their semantics. We find that the truth conditions for the positive form must be stated in terms of degrees rather than rankings of individuals, and further that the relevant scale structure is one where distances between scale points are meaningful, and not an ordinal scale derived from an ordering relation on a comparison class. We also find no evidence that scale structure depends on the presence or absence of a corresponding system of numerical measures.

Effects of Gender, Parental Role, and Time on Infant- and Adult-Directed Read and Spontaneous Speech

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (11) ◽  
pp. 4001-4014
Author(s):  
Melanie Weirich ◽  
Adrian Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Parental Involvement ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Spontaneous Speech ◽  
First Year ◽  
Space Size ◽  
Vowel Space ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Phonetic Features ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Description Task

Purpose The study sets out to investigate inter- and intraspeaker variation in German infant-directed speech (IDS) and considers the potential impact that the factors gender, parental involvement, and speech material (read vs. spontaneous speech) may have. In addition, we analyze data from 3 time points prior to and after the birth of the child to examine potential changes in the features of IDS and, particularly also, of adult-directed speech (ADS). Here, the gender identity of a speaker is considered as an additional factor. Method IDS and ADS data from 34 participants (15 mothers, 19 fathers) is gathered by means of a reading and a picture description task. For IDS, 2 recordings were made when the baby was approximately 6 and 9 months old, respectively. For ADS, an additional recording was made before the baby was born. Phonetic analyses comprise mean fundamental frequency (f0), variation in f0, the 1st 2 formants measured in /i: ɛ a u:/, and the vowel space size. Moreover, social and behavioral data were gathered regarding parental involvement and gender identity. Results German IDS is characterized by an increase in mean f0, a larger variation in f0, vowel- and formant-specific differences, and a larger acoustic vowel space. No effect of gender or parental involvement was found. Also, the phonetic features of IDS were found in both spontaneous and read speech. Regarding ADS, changes in vowel space size in some of the fathers and in mean f0 in mothers were found. Conclusion Phonetic features of German IDS are robust with respect to the factors gender, parental involvement, speech material (read vs. spontaneous speech), and time. Some phonetic features of ADS changed within the child's first year depending on gender and parental involvement/gender identity. Thus, further research on IDS needs to address also potential changes in ADS.

Exploring the Potential Impact of Sentence-Level Comprehension and Sentence-Level Fluency on Deaf Students' Passage Comprehension

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (7) ◽  
pp. 2281-2292
Author(s):  
Ying Zhao ◽  
Xinchun Wu ◽  
Hongjun Chen ◽  
Peng Sun ◽  
Ruibo Xie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Independent Predictor ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Deaf Students ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Mediating Mechanisms ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This exploratory study aimed to investigate the potential impact of sentence-level comprehension and sentence-level fluency on passage comprehension of deaf students in elementary school. Method A total of 159 deaf students, 65 students ( M age = 13.46 years) in Grades 3 and 4 and 94 students ( M age = 14.95 years) in Grades 5 and 6, were assessed for nonverbal intelligence, vocabulary knowledge, sentence-level comprehension, sentence-level fluency, and passage comprehension. Group differences were examined using t tests, whereas the predictive and mediating mechanisms were examined using regression modeling. Results The regression analyses showed that the effect of sentence-level comprehension on passage comprehension was not significant, whereas sentence-level fluency was an independent predictor in Grades 3–4. Sentence-level comprehension and fluency contributed significant variance to passage comprehension in Grades 5–6. Sentence-level fluency fully mediated the influence of sentence-level comprehension on passage comprehension in Grades 3–4, playing a partial mediating role in Grades 5–6. Conclusions The relative contributions of sentence-level comprehension and fluency to deaf students' passage comprehension varied, and sentence-level fluency mediated the relationship between sentence-level comprehension and passage comprehension.

The System of Technical Regulation in Russia: The Possible and Expected Impact on Competition

2009 ◽  
pp. 110-123
Author(s):  
P. Kryuchkova
Keyword(s):  
Russian Federation ◽  
Technical Regulation ◽  
Russian Economy ◽  
Regulation Reform ◽  
Potential Impact

The article considers the development of the technical regulation reform in Russian Federation and the potential impact of technical regulation on competition and competitiveness of industries and the Russian economy as a whole. It concludes that the reform has been actually reduced, and it is demanded for in the framework of the modernization scenario of Russia’s economy development.

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