(Contrastive) Topic

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Büring
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Semantics ◽  
Contrastive Topic ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics

This chapter discusses the semantics and pragmatics of contrastive topics vis-à-vis focus. A semi-formal characterization of its main properties is given, using the techniques of alternative semantics and questions under discussion. This treatment is compared to various analyses proposed in the literature for contrastive topics and arguably related constructions, such as the English rise–fall–rise contour. Finally a brief discussion of non-contrastive topics is provided.

Alternative Semantics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Rooth
Keyword(s):  
Negative Polarity ◽  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
Alternative Semantics ◽  
Recursive Definition ◽  
Polarity Items ◽  
Additional Layer ◽  
Semantics Of Questions ◽  
Contrastive Topic ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Prosodic Focus

This chapter presents the semantics and pragmatics of prosodic focus in alternative semantics. Half a dozen examples are given of empirical phenomena that are to be covered by the theory. Then a syntax marking the locus, scope, and antecedent for focus is introduced. The syntax is interpreted semantically and pragmatically by a presupposition involving alternatives. The alternative sets that are used in the definition are computed compositionally using a recursive definition. Alternatives are also employed in the semantics of questions, and this ties in with the phenomenon of question-answer congruence, where the position of focus in an answer matches questioned positions in the question. A different semantic interpretation for focus is entailment semantics, which uses a generalized entailment condition in place of a condition involving alternatives. The semantic and pragmatic interpretation for contrastive topic uses an additional layer of alternatives. Independent of focus, alternatives are deployed in the semantics of disjunction and of negative polarity items.

scholarly journals On Vendler’s freedom of choice

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. e460
Author(s):  
Ana Clara Polakof
Keyword(s):  
Free Choice ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Speech Act Theory ◽  
Alternative Semantics ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Proper Understanding ◽  
Existential Import ◽  
The One ◽  
Short Essay

In this short essay, we will provide some contemporary remarks to Vendler (1962 and 1974). We will propose that his characterization of the Free Choice Item any can be properly explained if we take into account an alternative semantics framework. We will assume with Menéndez-Benito (2010) that it is a universal indeterminate pronoun, and with Aloni (2007) that it involves an exhaustification operator to explain its behavior. We will show that, if we take into account this approach, we will be able to explain what Vendler called freedom of choice, lack of existential import, lawlike propositions, among other characteristics. In addition, we will try to do some linguistics in philosophy, and try to explain how a proper understanding of FCI may help to better understand some reference related problems. Finally, we will show that if we take into account a speech act theory, as the one proposed by Searle (1985), we may account for some of the FCI particular behavior with regard to free choice.

Question-based Models of Information Structure

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Velleman ◽  
David Beaver
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Discourse Structure ◽  
Alternative Semantics ◽  
Presupposition Projection ◽  
Semantics Of Questions ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics

We present approaches to the semantics and pragmatics of information structure which centre on Questions Under Discussion (QUDs). Questions, explicit or implicit, are seen as structuring discourse, and information structural marking is seen as reflecting that underlying discourse structure. Our presentation of the model is largely cast in terms of extensions of Roberts’s (2012b) analysis, which is itself related to Rooth’s (1985/1992) Alternative Semantics and Hamblin’s (1973) approach to the semantics of questions. We present the model in terms of a range of constraints that relate information structure to discourse structure, notably constraints on the ‘Relevance’ of utterances, on the ‘Congruence’ of answers to questions, and on the ‘Availability’ of discourse antecedents. We discuss the application of the approach to the interpretation of focus and some cases of contrastive topics, to discourse structure, to the interpretation of focus sensitive operators, and to certain cases of presupposition projection.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 3-21
Author(s):  
A. M. Devine ◽  
Laurence D. Stephens
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Alternative Semantics ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Theoretical Issues ◽  
Free Word

This chapter discusses theoretical issues related to the application of formal semantics and pragmatics to Latin syntax. Various approaches to the semantics of free word order are reviewed and their suitability for the Latin evidence evaluated. Different frameworks used in formal pragmatics are also presented, and it is argued that for Latin the Structured Meanings theory is more suitable than the Alternative Semantics theory.

scholarly journals Algebraic Quantitative Semantics for Efficient Online Temporal Monitoring

2021 ◽  
pp. 330-348
Author(s):  
Konstantinos Mamouras ◽  
Agnishom Chattopadhyay ◽  
Zhifu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Logic ◽  
Online Monitoring ◽  
Efficient Algorithms ◽  
Algebraic Semantics ◽  
Alternative Semantics ◽  
Real Numbers ◽  
Metric Temporal Logic ◽  
Equational Characterization

AbstractWe investigate efficient algorithms for the online monitoring of properties written in metric temporal logic (MTL). We employ an abstract algebraic semantics based on semirings. It encompasses the Boolean semantics and a quantitative semantics capturing the robustness of satisfaction, which is based on the max-min semiring over the extended real numbers. We provide a precise equational characterization of the class of semirings for which our semantics can be viewed as an approximation to an alternative semantics that quantifies the distance of a system trace from the set of all traces that satisfy the desired property.

The Distinction between Semantics and Pragmatics

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltán Gendler Szabó
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
What Is Said ◽  
Semantics And Pragmatics ◽  
Utterance Interpretation

Semantics is the study of linguistic meaning, or more precisely, the study of the relation between linguistic expressions and their meanings. This article gives a sketch of the distinction between semantics and pragmatics; it is the intention of the rest of this article to make it more precise. It starts by considering three alternative characterizations and explain what the article finds problematic about each of them. This leads to the discussion of utterance interpretation, which situates semantics and pragmatics in a larger enterprise. But the characterization of their contrast remains sketchy until the final section, where the article discusses how truth-conditions and the notion of what is said fit into the picture.

Morphological Characterization of Mycobacteriophage R1

1974 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 254-255
Author(s):  
B. L. Soloff ◽  
T. A. Rado
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Source ◽  
Stationary Phase ◽  
Growth Phase ◽  
Minimal Medium ◽  
Morphological Characterization ◽  
Logarithmic Growth Phase ◽  
Complete Lysis ◽  
Lysogenic Culture ◽  
Logarithmic Growth

Mycobacteriophage R1 was originally isolated from a lysogenic culture of M. butyricum. The virus was propagated on a leucine-requiring derivative of M. smegmatis, 607 leu−, isolated by nitrosoguanidine mutagenesis of typestrain ATCC 607. Growth was accomplished in a minimal medium containing glycerol and glucose as carbon source and enriched by the addition of 80 μg/ ml L-leucine. Bacteria in early logarithmic growth phase were infected with virus at a multiplicity of 5, and incubated with aeration for 8 hours. The partially lysed suspension was diluted 1:10 in growth medium and incubated for a further 8 hours. This permitted stationary phase cells to re-enter logarithmic growth and resulted in complete lysis of the culture.

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