Contextualism and Semantic Minimalism

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Bezuidenhout
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Context Sensitivity ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Compositional Model ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Semantic Minimalism ◽  
Mental Resources

The debate between contextualists and semantic minimalists about meaning/content is one that matters most to philosophers of language, even though the debate is not solely a philosophical one. There are at least three ways of casting the debate. Firstly, it can be cast as one about how and when semantic and pragmatic mental resources are used during ordinary conversational exchanges. This debate utilizes theories and methodologies from psychology. Secondly, it can be framed in terms of the logic of natural languages and how to incorporate context sensitivity into a formal, compositional model of natural-language sentence-level meaning. Thirdly, it can be approached from an analytic philosophy of language perspective, with the aim of clarifying various crucial concepts, such as the concepts of saying and implicating, using a priori methods. Ideally, these domains of research will produce outcomes that cohere with each other. This essay surveys recent progress in these three domains.

Introduction to the Science of Meaning

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Ball ◽  
Brian Rabern
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Context Sensitivity ◽  
Dynamic Semantics ◽  
Formal Semantic ◽  
Natural Language Semantics ◽  
Truth Conditions ◽  
Compositional Model ◽  
Language Semantics ◽  
Theoretical Apparatus

This Introduction aims to acquaint the reader with some of the main views on the foundations of natural language semantics, to discuss the type of phenomena semanticists study, and to give some basic technical background in compositional model-theoretic semantics necessary to understand the chapters in this collection. Topics discussed include truth conditions, compositionality, context-sensitivity, dynamic semantics, the relation of formal semantic theories to the theoretical apparatus of reference and propositions current in much philosophy of language, what semantic theories aim to explain, realism, the metaphysics of language and different views of the relation between languages and speakers, and the epistemology of semantics.

scholarly journals Method of information obtaining from ontology on the basis of a natural language phrase analysis

2020 ◽  
pp. 322-330
Author(s):  
A.A. Litvin ◽  
◽  
V.Yu. Velychko ◽  
V.V. Kaverynskyi ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Sparql Query ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Analysis Algorithm ◽  
Semantic Tree ◽  
Ontology Structure

A method for phrases analyzing in natural languages of inflective type (Ukrainian and Russian) has been developed. The method allows one to outline main expressed ideas and groups of words in the text by which they are stated. The semantic trees of propositions formed in this way, each of which expresses one specific idea, are a convenient source material for constructing queries to the ontology in the SPARQL language. The analysis algorithm is based on the following sequence of basic steps: word tokenize, determining of marker words and phrases, identifying available type of proposition, identifying nouns groups, building a syntactic graph of a sentence, building semantic trees of propositions based on existing types of propositions, substituting parameters from semantic trees of propositions in the corresponding SPARQL query templates. The choice of an appropriate template depends on the type of proposition expressed by a given semantic tree of a proposition. The sets of concepts received as an answer are tied as corresponding answers to the previously defined semantic tree of proposition. In case of non-receipt of information from the ontology, the reduction of noun groups is carried out to express more general concepts and the building queries using them. This allows us to get some answer, although not as accurate as when we use the full noun group. The use of SPARQL query templates requires an a priori known ontology structure, which is also proposed in this paper. Such a system is applicable for dialogue using chat-bots or for automatically receiving answers to questions from the text.

Linguistic Data Model for Natural Languages and Artificial Intelligence. Part 5. Introduction to Logic

Discourse ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-117
Author(s):  
O. M. Polyakov
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Mathematical Logic ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Semantic Interpretation ◽  
General View ◽  
World Model ◽  
Semantic Approach ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
The World ◽  
Linguistic Aspect

Introduction. The article continues the series of publications on the linguistics of relations (hereinafter R–linguistics) and is devoted to an introduction to the logic of natural language in relation to the approach considered in the series. The problem of natural language logic still remains relevant, since this logic differs significantly from traditional mathematical logic. Moreover, with the appearance of artificial intelligence systems, the importance of this problem only increases. The article analyzes logical problems that prevent the application of classical logic methods to natural languages. This is possible because R-linguistics forms the semantics of a language in the form of world model structures in which language sentences are interpreted.Methodology and sources. The results obtained in the previous parts of the series are used as research tools. To develop the necessary mathematical representations in the field of logic and semantics, the formulated concept of the interpretation operator is used.Results and discussion. The problems that arise when studying the logic of natural language in the framework of R–linguistics are analyzed. These issues are discussed in three aspects: the logical aspect itself; the linguistic aspect; the aspect of correlation with reality. A very General approach to language semantics is considered and semantic axioms of the language are formulated. The problems of the language and its logic related to the most General view of semantics are shown.Conclusion. It is shown that the application of mathematical logic, regardless of its type, to the study of natural language logic faces significant problems. This is a consequence of the inconsistency of existing approaches with the world model. But it is the coherence with the world model that allows us to build a new logical approach. Matching with the model means a semantic approach to logic. Even the most General view of semantics allows to formulate important results about the properties of languages that lack meaning. The simplest examples of semantic interpretation of traditional logic demonstrate its semantic problems (primarily related to negation).

Efficient Localized Nonlinear Solution Strategies for Unconventional-Reservoir Simulation with Complex Fractures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiamin Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Transient Flow ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Time Discretization ◽  
Unconventional Reservoirs ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Nonlinear Solution ◽  
Compositional Model ◽  
Simulation Speed ◽  
Flow Mechanisms ◽  
Solution Accuracy

Abstract It is very challenging to simulate unconventional reservoirs efficiently and accurately. Transient flow can last for a long time and sharp solution (pressure, saturation, compositions) gradients are induced because of the severe permeability contrast between fracture and matrix. Although high-resolution models for well and fracture are required to achieve adequate resolution, they are computationally too demanding for practical field models with many stages of hydraulic fracture. The paper aims to innovate localization strategies that take advantage of locality on timestep and Newton iteration levels. The strategies readily accommodate to complicated flow mechanisms and multiscale fracture networks in unconventional reservoirs. Large simulation speed-up can be obtained if performing localized computations only for the solution regions that will change. We develop an a-priori method to exploit the locality, based on the diffusive character of the Newton updates of pressure. The method makes adequate estimate of the active computational gridblock for the next iterate. The active gridblock set marks the ones need to be solved, and then the solution to local linear system is accordingly computed. Fully Implicit Scheme is used for time discretization. We study several challenging multi-phase and compositional model cases with explicit fractures. The test results demonstrate that significant solution locality of variables exist on timestep and iteration levels. A nonlinear solution update usually has sparsity, and the nonlinear convergence is restricted by a limited fraction of the simulation model. Through aggressive localization, the proposed methods can prevent overly conservative estimate, and thus achieve significant computational speedup. In comparison to a standard Newton method, the novel solver techniques achieve greatly improved solving efficiency. Furthermore, the Newton convergence exhibits no degradation, and there is no impact on the solution accuracy. Previous works in the literature largely relate to the meshing aspect that accommodates to horizontal wells and hydraulic fractures. We instead develop new nonlinear strategies to perform localization. In particular, the adaptive DD method produces proper domain partitions according to the fluid flow and nonlinear updates. This results in an effective strategy that maintains solution accuracy and convergence behavior.

A UNIFIED AND SYNCHRONOUS GENERATING SYSTEM FOR MULTIPLE NATURAL LANGUAGES BASED ON CFG AND SEMANTIC LANGUAGE

2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (04) ◽  
pp. 1250033
Author(s):  
LI LI ◽  
HONGLAI LIU ◽  
QINGSHI GAO ◽  
PEIFENG WANG
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Generating System

The sentences in several different natural languages can be produced congruously and synchronous by the new generating system USGS = {↔, GI|GI = (TI, N, B-RISU, C-treeI, S, PI, FI), I = 0, 1, 2, …, n}, based on Semantic Language(SL) theory, all are legitimate and reasonable, where, B-RISU is the set of basic-RISU, C-treeI is the set of category-trees, and FI is the set of functions in I-natural language. The characteristic of this new generating system is unified, synchronous and one by one corresponding, based on semantic unit theory and that the number of rules is several millions.

scholarly journals TESTIMONY, RECOVERY AND PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY: A RESPONSE TO PEET

Episteme ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-38
Author(s):  
Alex Davies
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Context Sensitivity ◽  
Linguistic Communication ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Epistemology Of Testimony ◽  
Public Responsibility

ABSTRACTAccording to telling based views of testimony (TBVs), B has reason to believe that p when A tells B that p because A thereby takes public responsibility for B's subsequent belief that p. Andrew Peet presents a new argument against TBVs. He argues that insofar as A uses context-sensitive expressions to express p, A doesn't take public responsibility for B's belief that p. Since context-sensitivity is widespread, the kind of reason TBVs say we have to believe what we're told, is not widespread. Peet doesn't identify any problem with his own argument though he does attempt to limit its sceptical potential by identifying special contexts in which TBVs stand a chance of success. A more general defence of TBVs can be provided by showing Peet's argument to be unsound. I argue that Peet's argument is unsound because it requires us to wrongly suppose that speakers do far less labour than their audiences in context-sensitive linguistic communication. I aim to show why – in the context of the epistemology of testimony and the philosophy of language – it's important to recognize the labour that speakers can do, and so can be held responsible for not doing, in episodes of context-sensitive linguistic communication.

scholarly journals Natural Language Processing by Enhanced Honey Encryption Technique

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12S) ◽  
pp. 159-163
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Cyber Attacks ◽  
Binary Form ◽  
Brute Force ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Cipher Text ◽  
The Right ◽  
Binary Strings

Traditional encryption systems and techniques have always been vulnerable to brute force cyber-attacks. This is due to bytes encoding of characters utf8 also known as ASCII characters. Therefore, an opponent who intercepts a cipher text and attempts to decrypt the signal by applying brute force with a faulty pass key can detect some of the decrypted signals by employing a mixture of symbols that are not uniformly dispersed and contain no meaningful significance. Honey encoding technique is suggested to curb this classical authentication weakness by developing cipher-texts that provide correct and evenly dispersed but untrue plaintexts after decryption with a false key. This technique is only suitable for passkeys and PINs. Its adjustment in order to promote the encoding of the texts of natural languages such as electronic mails, records generated by man, still remained an open-end drawback. Prevailing proposed schemes to expand the encryption of natural language messages schedule exposes fragments of the plaintext embedded with coded data, thus they are more prone to cipher text attacks. In this paper, amending honey encoded system is proposed to promote natural language message encryption. The main aim was to create a framework that would encrypt a signal fully in binary form. As an end result, most binary strings semantically generate the right texts to trick an opponent who tries to decipher an error key in the cipher text. The security of the suggested system is assessed..

Metaphor

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marga Reimer ◽  
Elisabeth Camp
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Philosophy Of Language ◽  
Contemporary Philosophy ◽  
Conceptual Structures ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon ◽  
Rule Out

Metaphor has traditionally been construed as a linguistic phenomenon: as something produced and understood by speakers of natural language. So understood, metaphors are naturally viewed as linguistic expressions of a particular type, or as linguistic expressions used in a particular type of way. This linguistic conception of metaphor is adopted in this article. In doing so, the article does not intend to rule out the possibility of non-linguistic forms of metaphor. Many theorists think that non-linguistic objects (such as paintings or dance performances) or conceptual structures (like love as a journey or argument as war) should also be treated as metaphors. Indeed, the idea that metaphors are in the first instance conceptual phenomena, and linguistic devices only derivatively, is the dominant view in what is now the dominant area of metaphor research: cognitive science. In construing metaphor as linguistic, the article merely intends to impose appropriate constraints on a discussion whose focus is the understanding and analysis of metaphor within contemporary philosophy of language.

How to build a constructicon in five years

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Janda ◽  
Anna Endresen ◽  
Valentina Zhukova ◽  
Daria Mordashova ◽  
Ekaterina Rakhilina
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Electronic Database ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Searchable Database ◽  
Qualitative Level ◽  
Syntactic Properties

Abstract We provide a practical step-by-step methodology of how to build a full-scale constructicon resource for a natural language, sharing our experience from the nearly completed project of the Russian Constructicon, an open-access searchable database of over 2,200 Russian constructions (https://site.uit.no/russian-constructicon/). The constructions are organized in families, clusters, and networks based on their semantic and syntactic properties, illustrated with corpus examples, and tagged for the CEFR level of language proficiency. The resource is designed for both researchers and L2 learners of Russian and offers the largest electronic database of constructions built for any language. We explain what makes the Russian Constructicon different from other constructicons, report on the major stages of our work, and share the methods used to systematically expand the inventory of constructions. Our objective is to encourage colleagues to build constructicon resources for additional natural languages, thus taking Construction Grammar to a new quantitative and qualitative level, facilitating cross-linguistic comparison.

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