Invisible minimalism

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Falcato
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Striking Resemblance ◽  
Semantic Minimalism

AbstractThis essay attempts a rapprochement between Kent Bach’s view on semantic minimalism and the most radical version of contextualism about language on offer: Charles Travis’s occasion-sensitivity. Despite common assumptions held by defenders of semantic literalism – which cast Bach’s proposal as a form of contextualism – Bach rejects all conceivable forms of contextualism. In this paper, I argue that in spite of his systematic rejection of contextualism, Bach’s position bears a striking resemblance to Travis’s occasion-sensitivity. Further, when analyzed in light of the conceptual framework developed by Travis, Bach’s strand of minimalism can be shown to contain a deep-rooted conceptual inconsistency to the extent that he aims to ascribe “pure semantic content” to a linguistic entity that is necessarily pragmatic.

scholarly journals Nuclear Components of the Conceptual Framework ‘Medicine’ in the Modern English Language

2021 ◽  
Vol 163 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-141
Author(s):  
A.A. Golubykh ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
English Language ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Media Communication ◽  
Professional Discourse ◽  
Medical Vocabulary ◽  
Media Types ◽  
Key Aspects

The conceptual framework ‘medicine’ within the English lexicographic, scientific, educational, and mass-media discourse was considered in this paper. The research was motivated by current medical innovations accompanied by word-coining contributing to the renewal of nuclear concepts and their semantic content within the conceptual framework ‘medicine’. The nuclear concepts of the above-mentioned conceptual framework focusing upon semantic, synonymic, and hyper-hyponymic features of medical nouns in English were studied and systematized. For this purpose, the methods of data collection, description, and classification of the empirical materials with elements of semantic and conceptual analysis were used. The key aspects of the modern conceptual framework ‘medicine’ were identified. It was discovered that the conceptual framework ‘medicine’ in the modern English lexicographic, scientific, educational, and mass-media types of discourse is basically actualized through the following nuclear concepts: ‘diseases’, ‘diagnostics and treatment methods’, and ‘drugs’. Interestingly, the nuclear concepts in all types of the English professional discourse enrich and develop the conceptual framework ‘medicine’ with medical terms related to the corresponding professional markers, synonyms, hyponyms, and hyperonyms. The results obtained provide both a valid background for better explanation, translation, and application of medical vocabulary in terms of modern lexicographic, scientific, educational, and mass-media communication strategies.

A Tall Tale: In Defense of Semantic Minimalism and Speech Act Pluralism

2004 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 2-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herman Cappelen ◽  
Ernest Lepore
Keyword(s):  
Speech Act ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Psychological Reality ◽  
Role Semantic ◽  
Semantic Minimalism ◽  
Comparative Adjectives

In Insensitive Semantics (2005), we argue for two theses: Semantic Minimalism and Speech Act Pluralism. In this paper, we outline our defense against two objections often raised against Semantic Minimalism. We begin with five stage-setting sections. These lead to the first objection, viz., that it might follow from our view that comparative adjectives are context insensitive. We defend our view against that objection (not, as you might expect, by denying that implication, but by endorsing it). Having done so, we address a second objection, viz., that Semantic Minimalism makes it difficult to see what role semantic content plays in communicative exchanges. We respond and end with a reversal, i.e., we argue that even though the second objection fails against us, it works against those who raise the objection. In particular, we show that our critics, in particular, Carston (2002) and Recanati (2004), end up with a notion of communicated content that fails various tests for psychological reality.

scholarly journals Semantic content and compositional context-censitivity

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Esther Romero ◽  
Belén Soria
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Content ◽  
Context Sensitivity ◽  
Semantic Minimalism ◽  
Narrow Context

A variety of theorists have recently argued against the explanation of the semantic content of a sentence as a minimal proposition claiming that intentional aspects of the context are often needed to obtain a minimal proposition. Minimalists such as Borg, however, still defend intention-insensitive minimal propositions for sentences in a narrow context and provide solutions or dissolutions against incompleteness objections. In this paper, we show that these putative defences of propositionalism do not serve to avoid some additional genuine objections which arise from compositional context-sensitivity. We aim to show that there are complex expressions which compositionally demand intention-sensitive pragmatic effects in a mandatory way and, for that reason, they provide us with evidence against the type of propositionalism that substantiates the defence of semantic minimalism.

scholarly journals Gongsun Longzi’s “Form”: Minimal Word Meaning

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Limin Liu ◽  
Qiao Huang
Keyword(s):  
Word Meaning ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Structural Level ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Contextual Elements ◽  
Semantic Minimalism ◽  
Internal Lexicon ◽  
Meaning Holism ◽  
Conceptual Meaning ◽  
Language Meaning

Inspired by Gongsun Longzi’s “form-naming” idea about word meaning, this paper argues that 1) the internal lexicon contains only the list of word-meaning pairs, with no additional information either as part of word meaning or as a structural level above it; 2) the meaning of word is a minimal C-Form, the identifying conceptual meaning that individuates a concept; 3) C-Form is the interface between word meaning and concept meaning; and 4) a sentence has a minimal semantic content, consisting of the minimal meanings of the words composing it, which is propositional and truth-evaluable, and contextual elements contribute nothing to the meaning of language expressions. This paper adheres to semantic minimalism, believing meanwhile that meaning holism helps in semantics inquiry, since reflection on language meaning differs from language meaning itself.  

A Longitudinal Posthumous Study of Letter Writing in a Late Elderly Case

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-33
Author(s):  
Angel Ball ◽  
Jean Neils-Strunjas ◽  
Kate Krival
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Elderly Woman ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Cognitive Status ◽  
Letter Writing ◽  
Linguistic Performance ◽  
Errors Analysis ◽  
Normal Status

This study is a posthumous longitudinal study of consecutive letters written by an elderly woman from age 89 to 93. Findings reveal a consistent linguistic performance during the first 3 years, supporting “normal” status for late elderly writing. She produced clearly written cursive form, intact semantic content, and minimal spelling and stroke errors. A decline in writing was observed in the last 6–9 months of the study and an analysis revealed production of clausal fragmentation, decreasing semantic clarity, and a higher frequency of spelling, semantic, and stroke errors. Analysis of writing samples can be a valuable tool in documenting a change in cognitive status differentiated from normal late aging.

A Developmental Study of Intonation Recognition

1968 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 825-832 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn M. Corlew
Keyword(s):  
Significant Interaction ◽  
Multiple Choice ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
First Grade ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Developmental Study ◽  
Multiple Choice Test ◽  
The Third ◽  
Matching Test ◽  
Better Than

Two experiments investigated the information conveyed by intonation from speaker to listener. A multiple-choice test was devised to test the ability of 48 adults to recognize and label intonation when it was separated from all other meaning. Nine intonation contours whose labels were most agreed upon by adults were each matched with two English sentences (one with appropriate and one with inappropriate intonation and semantic content) to make a matching-test for children. The matching-test was tape-recorded and given to children in the first, third, and fifth grades (32 subjects in each grade). The first-grade children matched the intonations with significantly greater agreement than chance; but they agreed upon significantly fewer sentences than either the third or fifth graders. Some intonation contours were matched with significantly greater frequency than others. The performance of the girls was better than that of the boys on an impatient question and a simple command which indicates that there was a significant interaction between sex and intonation.

Evaluating research in developmental disabilities: a conceptual framework for reviewing treatment outcomes

1999 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlene Butler ◽  
Henry Chambers ◽  
Murray Goldstein ◽  
Susan Harris ◽  
Judy Leach ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Disabilities ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Treatment Outcomes

Understanding Why Older People Develop a Wish to Die

Crisis ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 204-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. L. Rurup ◽  
H. R. W. Pasman ◽  
J. Goedhart ◽  
D. J. H. Deeg ◽  
A. J. F. M. Kerkhof ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Cohort Studies ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Life Events ◽  
Traumatic Life Events ◽  
Quantitative Studies ◽  
Wish To Die ◽  
Open Coding ◽  
Death Wishes ◽  
Depth Interviews

Background: Quantitative studies in several European countries showed that 10–20% of older people have or have had a wish to die. Aims: To improve our understanding of why some older people develop a wish to die. Methods: In-depth interviews with people with a wish to die (n = 31) were carried out. Through open coding and inductive analysis, we developed a conceptual framework to describe the development of death wishes. Respondents were selected from two cohort studies. Results: The wish to die had either been triggered suddenly after traumatic life events or had developed gradually after a life full of adversity, as a consequence of aging or illness, or after recurring depression. The respondents were in a situation they considered unacceptable, yet they felt they had no control to change their situation and thus progressively “gave up” trying. Recurring themes included being widowed, feeling lonely, being a victim, being dependent, and wanting to be useful. Developing thoughts about death as a positive thing or a release from problems seemed to them like a way to reclaim control. Conclusions: People who wish to die originally develop thoughts about death as a positive solution to life events or to an adverse situation, and eventually reach a balance of the wish to live and to die.

Semantic Conflict Processing in the Color-Word Stroop and the Emotional Stroop

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 149-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Montserrat Zurrón ◽  
Marta Ramos-Goicoa ◽  
Fernando Díaz
Keyword(s):  
Stroop Task ◽  
Color Word ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Semantic Content ◽  
Emotional Stroop ◽  
Semantic Equivalence ◽  
Incongruent Color ◽  
Semantic Conflict ◽  
Related Potentials ◽  
Temporal Locus

With the aim of establishing the temporal locus of the semantic conflict in color-word Stroop and emotional Stroop phenomena, we analyzed the Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) elicited by nonwords, incongruent and congruent color words, colored words with positive and negative emotional valence, and colored words with neutral valence. The incongruent, positive, negative, and neutral stimuli produced interference in the behavioral response to the color of the stimuli. The P150/N170 amplitude was sensitive to the semantic equivalence of both dimensions of the congruent color words. The P3b amplitude was smaller in response to incongruent color words and to positive, negative, and neutral colored words than in response to the congruent color words and colored nonwords. There were no differences in the ERPs induced in response to colored words with positive, negative, and neutral valence. Therefore, the P3b amplitude was sensitive to interference from the semantic content of the incongruent, positive, negative, and neutral words in the color-response task, independently of the emotional content of the colored words. In addition, the P3b amplitude was smaller in response to colored words with positive, negative, and neutral valence than in response to the incongruent color words. Overall, these data indicate that the temporal locus of the semantic conflict generated by the incongruent color words (in the color-word Stroop task) and by colored words with positive, negative, and neutral valence (in the emotional Stroop task) appears to occur in the range 300–450 ms post-stimulus.

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