An alternatives account of 'most’ and 'more than half’

Glossa a journal of general linguistics ◽

10.16995/glossa.5764 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Fausto Carcassi ◽

Jakub Szymanik

Keyword(s):

Computational Model ◽

Speech Act ◽

Truth Conditions ◽

Production Experiment ◽

The World ◽

The Difference

While 'most' and 'more than half' are generally assumed to be truth-conditionally equivalent, the former is usually interpreted as conveying greater proportions than the latter. Previous work has attempted to explain this difference in terms of pragmatic strengthening or variation in meanings. In this paper, we propose a novel explanation that keeps the truth-conditions equivalence. We argue that the difference in typical sets between the two expressions emerges as a result of two previously independently motivated mechanisms. First, the two expressions have different sets of pragmatic alternatives. Second, listeners tend to minimize the expected distance between their representation of the world and the speaker's observation. We support this explanation with a computational model of usage in the Rational Speech Act framework. Moreover, we report the results of a quantifier production experiment. We find that the difference in typical proportions associated with the two expressions can be explained by our account.

The Exchange of Words

10.1093/oso/9780190873325.001.0001 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Richard Moran

Keyword(s):

Moral Psychology ◽

Philosophy Of Language ◽

Action Theory ◽

Speech Act ◽

Mind Reading ◽

Second Person ◽

New Approach ◽

The World ◽

The Difference ◽

Paul Grice

The capacity to speak is not only the ability to pronounce words, but is the socially recognized capacity to make one’s words count in various ways. We rely on this capacity whenever we tell another person something and expect to be believed, and what we learn from others in this way is the basis for most of what we take ourselves to know about the world. The Exchange of Words is a philosophical exploration of human testimony, specifically as a form of intersubjective understanding in which speakers communicate by making themselves accountable for the truth of what they say. This account weaves together themes from philosophy of language, moral psychology, action theory, and epistemology, for a new approach to this fundamental human phenomenon. The account concentrates on the difference between what may be revealed in one’s speech (like a regional accent) and what we explicitly claim and make ourselves answerable for. Some prominent themes include the meaning of sincerity in speech, the nature of mutuality and how it differs from “mind reading,” the interplay between the first-person and the second-person perspectives in conversation, and the nature of the speech act of illocution as developed by philosophers such as J. L. Austin and Paul Grice. Ordinary dialogue is the locus of a kind of intersubjective understanding that is distinctive to the transmission of reasons in human testimony, and The Exchange of Words is an original and integrated account of this basic way of being informative and in touch with one another.

Types of Speech Acts

10.1093/oso/9780198738831.003.0005 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Hanks

Keyword(s):

Speech Acts ◽

Speech Act ◽

Speech Act Theory ◽

Propositional Content ◽

Truth Conditions ◽

Sharp Distinction ◽

The World

Classical speech act theory, in the tradition of Austin and Searle, is based on a picture of propositional content due to Frege. This picture takes propositions to be the primary bearers of truth conditions, and it incorporates a sharp distinction between content and force. In this paper I defend an alternative picture of propositional content, on which the primary bearers of truth conditions are the actions we perform in thinking and speaking about the world. Propositions are types of these actions, and they inherit their truth conditions from them. This picture abandons the distinction between content and force and it leads to a three-way distinction between different kinds of propositions. Here I explore the consequences of this alternative picture for the nature and taxonomy of speech acts.

Inter-country inequality as a dynamic process and the problem of post-industrial development

Voprosy Ekonomiki ◽

10.32609/0042-8736-2018-7-5-29 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 5-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

L. M. Grigoryev ◽

V. A. Pavlyushina

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Political Institutions ◽

Industrial Development ◽

Modern World ◽

New Approach ◽

Development Level ◽

The World ◽

Long Time ◽

The Difference ◽

Post Industrial

The phenomenon of economic growth is studied by economists and statisticians in various aspects for a long time. Economic theory is devoted to assessing factors of growth in the tradition of R. Solow, R. Barrow, W. Easterly and others. During the last quarter of the century, however, the institutionalists, namely D. North, D. Wallis, B. Weingast as well as D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson, have shown the complexity of the problem of development on the part of socioeconomic and political institutions. As a result, solving the problem of how economic growth affects inequality between countries has proved extremely difficult. The modern world is very diverse in terms of development level, and the article offers a new approach to the formation of the idea of stylized facts using cluster analysis. The existing statistics allows to estimate on a unified basis the level of GDP production by 174 countries of the world for 1992—2016. The article presents a structured picture of the world: the distribution of countries in seven clusters, different in levels of development. During the period under review, there was a strong per capita GDP growth in PPP in the middle of the distribution, poverty in various countries declined markedly. At the same time, in 1992—2016, the difference increased not only between rich and poor groups of countries, but also between clusters.

Speculative Realism and Science Fiction

10.3366/edinburgh/9781474422697.001.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Brian Willems

Keyword(s):

Science Fiction ◽

Identity Formation ◽

Cormac Mccarthy ◽

Doris Lessing ◽

Speculative Realism ◽

Neil Gaiman ◽

The World ◽

The Difference ◽

Quentin Meillassoux

A human-centred approach to the environment is leading to ecological collapse. One of the ways that speculative realism challenges anthropomorphism is by taking non-human things to be as valid objects of investivation as humans, allowing a more responsible and truthful view of the world to take place. Brian Willems uses a range of science fiction literature that questions anthropomorphism both to develop and challenge this philosophical position. He looks at how nonsense and sense exist together in science fiction, the way in which language is not a guarantee of personhood, the role of vision in relation to identity formation, the difference between metamorphosis and modulation, representations of non-human deaths and the function of plasticity within the Anthropocene. Willems considers the works of Cormac McCarthy, Paolo Bacigalupi, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, Doris Lessing and Kim Stanley Robinson are considered alongside some of the main figures of speculative materialism including Graham Harman, Quentin Meillassoux and Jane Bennett.

Between High Culture and Low Culture; and also The Difference Between Popular Culture and Folk Culture

SMART MOVES JOURNAL IJELLH ◽

10.24113/ijellh.v7i8.9572 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (8) ◽

pp. 12

Author(s):

Kunal Debnath

Keyword(s):

Popular Culture ◽

Folk Culture ◽

Common People ◽

High Culture ◽

The World ◽

The Common ◽

The Difference ◽

Low Culture

High culture is a collection of ideologies, beliefs, thoughts, trends, practices and works-- intellectual or creative-- that is intended for refined, cultured and educated elite people. Low culture is the culture of the common people and the mass. Popular culture is something that is always, most importantly, related to everyday average people and their experiences of the world; it is urban, changing and consumeristic in nature. Folk culture is the culture of preindustrial (premarket, precommodity) communities.

L'anglicisme dans la langue française

Digital Press Social Sciences and Humanities ◽

10.29037/digitalpress.43286 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 ◽

pp. 00013

Author(s):

Danny Susanto

Keyword(s):

English Language ◽

Oil Industry ◽

English Word ◽

Public Institutions ◽

Font Size ◽

The World ◽

French Speaking ◽

The Difference ◽

Definition Of ◽

Bibliographic Study

The purpose of this study is to analyze the phenomenon known as “anglicism”: a loan made to the English language by another language. Anglicism arose either from the adoption of an English word as a result of a translation defect despite the existence of an equivalent term in the language of the speaker, or from a wrong translation, as a word-by-word translation. Said phenomenon is very common nowadays and most languages of the world including making use of some linguistic concepts such as anglicism, neologism, syntax, morphology etc, this article addresses various aspects related to Anglicisms in French through a bibliographic study: the definition of Anglicism, the origin of Anglicisms in French and the current situation, the areas most affected by Anglicism, the different categories of Anglicism, the difference between French Anglicism in France and French-speaking Canada, the attitude of French-speaking society towards to the Anglicisms and their efforts to stop this phenomenon. The study shows that the areas affected are, among others, trade, travel, parliamentary and judicial institutions, sports, rail, industrial production and most recently film, industrial production, sport, oil industry, information technology, science and technology. Various initiatives have been implemented either by public institutions or by individuals who share concerns about the increasingly felt threat of the omnipresence of Anglicism in everyday life.

Defending the Difference

10.1093/oso/9780198796220.003.0004 ◽

2017 ◽

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Natural Sciences ◽

Point Of View ◽

True Nature ◽

Natural Entities ◽

The Social ◽

The World ◽

Methodological Difference ◽

The Difference ◽

The One

Dreyfus argues that there is a basic methodological difference between the natural sciences and the social sciences, a difference that derives from the different goals and practices of each. He goes on to argue that being a realist about natural entities is compatible with pluralism or, as he calls it, “plural realism.” If intelligibility is always grounded in our practices, Dreyfus points out, then there is no point of view from which one can ask about or provide an answer to the one true nature of ultimate reality. But that is consistent with believing that the natural sciences can still reveal the way the world is independent of our theories and practices.

What Difference Does Posthumanism Make?

Cambridge Archaeological Journal ◽

10.1017/s0959774321000159 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-7

Author(s):

Rachel J. Crellin ◽

Oliver J.T. Harris

Keyword(s):

Productive Force ◽

The World ◽

The Status ◽

The Difference ◽

The Relationship

In this paper we argue that to understand the difference Posthumanism makes to the relationship between archaeology, agency and ontology, several misconceptions need to be corrected. First, we emphasize that Posthumanism is multiple, with different elements, meaning any critique needs to be carefully targeted. The approach we advocate is a specifically Deleuzian and explicitly feminist approach to Posthumanism. Second, we examine the status of agency within Posthumanism and suggest that we may be better off thinking about affect. Third, we explore how the approach we advocate treats difference in new ways, not as a question of lack, or as difference ‘from’, but rather as a productive force in the world. Finally, we explore how Posthumanism allows us to re-position the role of the human in archaeology,

Clinical Differences between COVID-19 and a COVID-Like Syndrome

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm10112519 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (11) ◽

pp. 2519

Author(s):

Pierpaolo Di Micco ◽

Giuseppe Camporese ◽

Vincenzo Russo ◽

Giuseppe Cardillo ◽

Egidio Imbalzano ◽

...

Keyword(s):

False Negative ◽

Nasopharyngeal Swab ◽

Similar Group ◽

Risk Of Infection ◽

Hospital Workers ◽

Serological Tests ◽

Clinical Presentations ◽

The World ◽

Lung Failure ◽

The Difference

COVID-19 is an infection due to SARS-CoV-2; this virus has been identified as the cause of the present pandemic. Several typical characteristics are present in this infection, in particular pneumonia with possible lung failure, but atypical clinical presentations are being described daily by physicians around the world. Ground-glass opacities with pneumonia are the most common and dangerous presentations of the COVID-19 disease, and they are usually associated with positive nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) tests with detectable SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA. Compared to the general population, hospital workers have been at a greater risk of infection ever since the first patients were hospitalized. However, hospital workers have also been reported as having COVID-like symptoms despite repeated negative swab tests but having tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies with serological tests. We can postulate that a COVID-like syndrome is possible, in particular in hospital workers, that is characterized by symptoms similar to those of COVID-19, but with repeated negative nasopharyngeal swabs. These repeated negative NSPs make the difference in daily clinical management with people that experienced a single false negative nasopharyngeal swab; furthermore, a clear clinical differentiation of these situations is still lacking in the literature. For this reason, here, we report our main findings from a cohort of patients with a COVID-like syndrome compared to a similar group affected by typical COVID-19.

Towards a systemic-dialogical model of therapy

Human Systems: Therapy, Culture and Attachments ◽

10.1177/26344041211003853 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 263440412110038

Author(s):

Paolo Bertrando ◽

Claudia Lini

Keyword(s):

The World ◽

Open Dialogue ◽

The Difference ◽

Systemic Understanding ◽

Case Supervision ◽

Model Of Practice

Bakhtin-inspired ideas that led to the emergence of dialogic therapies are usually considered as incompatible with other, more traditional models. This article presents a possible integration of dialogical ideas, with their acceptance of uncertainty and disorder, within a systemic understanding, where the emergence of systemic patterns is recognised. Through a comparison with the open dialogue approach, the article aims at clarifying the difference between a pure dialogical and a systemic-dialogical perspective, that is seen as more fitting with the contextual complexity of the world of today. The model of practice is illustrated by a case supervision example.