Logic in Natural Language: Commitments and Constraints

Abstract In his new book, Logical Form, Andrea Iacona distinguishes between two different roles that have been ascribed to the notion of logical form: the logical role and the semantic role. These two roles entail a bifurcation of the notion of logical form. Both notions of logical form, according to Iacona, are descriptive, having to do with different features of natural language sentences. I agree that the notion of logical form bifurcates, but not that the logical role is merely descriptive. In this paper, I focus on formalization, a process by which logical form, on its logical role, is attributed to natural language sentences. According to some, formalization is a form of explication, and it involves normative, pragmatic, as well as creative aspects. I present a view by which formalization involves explicit commitments on behalf of a reasoner or an interpreter, which serve the normative grounds for the evaluation of a given text. In previous work, I proposed the framework of semantic constraints for the explication of logical consequence. Here, I extend the framework to include formalization constraints. The various constraints then serve the role of commitments. I discuss specific issues raised by Iacona concerning univocality, co-reference and equivocation, and I show how our views on these matters diverge as a result of our different starting assumptions.

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Anaphoric Dependence and Logical Form

Disputatio ◽

10.2478/disp-2020-0013 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (58) ◽

pp. 265-276

Author(s):

Manuel García-Carpintero

Keyword(s):

Logical Form ◽

Semantic Role ◽

The Core ◽

Theory Of Meaning ◽

Referential Expressions

Abstract In the core chapters 4–6, Iacona (2018) argues against the “Uniqueness Thesis” (UT), stating that “there is a unique notion of logical form that fulfils both the logical role and the semantic role” (39), where the former “concerns the formal explanation of logical properties and logical relations, such as validity or contradiction” (37), and the latter “concerns the formulation of a compositional theory of meaning” (ibid.). He argues for this on the basis of relations of coreference among referential expressions, names and indexicals. From what I take to be a fundamental agreement on most relevant issues, here I will nonetheless press him to clarify the notions of intrinsicness and the logical and semantic role of logical form on which he relies.

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Role of Natural Language Processing in Social Media

International Journal of Computer Sciences and Engineering ◽

10.26438/ijcse/v5i12.287289 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (12) ◽

pp. 287-289

Author(s):

Aditya . ◽

◽

hare . ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Natural Language Processing ◽

Natural Language ◽

Language Processing

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The Structure of Truth

10.1093/oso/9780198842491.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Donald Davidson

Keyword(s):

Philosophy Of Language ◽

Logical Form ◽

Historical Document ◽

Truth Theory ◽

Ontological Commitments ◽

Theory Of Meaning ◽

First Time

Donald Davidson’s 1970 Locke Lectures appear in print for the first time in this volume, accompanied by an introduction highlighting their significance as a snapshot of his evolving views in the philosophy of language and describing their relationship to the work he published during his lifetime. The lectures comprise an invaluable historical document that illuminates how Davidson was thinking about the theory of meaning, the role of a truth theory therein, the ontological commitments of a truth theory, the notion of logical form, and so on, at a pivotal moment in the development of his thought. Unlike Davidson’s previously published work, they are written so as to be presented to an audience as a fully organized and coherent exposition of his program in the philosophy of language. Had these lectures been widely available in the years following 1970, the reception of Davidson’s work, especially in the philosophy of language, might have been very different. Given the systematic nature of the presentation of Davidson’s semantic program in these lectures, it is hoped that they will be of use to those encountering his thought for the first time.

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The Role of Cognitive Patterns in Modelling Reality by Means of Natural Language (The Case Study of the English Cognitive Pattern “Cleanness / Dirtiness”)

Nizhny Novgorod Linguistics University Bulletin ◽

10.47388/2072-3490/lunn2021-53-1-69-81 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 69-81

Author(s):

Ekaterina Savitskaya ◽

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Cognitive Linguistics ◽

Human Mind ◽

Specific Language ◽

Cognitive Patterns ◽

Cognitive Pattern ◽

The World ◽

Internal Comparison

In the field of cognitive linguistics it is accepted that, before developing its capacity for abstract and theoretical thought, the human mind went through the stage of reflecting reality through concrete images and thus has inherited old cognitive patterns. Even abstract notions of the modern civilization are based on traditional concrete images, and it is all fixed in natural language units. By way of illustration, the author analyzes the cognitive pattern “сleanness / dirtiness” as a constituent part of the English linguoculture, looking at the whole range of its verbal realization and demonstrating its influence on language-based thinking and modeling of reality. Comparing meanings of language units with their inner forms enabled the author to establish the connection between abstract notions and concrete images within cognitive patterns. Using the method of internal comparison and applying the results of etymological reconstruction of language units’ inner form made it possible to see how the world is viewed by representatives of the English linguoculture. Apparently, in the English linguoculture images of cleanness / dirtiness symbolize mainly two thematic areas: that of morality and that of renewal. Since every ethnic group has its own axiological dominants (key values) that determine the expressiveness of verbal invectives, one can draw the conclusion that people perceive and comprehend world fragments through the prism of mental stereo-types fixed in the inner form of language units. Sometimes, in relation to specific language units, a conflict arises between the inner form which retains traditional thinking and a meaning that reflects modern reality. Still, linguoculture is a constantly evolving entity, and its de-velopment entails breaking established stereotypes and creating new ones. Linguistically, the victory of the new over the old is manifested in the “dying out” of the verbal support for pre-vious cognitive patterns, which leads to “reprogramming” (“recoding”) of linguoculture rep-resentatives’ mentality.

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Towards an Ontology of Representation

10.3233/faia210370 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Riichiro Mizoguchi ◽

Stefano Borgo

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Proposed Model ◽

Ontological Analysis ◽

Ontological Model

In philosophy information is mainly discussed along with the notion of aboutness. In more practical communities, information is mainly addressed together with notions like data and knowledge. This paper proposes a different approach. We look at information (and related concepts) as roles played by representations. This view implies that the notion of representation is central for any ontological analysis of information and related concepts. The paper provides arguments for this new stand and discusses an ontological model of representation based on the systematic distinction between form and content. The broadness and flexibility of the proposed model is shown by discussing a list of variegated representation entities from music to procedure, from novel to painting. The paper also investigates the role of letters (characters) in natural language expressions, which turns out to be quite complex.

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A Dialectical View on Conduction: Reasons, Warrants, and Normal Suasory Inclinations

Informal Logic ◽

10.22329/il.v39i1.5080 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 32-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Shiyang Yu ◽

Frank Zenker

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Structural Variants ◽

Type Conduction

When Carl Wellman (1971) introduced the reasoning-type conduction, he endorsed a dialectical view on natural language argumentation. Contemporary scholarship, by contrast, treats conductive argument predominantly on a product view. Not only did Wellman’s reasons for a dialectical view thus fall into disregard; a product-treatment of conduction also flouts the standard semantics of ‘argument’. Attempting to resolve these difficulties, our paper traces Wellman’s preference for a dialectical view to the role of defeasible warrants. These act as stand-ins for (parts of) value hierarchies that arguers of normal suasory inclination find acceptable. We also improve on extant ways of diagramming conduction and distinguish two of its structural variants.

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Semantic Roles of The Verb “To See” in Javenese of Kertosono

RETORIKA Jurnal Ilmu Bahasa ◽

10.22225/jr.5.2.1139.122-129 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 122-129

Author(s):

A.A.A Ngr. Adriyanti Weda Ningrat ◽

I Nyoman Kardana ◽

Mirsa Umiyati

Keyword(s):

Qualitative Research ◽

Data Analysis ◽

Role Theory ◽

Shape Function ◽

Semantic Role ◽

Semantic Roles ◽

Qualitative Research Design ◽

Semantic Fields ◽

General Semantic

This study reveals the semantic fields from the "to see" verb in Javanese. The aims of this research is to describe the shape, function, meaning and role of semantic of each variant of the verb "to see". To realize this goal, qualitative research design was applied in this study and the semantic role theory of Vole and Van Valin (1984). Was also oriented in data analysis. Verbs that have semantic fields that are associated with the "to see" verb with intentional entities numbering 33. Each of them is ndêlok, ndêlêng, ningali, mirsani, ndeleng sacleraman, ndêlêng tênanên, ningali saestu, mirsani saestu, ningali sekedhap, mirsani sekedhap, mlengos, ngwasi, ngêmatake, ngematakên, ndhangak, dingkluk, nginceng, ngêlirêk, mêntêlêngi, ndelok mburi, and maca. The semantic roles of the arguments of each verb consist of agents and themes. This study only sheds light on the meaning field verb "to see" of the type of variant and a little about the general semantic role. For this reason, a more detailed study of the specific role of each variant of the verb is a topic that can be raised in the next study.

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Welcome to AI Matters 7(2)

AI Matters ◽

10.1145/3478369.3478370 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 3-4

Author(s):

Iolanda Leite ◽

Anuj Karpatne

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Regular Education ◽

Neural Models ◽

Natural Language Interfaces ◽

Algorithmic Bias

Welcome to the second issue of this year's AI Matters Newsletter. We start with a report on upcoming SIGAI Events by Dilini Samarasinghe and Conference reports by Louise Dennis, our conference coordination officer. In our regular Education column, Carolyn Rosé discusses the role of AI in education in a post-pandemic reality. We then bring you our regular Policy column, where Larry Medsker covers interesting and timely discussions on AI policy, for example whether governments should play a role in reducing algorithmic bias. This issue closes with an article contribution from Li Dong, one of the runner-ups in the latest AAIS/SIGAI dissertation award, on the use neural models to build natural language interfaces.

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