scholarly journals Prepositions and Spatial Relations in Natural Languages According to Leibniz

Author(s):  
Massimo Mugnai

In his 1677 Dialogue, Leibniz answers the question of how it is possible that speakers of different languages agree on the same truths by postulating “a certain correspondence between characters and things”. In the mid-1680s, he arguably attempts to specify this “correspondence” by explaining how linguistic particles are connected to our perception of spatial relations among things in the world. Firstly, this paper focuses on the role that, according to Leibniz, signs and characters play in our knowledge. Secondly, it introduces the solution that can be found in the Dialogue to the problem of how the same truth can be expressed in different languages. After briefly expounding Leibniz’s theory of natural languages, the paper gives an account of Leibniz’s analysis of the nature of prepositions and of how they contribute, in a natural language, to determine the correspondence between characters and things that is mentioned in the Dialogue.

Discourse ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 109-117
Author(s):  
O. M. Polyakov

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).


Author(s):  
Jody Azzouni

It’s shown that the existence concept that we express in natural languages and that we use to think about what we—philosophers and non-philosophers—take to exist in the world is criterion-transcendent, transcendent, and univocal. That is, speakers use a notion that they take to be fixed in its extension across languages and to be the same one they’ve used in the past and will use in the future. Furthermore, the existence concept has no meaning entailments. We do not understand what exists to have certain properties (or not to have certain properties) on the basis of the meaning of the word “exist.” “Exist” and “there is,” when used to express or deny ontological commitments, are neither ambiguous nor polysemous. Language-usage evidence is presented that confirms these claims.


Discourse ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-114
Author(s):  
O. M. Polyakov

Introduction. The paper continues a series of publications on linguistics of relations (hereinafter R–linguistics) and is devoted to questions of the formation of a language from a linguistic model of the world. Moreover, the language is considered in its most general form, without taking into account the grammatical component. This allows you to focus on the general problems of language formation. Namely, this allows us to show why language adequately reflects the model of the world and what are the features of the transition from model to language. This new approach to language is relevant in connection with the formation of an understanding of the common core in all natural languages, as well as in connection with the needs for the formation of artificial intelligence subsystems of interaction with humans.Methodology and sources. Research methods consist in the formulation and proof of theorems about language spaces and their properties. The materials of the paper and the given proofs are based on the previously stated ideas about linguistic spaces and their decompositions into signs.Results and discussion. The paper shows how, in the most general form, the formation of language structures takes place. Namely, why does language adequately reflect the linguistic model, and what is the difference between linguistic and language spaces? The concepts of an open and closed form of the language are formulated, as well as the law of form. Examples of open and closed forms of the language are shown. It is shown that the formation of the language allows you to compensate for the lack of real signs in the surrounding world while maintaining the prognostic properties of the model.Conclusion. Any natural language is a reflection of the human world model. Moreover, all natural languages are similar in terms of the principles of forming the core of the language (language space). Language spaces standardize the models of the world by equalizing real and fictional signs of categories. In addition, the transition to language simplifies some of the problems of pattern recognition and opens the way to the logic of natural language.


Author(s):  
TIAN-SHUN YAO

With the word-based theory of natural language processing, a word-based Chinese language understanding system has been developed. In the light of psychological language analysis and the features of the Chinese language, this theory of natural language processing is presented with the description of the computer programs based on it. The heart of the system is to define a Total Information Dictionary and the World Knowledge Source used in the system. The purpose of this research is to develop a system which can understand not only Chinese sentences but also the whole text.


2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (07) ◽  
pp. 40-46
Author(s):  
Khayala Mugamat Mursaliyeva ◽  

The explosion of information and the ever-increasing number of international languages make the modern language situation very difficult. The interaction of languages ultimately leads to the creation of international artificial languages that operate in parallel with the world`s languages. The expansion of interlinguistic issues is a natural consequence of the aggravation of the linguistic landscape of the modern world. The modern interlinguistic dialect, which is defined as a field of linguistics that studies international languages and international languages as a means of communication, deals with the importance of overcoming the barrier.The problem of international artificial languages is widely covered in the writings of I.A.Baudouin de Courtenay, V.P.Qrigorev, N.L.Gudskov, E.K.Drezen, A.D.Dulchenko, M.I.Isayev, S.N.Kuznechov, A.D.Melnikov and many other scientists. Key words:the concept of natural language, the concept of artificial language, the degree of artificiality of language, the authenticity of language


Author(s):  
Ekaterina Savitskaya ◽  

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.


Author(s):  
LI LI ◽  
HONGLAI LIU ◽  
QINGSHI GAO ◽  
PEIFENG WANG

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.


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