scholarly journals Generic bare plurals in Russian and beyond

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-54
Author(s):  
Daria Seres
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Argument Position ◽  
Bare Plural ◽  
Bare Plurals ◽  
The World ◽  
Indirect Reference

This paper focuses on indirect reference to kinds achieved by means of bare plural nominal expressions in Russian, which is a language without articles. These NPs refer to sums of individuals, whose denotation is built on Number. Their default interpretation is indefinite, while generic and definite readings are a result of a pragmatic strengthening, i.e. these readings appear only in certain environments (argument position of k-level predicates, subject position of characterising statements) and depend on the world knowledge of interlocutors. Generically and definitely interpreted expressions are similar to each other, being characterised by maximality, identifiability and presupposition of existence. However, the former ones cannot be spatiotemporally localised or anaphorically anchored. Going beyond Russian, it is suggested that in some languages genericity (along with definiteness) may be encoded semantically by means of a definite article, while in others it is pragmatically inferred on bare NPs; this difference can account for the inter- and intra- linguistic variation in the expression of genericity.

On Existential Bare Plural ‘Subjects’

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 29-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalina Kallulli
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
External Argument ◽  
Bare Plural ◽  
Bare Plurals ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Plural Subject ◽  
Plural Subjects ◽  
Central Claim

Drawing on Strawson’s (1971) definition of the subject as performing the function of identifying the object of the speaker’s assertion and of the predicate as applying to this object without having to identify it, this article argues that being a predicate and being (part of) the focus are two ways of talking about one and the same thing, namely assertion, and not identification or presupposition. Assuming that syntax and semantics are isomorphic, the most far-reaching consequence of this view and the central claim that I make is that there are no existential bare plural subjects. What is generally and a priori taken to be an existential bare plural subject is a (wh-moved) predicate nominal. The genuine external argument in sentences with existential bare plurals in what appears to be the subject position is in fact the Davidsonian event argument. Consequently, the Extended Projection Principle (EPP) should be defined as a requirement on predication. The syntax-semantics isomorphism is emphasized as part of an attempt to show that syntactically, generic and existential bare plurals differ with respect to the D-feature: while generic bare plurals are DPs with a morphologically null D, existential bare plurals, like bare singulars, are NPs altogether lacking a D-projection.

Language and Worldview

1989 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
Alvino E. Fantini
Keyword(s):  
World Knowledge ◽  
Essential Ingredient ◽  
The World

Languages are more than mere tools. They are, in fact, paradigms of a view of the world. Knowledge of more than one language holds promise for an expanded worldview, for understanding other people on their own terms, Viewed this way, bilingualism becomes an essential ingredient in the formation of interculturally minded individuals.

A WORD-BASED CHINESE LANGUAGE UNDERSTANDING SYSTEM

1988 ◽  
Vol 02 (01) ◽  
pp. 25-35
Author(s):  
TIAN-SHUN YAO
Keyword(s):  
Natural Language Processing ◽  
Natural Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Computer Programs ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Knowledge Source ◽  
Language Understanding ◽  
Language Analysis ◽  
The World

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.

scholarly journals JOB HUNTING ONLINE AND KNOWLEDGE EVALUATION OF THE EMPLOYEES IN THE WORLD

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 174-180
Author(s):  
Giedrė Rimkevičiūtė
Keyword(s):  
Job Search ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Job Market ◽  
The World ◽  
On Line ◽  
Knowledge Evaluation

In this article the possibilities of finding the job by net are displayed. In today's world job hunting on‐line becomes more and more popular. The majority of Internet sites that can be used for job hunting is classified in thematic categories. Brainbench is the most authoritative system of the world that values skills of employees of different fields on‐line. Brainbench, the technologies of the world knowledge assessing system tests which Lithuanian market of job search ‐supply cannot offer, are being analyzed. The conclusions about the advantages and shortcommings of Brainbench system are given about the importance and significance of Brainbench certificates in job market.

scholarly journals INFORMAÇÃO PARA E PELOS SURDOS: SOBRE TRANSMISSÃO AUDIOVISUAL EM LIBRAS E DESENVOLVIMENTO DA CRITICIDADE

polemica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-36
Author(s):  
Jaciara Sá Carvalho ◽  
Rita de Cássia Martins da Costa Brito
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Loss ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Deaf People ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Sign Language Interpreters ◽  
Transmission Of Information ◽  
The World ◽  
Brazilian Sign Language

Resumo: Cerca de 5% da população brasileira possui algum grau de perda de audição (IBGE, 2010). São dez milhões de brasileiros com dificuldades de acesso às informações sobre as realidades de seu país e do mundo, ao conhecimento sistematizado pelas ciências etc. Alguns programas audiovisuais recorrem a legendas em Português e/ou intérpretes da Língua Brasileira de Sinais – Libras, atuando nas chamadas “janelinhas”, sendo exceção os produzidos por profissionais surdos e apresentados por eles em primeiro plano na tela. Sob tal contexto de discussão, e partindo da premissa da formação humana ao longo da vida, este artigo apresenta uma problematização acerca das diferenças entre a transmissão de informações por surdos e por intérpretes a partir de pesquisa bibliográfica. O trabalho sugere que uma informação transmitida de surdo para surdo, em audiovisuais, estaria mais próxima ao conteúdo original da mensagem e ao universo linguístico e cultural das comunidades Surdas. Também expõe uma reflexão sobre a necessidade de ampliação do repertório informacional para o desenvolvimento (permanente) da consciência crítica (FREIRE, 1979) pelos surdos que anseiam “ser mais”.Palavras-chave: Surdez. Libras. Acesso à informação. Abstract: About 5% of the Brazilian population has some degree of hearing loss (IBGE, 2010). There are ten million Brazilians who have difficulty accessing information about the realities of their country and of the world, knowledge drawn up by the sciences, etc. Some audiovisual programs use Portuguese subtitles and/or Brazilian Sign Language interpreters (Libras) acting in their little "windows" as they are called, with the exception of those produced by deaf professionals and presented to them in the foreground of the screen. Under this context of discussion, and based on the premise of human lifelong training, this article presents an examination of the differences between the transmission of information by deaf people and by interpreters, based on bibliographic research. The paper points out that information transmitted from deaf to deaf in audiovisuals would be closer to the original content of the message, and to the linguistic and cultural universe of the deaf community. It also presents a reflection on the need to expand the informational repertoire for the (permanent) development of critical consciousness (FREIRE, 1979) by deaf people who yearn to "be more."Keywords: Deafness. Libras. Access to information.

Articulated Definiteness without Articles

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Jenks
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Bare Nouns ◽  
Bare Nominal ◽  
Type Shifting

While it lacks a definite article, Mandarin makes a principled distinction between unique and anaphoric definites: unique definites are realized with a bare noun, and anaphoric definites are realized with a demonstrative, except in subject position. The following proposals account for these facts: (a) bare nouns achieve definite interpretations via a last-resort type-shifting operator ι, which has a unique definite meaning; (b) demonstratives can occur as anaphoric definites because they have a semantic argument beyond their nominal restriction that can be filled by an index; and (c) bare nominal subjects are topics. A principle called Index! requires that indexical expressions be used whenever possible. Mandarin is contrasted with Cantonese, which, like English, is shown to have access to an ambiguous definite article.

Thinking with Trans Now

Social Text ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 125-147
Author(s):  
Aren Z. Aizura ◽  
Marquis Bey ◽  
Toby Beauchamp ◽  
Treva Ellison ◽  
Jules Gill-Peterson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Historical Materialism ◽  
Subject Position ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Queer Of Color Critique ◽  
Queer Of Color ◽  
The World ◽  
A Site

This roundtable considers trans theory’s status as a site of thinking racialization, empire, political economy, and materiality in the current historical, institutional, and political moment. We ask, what does it mean to think trans in a time of crisis?, and what is the place of critique in a crisis?, acknowledging that global crises are not insulated from trans, and trans is not insulated from the world. This roundtable looks to materialist formations to think trans now, including a new materialism premised on thinking about trans embodiment outside of trans as subject position, the materialism of objects and commodities, and a historical materialism shaped by queer of color critique.

How to Represent the World

2008 ◽  
pp. 214-257
Author(s):  
Azamat Abdoullaev
Keyword(s):  
Information Exchange ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Lexical Resources ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
The World ◽  
Computer Scientists ◽  
Application Potential ◽  
Global Language ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Machine Readable

As far as human knowledge about the world is commonly given in NL expressions and as far as universal ontology is a general science of the world, the examination of its impact on natural language science and technology is among the central topics of many academic workshops and conferences. Ontologists, knowledge engineers, lexicographers, lexical semanticists, and computer scientists are attempting to integrate top-level entity classes with language knowledge presented in extensive corpora and electronic lexical resources. Such a deep quest is mostly motivated by high application potential of reality-driven models of language for knowledge communication and management, information retrieval and extraction, information exchange in software and dialogue systems, all with an ultimate view to transform the World Wide Web into a machine-readable global language resource of world knowledge, the Onto-Semantic Web. One of the practical applications of integrative ontological framework is to discover the underlying mechanisms of representing and processing language content and meaning by cognitive agents, human and artificial. Specifically, to provide the formalized algorithms or rules, whereby machines could derive or attach significance (or signification) from coded signals, both natural signs obtained by sensors and linguistic symbols.

Inception and the Arts

Inception ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 95-98
Author(s):  
David Carter
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Visual Simulation ◽  
Francis Bacon ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
Indirect Reference

This chapter looks at the specific artistic references in Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010). One artist is referred to by indirect reference and visual simulation of some of his works, and another is paid homage to by the inclusion of one of his works in a scene. The artists in question are M.C. Escher and Francis Bacon. The Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher, famous for his works featuring constructions which would be impossible in the real world, is not directly named in the film, but he is referred to indirectly by the mention of a phenomenon which he utilised in his work: the so-called 'Penrose Steps'. Meanwhile, in a sequence in which Cobb is talking to Mal, there is a painting visible on the wall of the room, Bacon's Study for a head of George Dyer, 1967. Nolan clearly shares some perspectives on the world with Bacon: a fascination with distorted reality, a sense of horror as in a nightmare, and, in some cases, the real world being actually torn apart.

Experience-based effects

2020 ◽  
pp. 203-240
Author(s):  
Rui P. Chaves ◽  
Michael T. Putnam
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Complex Structures ◽  
World Knowledge ◽  
Situation Type ◽  
The World ◽  
Main Action ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Processing Difficulty

This chapter presents experimental evidence suggesting that the acceptability of certain island violations is contingent on the prior experience that speakers have with both main situation type described by the proposition itself, and the particular syntactic construction in which it is conveyed. Highly coherent and prototypical complex structures more easily lend themselves to licensing extraction from otherwise deeply embedded positions, and comprehenders can adapt to the frequency of the input in order to overcome the processing difficulty caused when the input is unusual and inconsistent with their prior experience. Acceptability ratings thus range from highly acceptable to unacceptable, suggesting that the plausibility of the proposition itself, the degree to which the extracted phrase plays a role in the main action, and the frequency of such dependencies create a malleable acceptability cline. Acceptability differences likely stem from the proposition itself, the world knowledge it evokes, and the degree to which the extracted relevant matters for the main state-of-affairs that the utterance conveys.

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