scholarly journals Subgrouping the Timor-Alor-Pantar languages using systematic Bayesian inference

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gereon Alexander Kaiping ◽  
Marian Klamer
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Inference ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Bayesian Phylogenetics ◽  
Challenging Issue ◽  
Lexical Data

This paper refines the subgroupings of the Timor-Alor-Pantar (TAP) family of Papuan languages, using a systematic Bayesian phylogenetics study. While recent work indicates that the TAP family comprises a Timor (T) branch and an Alor Pantar (AP) branch (Holton et al. 2012, Schapper et al. 2017) the internal structure of the AP branch has proven to be a challenging issue, and earlier studies leave large gaps in our understanding. Our Bayesian inference study is based on an extensive set of TAP lexical data from the online LexiRumah database (Kaiping & Klamer, 2019). Systematically testing different approaches to cognate coding, loan exclusion, and explicit modelling choices, we arrive at a subgrouping structure of the TAP family that is based on features of the phylogenies shared across the different analyses. Our TAP tree differs from all earlier proposals by inferring the East-Alor subgroup as an early split-off from all other AP languages, instead of the most deeply embedded subgroup inside that branch.

Formation of internal structure in a lexical category

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 381-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark E. Bernstein
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
School Children ◽  
Concept Formation ◽  
Rank Order ◽  
Paired Comparisons ◽  
Internal Representations ◽  
Function Information ◽  
Lexical Concept

ABSTRACTWhat does the word chair mean? How does the category of objects bearing this name differ between adults and pre-school children? And how does the knowledge of a possible function of an object affect subjects' judgements? Answers to these questions were sought by means of sorting and rank ordering tasks. Subjects were shown drawings of a variety of objects on which one could sit, and were asked to indicate which ones they would call chairs. Those objects so judged to be category members were rank ordered for degree of typicality (or ‘best example’) by a paired-comparisons procedure. Half the subjects saw drawings of the objects alone, while the others saw a person sitting on each object. The results revealed that adults consistently judged some objects to be better examples than others, and that the provision of function information affected the judgements in a characteristic way. A different, less stable typicality structure was found in the children's category. Function cues caused the children's rank order judgements to change greatly. These findings are discussed within the framework of some recent theories of lexical concept formation in young children, and in relation to recent work on the nature of internal representations.

Subgrouping of Coahuitlán Totonac

2016 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-117
Author(s):  
Devin Moore
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Computational Methods ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
The Other ◽  
Family Tree ◽  
The Family ◽  
Northern Branch

AbstractCoahuitlán Totonac is spoken in Veracruz, Mexico, and has been variously ascribed to two different branches of the Totonacan family tree. While recent work has begun to bring empirical evidence to the internal structure of this family tree, there remain several important areas of disagreement, in addition to the disputed affiliation of Coahuitlán. This article informs the family tree and demonstrates that Coahuitlán belongs to the Northern branch using shared innovations and two computational methods. The comparative method seeks sets of shared innovations for evidence of subgrouping. This article presents proposed shared innovations in phonology, morphology, and lexicon, which fall into two sets, one belonging to the Sierra and Lowland branches, and the other belonging to the Northern. Coahuitlán Totonac overwhelmingly shares innovations found in Northern languages and lacks innovations found in Sierra. Two quantitative methods are also used to show that Coahuitlán groups groups closely with other Northern languages.

scholarly journals A Bayesian Phylogenetic Classification of Tupí-Guaraní

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lev Michael ◽  
Natalia Chousou-Polydouri ◽  
Keith Bartolomei ◽  
Erin Donnelly ◽  
Sérgio Meira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
Character Table ◽  
Loss Model ◽  
Phylogenetic Classification ◽  
Bayesian Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Binary Coding ◽  
Semantic Shift ◽  
Lexical Data

This paper presents an internal classification of Tupí-Guaraní based on lexical data from 30 Tupí-Guaraní languages and 2 non-Tupí-Guaraní Tupian languages, Awetí and Mawé. A Bayesian phylogenetic analysis using a generalized binary cognate gain and loss model was carried out on a character table based on the binary coding of cognate sets, which were formed with attention to semantic shift. The classification shows greater internal structure than previous ones, but is congruent with them in several ways.

Peripheral in Consonants

1994 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keren Rice
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Low Back ◽  
Flat Structure ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Feature Geometry ◽  
The Subject

In recent work in feature geometry, the internal structure of the Place node has been the subject of attention. In the earliest work, the place features [anterior], [coronal], [high], [low], [back], and [round] proposed by Chomsky and Halle (1968) were arrayed under the Place node (Clements 1985). In later work it was argued that such an arrangement did not capture the classes required for operations involving place of articulation, and it was proposed that unary articulator features Labial, Coronal, and Dorsal be used, with [anterior], [high], [low], [back], and [round] being dependents of these major articulators (Sagey 1986; McCarthy 1988). This structure, which I will call the “flat structure”, is diagrammed in (1).

A place for lateral in the feature geometry

1994 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliette Blevins
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Hierarchical Organization ◽  
Precise Location ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
Feature Geometry ◽  
Phonological Rules

Phonological models of feature geometry suggest that the internal structure of segments is highly articulated. Distinctive features are organized hierarchically within the segment, and this hierarchical organization is relatively stable across and within languages. Much recent work has been devoted to determining the precise location of place of articulation features within the hierarchy. In this study, the distinctive feature [lateral] is the focus of investigation. Though [lateral] is often considered a manner feature, it is usually associated with coronal articulations. By examining the behaviour of coronal and velar laterals in phonological rules and constraints, evidence emerges that [lateral] is a terminal feature of the coronal node within the feature tree.

scholarly journals Bayesian phylolinguistics infers the internal structure and the time-depth of the Turkic language family

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Savelyev ◽  
Martine Robbeets
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Language Family ◽  
Language Varieties ◽  
Quantitative Basis ◽  
Turkic Languages ◽  
Divergence Dates ◽  
Basic Vocabulary ◽  
Historical Comparative ◽  
Lexical Data ◽  
Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference

Abstract Despite more than 200 years of research, the internal structure of the Turkic language family remains subject to debate. Classifications of Turkic so far are based on both classical historical–comparative linguistic and distance-based quantitative approaches. Although these studies yield an internal structure of the Turkic family, they cannot give us an understanding of the statistical robustness of the proposed branches, nor are they capable of reliably inferring absolute divergence dates, without assuming constant rates of change. Here we use computational Bayesian phylogenetic methods to build a phylogeny of the Turkic languages, express the reliability of the proposed branches in terms of probability, and estimate the time-depth of the family within credibility intervals. To this end, we collect a new dataset of 254 basic vocabulary items for thirty-two Turkic language varieties based on the recently introduced Leipzig–Jakarta list. Our application of Bayesian phylogenetic inference on lexical data of the Turkic languages is unprecedented. The resulting phylogenetic tree supports a binary structure for Turkic and replicates most of the conventional sub-branches in the Common Turkic branch. We calculate the robustness of the inferences for subgroups and individual languages whose position in the tree seems to be debatable. We infer the time-depth of the Turkic family at around 2100 years before present, thus providing a reliable quantitative basis for previous estimates based on classical historical linguistics and lexicostatistics.

Formalizing Prior Knowledge in Causal Induction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas L. Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Inference ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Prior Knowledge ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Causal Learning ◽  
Causal Relationships ◽  
Causal Induction ◽  
The Relationship

Prior knowledge plays a central role in causal induction, helping to explain how people are capable of identifying causal relationships from small amounts of data. Bayesian inference provides a way to characterize the influence that prior knowledge should have on causal induction, as well as an explanation for how that knowledge could itself be acquired. Using the theory-based causal induction framework of Griffiths and Tenenbaum (2009), this chapter reviews recent work exploring the relationship between prior knowledge and causal induction, highlighting some of the ways in which people’s expectations about causal relationships differ from approaches to causal learning in statistics and computer science.

scholarly journals That’s Mine! Learning Ownership Relations and Norms for Robots

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 8058-8065 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi-Xuan Tan ◽  
Jake Brawer ◽  
Brian Scassellati
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Inference ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Real World ◽  
Autonomous Agents ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Exploratory Stage

The ability for autonomous agents to learn and conform to human norms is crucial for their safety and effectiveness in social environments. While recent work has led to frameworks for the representation and inference of simple social rules, research into norm learning remains at an exploratory stage. Here, we present a robotic system capable of representing, learning, and inferring ownership relations and norms. Ownership is represented as a graph of probabilistic relations between objects and their owners, along with a database of predicate-based norms that constrain the actions permissible on owned objects. To learn these norms and relations, our system integrates (i) a novel incremental norm learning algorithm capable of both one-shot learning and induction from specific examples, (ii) Bayesian inference of ownership relations in response to apparent rule violations, and (iii) perceptbased prediction of an object’s likely owners. Through a series of simulated and real-world experiments, we demonstrate the competence and flexibility of the system in performing object manipulation tasks that require a variety of norms to be followed, laying the groundwork for future research into the acquisition and application of social norms.

What sentimentalists should say about emotion

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlie Kurth
Keyword(s):  
Moral Judgment ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Moral Cognition ◽  
Multilevel Structure

Abstract Recent work by emotion researchers indicates that emotions have a multilevel structure. Sophisticated sentimentalists should take note of this work – for it better enables them to defend a substantive role for emotion in moral cognition. Contra May's rationalist criticisms, emotions are not only able to carry morally relevant information, but can also substantially influence moral judgment and reasoning.

The Sun as a Magnetic Star

1976 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 457-463
Author(s):  
John M. Wilcox ◽  
Leif Svalgaard
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Rotation Axis ◽  
Polar Field ◽  
Magnetic Star ◽  
Rotational Axis ◽  
Field Variation ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Arbitrary Angle ◽  
Solar Magnetism ◽  
Oblique Rotator

SummaryThe sun as a magnetic star is described on the basis of recent work on solar magnetism. Observations at an arbitrary angle to the rotation axis would show a 22-year polar field variation and a 25-day equatorial sector variation. The sector variation would be similar to an oblique rotator with an angle of 90° between the magnetic and rotational axis.

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