scholarly journals An Assessment of (Mentalist) Cognitive Semantics

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esa Itkonen
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Linguistic Meaning ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Fundamental Issue ◽  
Statistical Explanation ◽  
Level Of Consciousness ◽  
The One ◽  
Linguistic Behaviour

Common claims within cognitive semantics (e.g. Johnson 1987; Lakoff 1987; Langacker 1987) are that “the most fundamental issue in linguistic theory is the nature of meaning” and “meaning is a matter of conceptualization”. But the latter claim creates a problem. On the one hand, for many cognitive semanticists conceptualization takes place under the level of consciousness. On the other hand, semantic analysis is carried out on the level of consciousness, namely by means of (conscious) intuition-cum-introspection. What is, then, meaning? As Wittgenstein argues, meaning is use, understood as a web of intersubjective norms, comparable to rules of a game and accessible to conscious intuition. In this article I elaborate on this claim, and thus offer critique to those who equate linguistic meaning with conceptualizations understood as private mental representations. Furthermore, I argue that the non-causal study of norms (langue) must be kept separate from the causal study of (norm-following or norm-breaking) behaviour (parole). Because of its variationist nature, linguistic behaviour demands statistical explanation.

scholarly journals Sobre la perífrasis 'soler' + estativo: una lectura genérica

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Axelle Vatrican
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Dynamic Event ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Normal Man ◽  
The One

<p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Abstract. This paper presents a semantic analysis of a periphrastic construction which has not been studied at this time in Spanish: <em>soler </em>+ stative (<em>Un poeta suele ser un hombre normal, “A poet usually is a normal man</em>”). Whereas the habitual construction has been largely studied (<em>Juan suele cantar “Juan usually sings”</em>), it seems that the first one does not carry the same interpretation. We will claim that we need to distinguish between two readings: the habitual reading on the one hand and the generic reading on the other hand. According to Menéndez-Benito (2013), Krifka et al. (1995) and Shubert &amp; Pelletier (1989), among others, we will argue that <em>soler </em>contains a frequentative adverb of quantification <em>Q</em>. In the habitual reading, the <em>Q</em> adverb quantifies over an individual participating in an event at a time t (<em>Juan está cantando</em>, <em>“Juan is singing”</em>), whereas in the generic reading, <em>Q</em> adverb quantifies over a characterizing predicate (<em>un poeta es un hombre normal, “A poet is a normal man”</em>). In the habitual reading, the NP must refer to an individual and the VP to a dynamic event anchored in space and time. In the generic reading, the NP must refer to a class of objects and the VP to a stative predicate.</span></p>

scholarly journals Negation of resultative and progressive periphrases

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel González Rodríguez
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Negative Events ◽  
Negative Particle ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One ◽  
Auxiliary Verb ◽  
New Evidence

This paper focuses on resultative and progressive periphrases in Spanish: &lt;<em>estar</em> ‘to be’ + participle&gt; and &lt;<em>estar</em> ‘to be’ + gerund&gt;, respectively. These periphrases have been associated with several negated constructions. On the one hand, the negative particle <em>no</em> ‘not’ can precede the auxiliary verb (&lt;<em>no estar</em> ‘not to be’ + participle&gt; and &lt;<em>no estar</em> ‘not to be’ + gerund&gt;); on the other hand, we have the structure &lt;<em>estar sin</em> ‘to be without’ + infinitive&gt;. Contrary to what has been suggested in the literature, I will show that these negative constructions have a different interpretation and develop a semantic analysis of them. Furthermore, I will offer new evidence in favor of the existence of negative events.

The semantics of Scandinavian ‘when’-clauses

2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl Vikner
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Existential Quantifier ◽  
Semantic Description ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Interesting Variation ◽  
Temporal Connectives ◽  
The One ◽  
Habitual Sentences ◽  
Intermediate Situation

The system of temporal connectives in Scandinavian exhibits an interesting variation in that Danish, like e.g. German, is a two-‘when’ language, i.e. it has two temporal connectives that have divided between them the semantic area covered in English by the single connective when. One of the two Danish connectives (da) is restricted to past episodic clauses, while the other one (når) may be used in past and present habitual clauses and in future clauses. Swedish, on the other hand, like e.g. English, is a one-‘when’ language: it has only one temporal connective corresponding to the two Danish ones, whereas Norwegian presents an intermediate situation, possibly a stage in the development from a two-‘when’ to a one-‘when’ system. This paper proposes a semantic analysis of the two ‘when’s in Danish: On the one hand, the semantics of da-clauses is similar to the semantics of definite DPs in that a da-clause presupposes that, in the current discourse situation, there is one and only one eventuality corresponding to the description it conveys. This makes it possible for a da-clause to have a reference-setting function with respect to its superordinate clause. On the other hand, når-clauses are similar to indefinite DPs in that they contribute propositions with an unbound eventuality argument, and therefore they yield descriptions of eventualities that never get referentially bound, but always occur in the scope of a non-existential quantifier. This restricts the use of når-clauses to habitual sentences and future sentences. This analysis involves the elaboration of a novel and more adequate formal semantic description of habitual sentences.

scholarly journals Imposture as a problem of reference: semiotics of the name in Boris Godunov

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-77
Author(s):  
S. T. Zolyan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Analytical Philosophy ◽  
Inappropriate Use ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Boris Godunov ◽  
The One ◽  
Semantic Dimension ◽  
Logical Semantic

In this article, we continue to address the mechanisms of presenting oneself as another and another as oneself. In this regard, non-trivial features of the semantics of a proper name are described. Based on the analysis of contexts of inappropriate use of a name in a situation of imposture, described in Pushkin's tragedy Boris Godunov, the author considers semiotic mechanisms of transformation and assignment of identity. The article shows that Pushkin's intuition allowed him to see the problems that arose in the analytical philosophy of the name of the second half of the 20th century. Pushkin consistently creates contexts in which the con­ditions of acceptability or unacceptability of deviating uses are tested. On the one hand, these features allow the author to offer an additional, logical and semantic dimension for the inter­pretation of the tragedy Boris Godunov. On the other hand, they significantly clarify the ex­isting theories of the proper name, showing their possible non-trivial, and in some cases, prob­lematic consequences. Simultaneously, the logical-semantic analysis makes it possible to iden­tify the mechanisms of imposture and the communicative conditions for its success.

scholarly journals STRUKTUR SEMANTIK KONSEP MANUSIA DALAM AL-QUR'AN

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khairon Nahdiyyin
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
The One

Semantic analysis on the human structure in The Koran is always interesting to be discussed, especially the one related to the human characterization with its entire symbolical characteristics embedded to the vocabularies applied to them. Human being, in Koran, is termed in many words “Ins, Basyar, Insan, Bani Adam and Naas”. This article does not show the relation between human characters, male and female. Instead, it limits the discussion on the human being portrayed by Koran not considering the division of male and female. In this phase, male and female are the same. They are not burdened by unique load for each male and female human being. Instead, they are given characteristics as human being according to the existence. Existentially, it can be said that human being is a group of living creatures among the other God’s creatures that is divided into two kinds, jin group and ins group. The ins group is the combination between basyar and insan. The first form of human being is Adam who bring forth the descendant so that all human being born after him is called bani Adam. The descendants of Adam living in the nowadays space and time in called naas. Ins, basyar, insan and bani Adam is a particular concept of human being. Such concept is used by God to remind human being, naas, to always remember to their characteristics that they are ins, basyar, insan and bani Adam. They are bounded to the consequence of the concept.

Finding the Semantic Relationship Between Wikipedia Articles Based on a Useful Entry Relationship

2020 ◽  
pp. 838-859
Author(s):  
Lin-Chih Chen
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
The Other ◽  
Semantic Relationship ◽  
Semantic Relationships ◽  
The One ◽  
Analysis Models ◽  
Cost Characteristics

Wikipedia is the largest online Internet encyclopedia, and everyone can create and edit different articles. On the one hand, because it contains huge amounts of articles and there are many different language versions, it often faces synonymous and polysemy problems. On the other hand, since some of the similar Wikipedia articles may have the same topic of discussion, it needs a suitable way to identify effectively the semantic relationships between articles. This paper first uses three well-known semantic analysis models LSA, PLSA, and LDA as evaluation benchmarks. Then, it uses the entry relationship between Wikipedia articles to design its model. According to the experimental results and analysis, its model has high performance and low cost characteristics compared with other models. The advantages of its model are as follows: (1) it is a good model for finding the semantic relationships between Wikipedia articles; (2) it is suitable for dealing with huge amounts of documentation.

The more data, the better: A usage-based account of the English comparative correlative construction

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hoffmann ◽  
Jakob Horsch ◽  
Thomas Brunner
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Mental Representation ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Construction Type ◽  
The One ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Specific Construction

AbstractLanguages are complex systems that allow speakers to produce novel grammatical utterances. Yet, linguists differ as to how general and abstract they think the mental representation of speakers have to be to give rise to this grammatical creativity. In order to shed light on these questions, the present study looks at one specific construction type, English comparative correlatives, that turns out to be particularly interesting in this context: on the one hand it has been described in terms of one of the most abstract and general syntactic rules, on the other hand it shows specific idiomatic structures that are often produced without any variation (e.g. the more, the merrier). While the syntax and semantics of the English Comparative Correlative (CC) construction have received considerable attention in the literature, so far only a small number of usage-based analyses have been published on the topic. These either only relied on small databases or focussed only on the productivity of one slot in the construction. In contrast to this, the present study analyses more than 1,400 CC tokens sampled from COCA. The results of the present study yield important results concerning English CC constructions, including the schematicity and generality of their mental representations.

scholarly journals Fragment rękopiśmiennego utworu Wykład nabożny piosnki „Salve Regina” (poł. XVI wieku) Jerzego Argiglobyna w kontekście reformacji. Nazwy sekwatywne i nazwy własne.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10/2020(779)) ◽  
pp. 20-30
Author(s):  
Paulina Michalska-Górecka
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
The Other ◽  
16Th Century ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The One ◽  
Selection Of

The aim of this paper is to present a fragment of Wykład nabożny piosnki „Salve Regina” (A pious interpretation of the song “Salve Regina”), a ca. mid-16th-century manuscript by Jerzy Argiglobyn, in the context of the Reformation by means of a lexical and semantic analysis of the sequative names (Lat. nomina sequativa) and proper names occurring there. The selection of the fragment was determined by the fact that, on the one hand, it is the essence of the discussed manuscript as a polemic work, which arises from the accumulation of references to the Reformation, and on the other hand, this fragment is the most problematic one when it comes to a lexical and semantic analysis. The author of the manuscript, when referring to the Reformation, enumerates the names of the theologians associated with it and mentions the places important to the new faith and the followers of the proliferating Reformation denominations. He provides each piece of such information in a manner presenting it in a negative, at times even insulting, light.

scholarly journals Understanding dogwhistles politics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Ramón Torices
Keyword(s):  
Simple Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
The One ◽  
Linguistic Behaviour

This paper aims to deepen our understanding of so-called covert dogwhistles.  I discuss whether a covert dogwhistle is a specific sort of mechanism of manipulation or whether, on the contrary, it draws on other already familiar linguistic mechanisms such as implicatures or presuppositions. I put forward a series of arguments aimed at illustrating that implicatures and presuppositions, on the one hand, and covert dogwhistles, on the other, differ in their linguistic behaviour concerning plausible deniability, cancellability, calculability and mutual acceptance. I concluded this paper by outlining a simple theory for covert dogwhistles according to which they are attitude-foregrounders.

Meaning Diminished

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth A. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Semantic Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Deep Insight ◽  
Special Sciences ◽  
The One ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
The Way

This book examines the dialectical role of semantic analysis within metaphysical inquiry. It argues that semantic analysis ought to be modest in its metaphysical pretensions in the sense that linguistic and conceptual analysis should not be expected to yield deep insight into either what exists or the nature of what exists. The argument turns on distinctions among narrowly linguistic semantics in the generative tradition and two varieties of broadly philosophical semantics which correspond to broad approaches to semantically infused metaphysical inquiry. In particular it distinguishes ideational semantics and metaphysical inquiry via the way of ideas, on the one hand, from referential semantics and metaphysical inquiry via the way of reference, on the other. It is argued that foundational assumptions of the generative framework are insufficient on their own to support the drawing of metaphysically immodest conclusions from the narrowly semantic premises. But it is shown that if we are determined to bridge the gap between narrowly semantic premise and metaphysical conclusion, we must augment our semantics with additional metasemantic premises. Such additional premises may come either from ideationalist or referentialist metasemantics. A number of arguments for preferring referential metasemantics over ideational metasemantics are offered. It is argued pursuing referentialist metasemantics as opposed to ideationalist metasemantics yields a semantics that is metaphysically modest. Finally it is argued that metaphysically modest should regarded as a feature rather than a bug of a semantic theory, one that serves to bring semantics into closer alignment with the special sciences generally.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document