Concerning variation in encoding spatial motion: Evidence from Finnish

This article describes variation in the use of frames of reference (FoRs; object-centred, viewpoint-centred, and geocentric, as in Holistic Spatial Semantics) in Finnish descriptions of motion and connects questions of variation to a typological framework. Recent research has described the choice of FoRs as a process with multiple factors. This complexity and controlling for the main variables posited in the literature create the starting point for the current study that explores factors affecting the choice of FoRs in motion situations and within speakers of the same language. The data were elicited from 50 native speakers of Finnish by using video stimuli. The informants were (mostly) formally educated young adults living in urban surroundings. The analysis reveals considerable variation in individual coding strategies, especially in the inclusion of the speaker’s viewpoint. It also considers variation with respect to different types of trajectories and cross-linguistic differences in the resources of spatial reference.

Expressing prospective location in French: rethinking Vandeloise’s ‘principle of anticipation’

Vandeloise’s (1987, 2017) principle of anticipation proposes that French verbs of motion can enable prospective readings of static locative prepositions. However, it has little to say about verbs of motion that do not have a prospective verbal reference place (VRP): that is, to what extent are verbs of initial polarity like partir and s’enfuir able to trigger prospective readings of prepositions? This article argues that each verb must be analysed individually and that prospective readings of prepositions depend on the interaction of verbal and prepositional semantics: for example, the movement away from a viewer expressed by partir favours a prospective reading of derrière but not of devant: this is due to differences regarding access to perception. The animacy of the Ground and its status as a material or spatial entity (Vandeloise, 2017) is also a key factor (e.g. partir près de + spatial entity). This suggests that verbs of initial polarity participate in synergistic verb/preposition/Ground interpretations that help to overcome their lack of a VRP. The prospective reading of the preposition depends on the choice of verb and Ground, thus supporting a distributed view of spatial semantics (Sinha and Kuteva, 1995; Zlatev, 1997, 2003, 2007; Evans and Tyler, 2004).

MARKERS OF INFLECTIONAL GRAMMATICAL MEANINGS IN THE KOMI-PERMYAK LANGUAGE OF THE LATE 18TH CENTURY (BASED ON THE MATERIAL OF ARCHPRIEST ANTONY POPOV’S HANDWRITTEN DICTIONARIES)

В статье представлен фрагмент лингвистического анализа памятников ранней коми-пермяцкой письменности — рукописей протоиерея Антония Попова (1748–1788), которые датированы 1785 годом и на данный момент известны как первые фундаментальные труды по пермяцкому языкознанию — опыт грамматики и два словаря — алфавитный и тематический. Эти рукописи до сих пор не изданы и исследованы в недостаточной степени. Цель настоящего исследования — выявить и проанализировать показатели словоизменительных грамматических значений в коми-пермяцком языке конца XVIII века на материале словарей А. Попова. В сопоставительном и ареальном аспектах рассматриваются показатели коми-пермяцких словоизменительных грамматических значений следующих категорий: а) число имен, б) падеж, в) лично-притяжательность, г) время. В большинстве своем они идентичны современным грамматическим формам и грамматическим значениям, однако есть и любопытные особенности. Суффикс множественного числа имени существительного представлен в рукописях А. Попова более архаичным вариантом [jɛs] (при современном [ɛz]), который еще во второй половине XX в. фиксировался в различных говорах коми языкового континуума, преимущественно периферийных. В рукописях зафиксирован широкий спектр падежных показателей: вместе с номинативом представлены еще десять падежных форм (из них семь — местные падежи, реализующие пространственную семантику, так называемые внутриместные и внешнеместные падежи). Слово-изменительные показатели со свойственными им значениями «спрятаны» в составе наречий, серийных послелогов и отчасти числительных, а показатель лишительного падежа оформлен отдельной словарной статьей как предлог. Обращает на себя внимание грамматический показатель переходного падежа -ты — в современном коми-пермяцком языке семантика данного падежа реализуется формой -öт. Показатели представленной в работах категории лично-притяжательности сходны с современными семантическими и грамматическими показателями. Данная словоизменительная категория реализуется суффиксами -мъ (возм. -е), -тъ, -съ, -нымъ, -нытъ, -нысъ (при современных -ö ‘мой’, -ыт ‘твой’, -ыс ‘его’, -ным ‘наш’, -ныт ‘ваш’, -ныс ‘их’). Словоизменительные формы глаголов, зафиксированные в рукописях А. Попова, демонстрируют настоящее, будущее, прошедшее очевидное и прошедшее неочевидное времена; показан фрагмент будущего сложного времени. Не удалось обнаружить хотя бы элементы аналитического прошедшего времени. Показатели всех обозначенных времен тождественны соответствующим показателям в современном коми-пермяцком языке. Настоящая статья является не только вкладом в изучение финно-угорского рукописного наследия, но и скромным шагом на пути к разработке исторической грамматики коми-пермяцкого языка. The article presents a fragment of linguistic analysis of monuments of early Komi-Permyak writing — the manuscripts of Archpriest Antony Popov (1748–1788), which are dated 1785 and are currently known as the first fundamental works on Permyak linguistics — grammar sketch and two dictionaries — alphabetical and thematic. These manuscripts have not yet been published and have not been sufficiently studied. The aim of current study is to identify and analyze markers of inflectional grammatical meanings in the Komi-Permyak language of the late 18th century based on the material of the A. Popov’s dictionaries. Markers of Komi-Permyak inflectional grammatical meanings of the following categories are considered in comparative and areal aspects: a) number of nouns and adjectives, b) case, c) personal possessiveness, d) tense. Most of them are identical to modern grammatical forms and grammatical meanings, but there are also interesting features. The plural suffix of the noun is represented in the A. Popov’s manuscripts by a more archaic variant [jɛs] (cf modern [ɛz]). It was recording still in the second half of the 20th century in various dialects of the Komi language continuum, mainly peripheral. The manuscripts contain a wide range of case markers: along with the nominative, there are ten more case forms (seven of them are local cases that implement spatial semantics, the so-called internal and external cases). Inflectional markers with their own meanings are “hidden” within adverbs, serial postpositions and partly numerals. The marker of abessive case is designed as a separate dictionary entry as a preposition. Attention is drawn to the grammatical marker of the prolative case -ты [tɨ] — in the modern Komi-Permyak language, the semantics of this case is realized by the form -öт [ɘt]. Markers of the category of personal possessiveness presented in the manuscripts are similar to modern semantic and grammatical markers. This inflectional category is implemented by the suffixes -мъ [m ] (-е [e]), -тъ [t ], -съ [s ], -нымъ [nɨm ], -нытъ [nɨt ], -нысъ [nɨs ] (cf modern -ö [ɘ] ‘my’, -ыт [ɨt] ‘your (SG)’, -ыс [ɨs] ‘his’, -ным [nɨm] ‘our’, -ныт [nɨt] ‘your (PL)’, -ныс [nɨs] ‘their’). Inflectional forms of verbs recorded in A. Popov’s dictionaries demonstrate present, future, past I and past II tenses. A fragment of compound future tense is shown. It was not possible to detect at least elements of the analytical past tense (perfect). The markers of all these tenses are identical to the corresponding markers in the modern Komi-Permyak language. This article is not only a contribution to the study of the Finno-Ugric manuscript heritage, but also a modest step towards the development of a historical grammar of the Komi-Permyak language.

Do embodied effects reflect the consequences rather than the causes of meaning? - "Ja!"

It has been shown that a movement in a direction incongruent with the spatial semantics of words typically requires more time than movements that are directionally congruent. Two explanations have been proposed for this effect. Either a word's meaning is understood by using an internal model to simulate a word's meaning -- and incogruent directionality needs time to be resolved. Or words simply serve to reduce hearers' uncertainty about future states of the world, facilitating actions that prepare for them. However, since previous experiments have focused on actions that are directly involved in the exploration of space, they provide evidence for both hypotheses. Experiment 1 of the present study avoids this shortcoming. We investigated the basic downwards directed articulatory gesture producing a high-frequency German word, "ja" (`yes'), in response to reading words with vertical semantics. This task is thus completely unrelated to the semantics of the words. We show that tongue movements are systematically modulated by verticality ratings collected from the same speakers. To investigate the source of the effect, we performed two additional, linguistically unrelated experiments. Experiment 2 demonstrates anti-phasic coupling between tongue body movements and vertical arm and leg movements. Experiment 3 investigates tongue body movements prior to head movements and uncovers preparatory tongue raising to head raising in contrast to head lowering. Taken together, the results indicate that the changes in "ja" associated with vertical semantics most likely emerge from anticipating a head movement in the direction of the spatial target associated with the read word in order to optimize the body position for subsequent actions. Thus, the results support the assumption that words reduce the uncertainty about future states of the world.

Do embodied effects reflect the consequences rather than the causes of meaning? - "Ja!"

It has been shown that a movement in a direction incongruent with the spatial semantics of words typically requires more time than movements that are directionally congruent. Two explanations have been proposed for this effect. Either a word's meaning is understood by using an internal model to simulate a word's meaning -- and incogruent directionality needs time to be resolved. Or words simply serve to reduce hearers' uncertainty about future states of the world, facilitating actions that prepare for them. However, since previous experiments have focused on actions that are directly involved in the exploration of space, they provide evidence for both hypotheses. Experiment 1 of the present study avoids this shortcoming. We investigated the basic downwards directed articulatory gesture producing a high-frequency German word, "ja" (yes), in response to reading words with vertical semantics. This task is thus completely unrelated to the semantics of the words. We show that tongue movements are systematically modulated by verticality ratings collected from the same speakers. To investigate the source of the effect, we performed two additional, linguistically unrelated experiments. Experiment 2 demonstrates anti-phasic coupling between tongue body movements and vertical arm and leg movements. Experiment 3 investigates tongue body movements prior to head movements and uncovers preparatory tongue raising to head raising in contrast to head lowering. Taken together, the results indicate that the changes in "ja" associated with vertical semantics most likely emerge from anticipating a head movement in the direction of the spatial target associated with the read word in order to optimize the body position for subsequent actions. Thus, the results support the assumption that words reduce the uncertainty about future states of the world.

Префикс за- в сочетании с заимствованными глаголами в русском языке

This article provides some observations on how the Russian prefix za- functions in relation to loan verbs. Out of 270 unprefixed loan verbs, 241 verbs with the prefix zawere attested and analyzed. Such a high activity (89.2%) of the prefix can be explained by its wide polysemy. Among the high frequency verbs, the prefix demonstrates its perfectivizing function when its spatial semantics correlate with that of the base-verb or implicate it. For the rest of the za-verbs, although less frequently used, inchoative and intensive semantics are observed. However, while inchoative semantics are recognized only among the verbs of certain semantic groups, intensive semantics are distributed more widely. Among loan verbs, several verbs denote the process of assigning some features to the object, and therefore suggest the degree of intensity of the action and productively connect to the verbs. On the other hand, among loan verbs, there are not many verbs that designate physical actions and are subjected to various spatial modifications. Spatial modification per se is not a characteristic of the prefixation of loan verbs.

An Event-Based Programming Model with Geometric Spatial Semantics For Cyber-Physical Production Systems

With the increasing complexities, such as massive computing devices and strict requirements for collaboration, of industrial production systems, the concept of the cyber-physical production system (CPPS) is considered as a promising approach for addressing these challenges. However, programmability is a challenge in CPPSs. The traditional chimney style of programming requires considerable design effort from engineers to handle the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of cyber-physical model that encompasses computing, temporal, and geometric semantics along with physical dynamics. Thus, an easy-to-use programming model and an integrated programming framework that are suited to this context are required. However, the existing programming models typically fully consider only computing while only partially considering temporal characteristics, and they rarely consider geometric semantics. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a novel event-based programming model, GePro, considering the geometric spatial semantics to realize integrated programming and reduce design effort, especially the reconfiguration of adding new physical devices into the exist system. A prototype of GePro is implemented and verified based on IEC 61499 by the implementation of design and reconfigure assembly CPPS. The results show that using GePro results in a programming time savings of an development life cycle time compared to traditional models for reconfiguration.

Multiscale Meets Spatial Awareness: An Efficient Attention Guidance Network for Human Parsing

Human parsing, which aims at resolving human body and clothes into semantic part regions from an human image, is a fundamental task in human-centric analysis. Recently, the approaches for human parsing based on deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs) have made significant progress. However, hierarchically exploiting multiscale and spatial contexts as convolutional features is still a hurdle to overcome. In order to boost the scale and spatial awareness of a DCNN, we propose two effective structures, named “Attention SPP and Attention RefineNet,” to form a Mutual Attention operation, to exploit multiscale and spatial semantics different from the existing approaches. Moreover, we propose a novel Attention Guidance Network (AG-Net), a simple yet effective architecture without using bells and whistles (such as human pose and edge information), to address human parsing tasks. Comprehensive evaluations on two public datasets well demonstrate that the AG-Net outperforms the state-of-the-art networks.