Switch-reference in the Ye shes rgyas pa'i mdo

This paper seeks to contribute to understanding of the dynamics of reference relation and subordination in Tibetan grammar. As a way of shedding light on this complex topic, it examines a translated sūtra, the Ye shes rgyas pa'i mdo, which contains numerous stories relating interactions and conversations between a variety of characters. A close reading of several representative passages of this text reveals some of the systematic structures of subordination. Despite not being outlined as a principle in traditional Tibetan grammars, subordination is seen here to be clearly reinforced by, and at times entirely encoded in, the use of the converb –nas to express coreference, and in the verbal noun and converb structures –pa dang and -pa las to connote cross-reference. The paper thus aims to show how attention to the functioning of subordinating structures serves the reader in the interpretation of complex passages where such structures at times provide the only key to the attribution of agency.

Right-Making, Reference, and Reduction

The causal theory of reference (CTR) provides a well-articulated and widely-accepted account of the reference relation. On CTR the reference of a term is fixed by whatever property causally regulates the competent use of that term. CTR poses a metaethical challenge to realists by demanding an account of the properties that regulate the competent use of normative predicates. CTR might pose a challenge to ethical theorists as well. Long (2012) argues that CTR entails the falsity of any normative ethical theory. First-order theory attempts to specify what purely descriptive property is a fundamental right-making property (FRM). Long contends that the notion that the FRM causally regulates competent use of the predicate ‘right’ leads to a reductio. The failure of this argument is nevertheless instructive concerning a point at which ethics and metaethics overlap.

The Essence of Reference

People use words and concepts to refer to things. There are agents who refer, there are acts of referring, and there are tools to refer with: words and concepts. Reference is a relation between people and things, and also between words or concepts and things, and perhaps it involves all three things at once. It is not just any relation between an action or word and a thing; the list of things which can refer, people, words and concepts, is probably not complete (scenes in more recent movies can refer to scenes in less recent movies); and a complete account would need to speak of cases in which the reference relation seems to involve three terms in a different way from the one already mentioned. In the philosophy of language, it has been customary to think of reference as a two-place relation, with some object as the second term and a word or phrase as the first.

The pragmatic fallacies of the New Theory of Reference

As is well known, according to the "new" theory of reference, the reference relation can be carried out by means of rigid designators whose relationship with the object they designate cannot be analyzed away. Moreover, the new theorists claim, the category of proper names in a natural language marks almost invariably rigid designators. In this paper, both claims are rejected. Using distinctions between the referential system (which determines which entities the primitive symbols of language refer to in each possible world) and the identification system (which determines which member of one world is identical with which member of another), and between two types of object identification (public and perspectival), it is argued that the use of a noun phrase as a rigid designator is predicated on the assumption that a language user knows who (or what) the noun phrase refers to in the actual world. The conclusion is that rigid designation is not a conceptually irreducible reference relation, nor are proper names always used as rigid designators.

EXPRESS-G models

EXPRESS-G provides for two levels of modeling — a schema-level model and an entity-level model. Further, either of these may be complete or partial. This Chapter describes these various kinds of model. A schema-level model is one which displays the schemas, and the relationships between these schemas, that comprise an information model. The contents of the schemas (i.e., the entities, types, etc.) are not displayed. A schema level model, then, consists of: • The schemas that another schema Uses. • The schemas that another schema References. • The names of the things used and referenced. An example schema level model is shown in Figure 19.1. The Use relation is shown by a normal width relation line from the using schema to the used schema, with an open circle denoting the used schema end of the relationship line. The Reference relation is shown by a dashed relation line from the referencing schema to the referenced schema, with an open circle denoting the referenced schema end of the relationship line. The definitions used or referenced are shown as a list of names adjacent to the relevant relationship line, and connected to the relationship line by an arrowheaded line. If a definition is aliased, then this is indicated by following the original name of the definition by a ‘greater than’ (>) sign and the alias name. The model in Figure 19.1 consists of three schemas called fem, geom and mat. The fem schema Uses the property entity from the mat schema. It also References the point entity from the geom schema, and gives it the node alias. Schema-level models may be too large to fit on a single physical page. If this is the case then the page referencing symbols can be used to split the schema-schema relationship lines. The names of imported definitions should be on the same page as the importing schema symbol. An entity-level model is an EXPRESS-G model that represents the definitions and relationships that comprise a single schema. Thus, the components of such a model consist of type, entity and relationship symbols, together with role and cardinality information as appropriate.

Aging of Tire Parts during Service. I. Types of Aging in Heavy-Duty Tires

Three types of aging were found to exist. The factors determining the types were the temperature and the air-supply conditions irrespective of where the rubber was aged, in the tires or in the laboratory. This means that the aging characteristics of a tire part in the field can be properly predicted if these factors in a tire are taken into account in the laboratory evaluation. In the first type, Type I, the aging yields increased M100 and reduced λb closely following the reference relation, Equation (3), which holds for the rubbers crosslinked with increasing the amount of curatives. This type of aging was found at temperatures below about 80°C, under either oxidative or anaerobic conditions. The extents of the changes in λb and M100 were large under the former conditions and small under the latter. As for the aging in the heavy-duty tires, the sidewall and the belt showed this type, with the changes to considerable extents suggesting an oxidative aging. The oxidative condition for the sidewall is apparent. Although air supply to the belt seems difficult because of the interior position and the massiveness of the tires, the cords of air wicking type occupy a substantial section of the part shortening the permeation path of the inflating air to create an oxidative condition. This type of aging is governed substantially by crosslinking, so that aging yields the same effect on the λb vs.M100 relation as the one obtained in crosslinking with increasing curatives. In the second type, Type II, M100 was either changed little or even reduced, while λb was reduced. This type was observed in an anaerobic aging at temperatures higher than about 90°C. The extents of the changes in this type appeared relatively small. This type of aging in the heavy-duty tires was observed mainly in the belt-edge filler and sporadically in the belt. The belt-edge fillers are placed at the edges above the second and below the third belt layers with the thickness considerably larger than that of the belt rubber between the cords. This makes the air supply condition in the part virtually anaerobic. Furthermore, being in the midsection of the thick crown region and under a severe flexural condition, the part should operate at considerably high temperatures. The sporadic appearance of this type in the belt may be due to the thickness variation of the rubber layers including the underlying parts, together with the severe service conditions causing extensive temperature rise in the particular service. The characteristics of this type are speculated to come from extensive main-chain modifications like cyclic sulfide formations. In the third type, Type III, M100 was increased, and λb was reduced but to an extent larger than expected from the M100 value on the basis of the reference relation. This type was obtained in the oxidative aging at temperatures above about 90°C. This type of aging was not found in the tire parts of the present study. The causes of this type are considered to be from appreciable amounts of chain scission in addition to crosslinking, due to oxidation at high temperatures.

The Semantics of Technical Graphics

Common technical graphics terms table, graph, chart, and diagram share a parallel logical structure with the four common types of technical graphics that the terms typically refer to. In the system of terminology as in the system of graphics types, four logical categories result from the possible permutations of two features. The abstract semantic features which underlie the meanings of the terms are in this discussion labeled as [UNITS] and [PROPERTIES]; likewise the significant features which distinguish the graphics types are here labeled as “units” and “properties.” These proposed semantic features reflect a fundamental semantic relation common to all meaningful statements, the attribution of a property (a predicate) to an object (a subject). The connection between term-features ([UNITS] and [PROPERTIES]) and type-features (“units” and “properties”) is a variable but systematic sense-reference relation. Consequently the terminology used to refer to the various graphics types varies systematically according to the markedness relationships among the terms. Principled explanations of the best uses for each graphics type follow from the proposed logical relations between them.

A Romance Construction With Constrained Coreference

Pronouns are commonly considered as linguistic items which supply a way of avoiding redundancy through mere reference to something previously (anaphoric reference) or subsequently (cataphoric reference) expressed in the discourse. In this paper we provide evidence that there are numerous situations where the pronouns refer to linguistic items, having particular syntactic function, holding together an obligatory co-reference relation. Co-referential items occur as arguments of a predicative term = : Vsup N where Vsup is ser or estar (to be), and N a predicative noun. Although the present description mainly concerns Spanish and Portuguese, we believe that it also applies to other Romance languages.