scholarly journals Categorematic unreducible polyadic quantifiers in Lexical Resource Semantics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Richter
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Lexical Resource ◽  
Compositional Semantic ◽  
Polyadic Quantifier ◽  
Resource Semantics

Early work on quantification in natural languages showed that sentences like ˋEvery ape picked different berries', on the reading that the sets of berries picked by any two apes are not the same, can be logically represented with a single polyadic quantifier for the two nominal phrases. However, since that quantifier cannot be decomposed into two quantifiers for the two nominal phrases, a compositional semantic analysis of this reading is not possible under standard assumptions about syntax and semantics. This paper shows how a constraint-based semantics with Lexical Resource Semantics can define a systematic syntax-semantics interface which captures the reading in question with a polyadic quantifier.

scholarly journals Revisiting obligatory relatives in German

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Andreas Blümel ◽  
Mingya Liu
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Intuitive Appeal ◽  
Compositional Semantic ◽  
The One

AbstractIn the literature on relative clauses (e. g. Alexiadou et al.2000: 4), it is occasionally observed that the German complex definite determiner d-jenige (roughly ‘the one’) must share company with a restrictive relative clause, in contrast to bare determiners der/die/das (Roehrs2006: 213–215; Gunkel2006; Gunkel2007). Previous works such as Sternefeld (2008: 378–379) and Blümel (2011) treat the relative clause as a complement of D to account for its mandatory occurrence. While such syntactic analyses have intuitive appeal, they pose problems for a compositional semantic analysis.The goal of this paper is twofold. First, we report on two rating studies providing empirical evidence for the obligatoriness of relative clauses in German DPs introduced by the complex determiner d-jenige. Secondly, following Simonenko (2014, 2015), we provide an analysis of the phenomenon at the syntax-semantics interface that captures familiar (Blümel2011) as well as novel related observations. Particularly, the analysis accounts for the facts that postnominal modifiers can figure in d-jenige-DPs and that the element can have anaphoric demonstrative pronominal uses.

scholarly journals Combinatorial-Semantic Analysis of Collocations as a Method of Linguistic Research (on the Example of Colour Collocations Formed by an Adjective Type)

2020 ◽  
pp. 40-57
Author(s):  
M. V. Vlavatskaya
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Complex Analysis ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Linear Relations ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Analysis Technique ◽  
Mechanisms Of Formation

The article is devoted to the application of the method of complex semantic-syntagmatic analysis of collocations, or combinatorially determined lexical and phraseological units, characterized by structural-semantic integrity and having functional, idio-ethnic and other limitations. The relevance of the work is due to the importance of their study as universal units inherent in all natural languages. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the advisability of using the method of complex analysis of collocations and with its help to identify the semantic, functional, syntagmatic mechanisms of their formation, as well as to discover the universal and specific characteristics of these units. The method is developed in the framework of combinatorial lexicology, studying the linear relations of words and their combinatorial potential. The novelty of the study is in the development of a detailed analysis technique, with the help of which it will be possible to detect the mechanisms of formation of various collocations. The material for study was colour collocations, which are created by the adjective type. An algorithm for performing complex analysis is presented, and the procedure for its implementation is demonstrated. Particular attention is paid to the semantic and combinatorial-syntagmatic blocks as the most important aspects of the study of the compatibility of lexemes in the framework of the combinatorial science of words.

Implementation of Programming Languages Syntax and Semantics

2011 ◽  
pp. 1863-1869
Author(s):  
Xiaoqing Wu ◽  
Marjan Mernik ◽  
Barrett R. Bryant ◽  
Jeff Gray
Keyword(s):  
Programming Languages ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Future Trends ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Natural Languages ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
Front End ◽  
High Level ◽  
Machine Readable

Unlike natural languages, programming languages are strictly stylized entities created to facilitate human communication with computers. In order to make programming languages recognizable by computers, one of the key challenges is to describe and implement language syntax and semantics such that the program can be translated into machine-readable code. This process is normally considered as the front-end of a compiler, which is mainly related to the programming language, but not the target machine. This article will address the most important aspects in building a compiler front-end; that is, syntax and semantic analysis, including related theories, technologies and tools, as well as existing problems and future trends. As the main focus, formal syntax and semantic specifications will be discussed in detail. The article provides the reader with a high-level overview of the language implementation process, as well as some commonly used terms and development practices.

Punctual time adverbials in Italian

2020 ◽  
pp. 38-52
Author(s):  
Valentina Bianchi
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Intervention Effect ◽  
Reference Time ◽  
Functional Projection ◽  
Event Time ◽  
Compositional Semantic ◽  
Syntactic Position ◽  
The Subject

In past and future perfect sentences, punctual time adverbials like at five o’clock can specify either the Event Time or the Reference Time. In Italian, their interpretation is affected by syntactic position: a clause-peripheral adverbial allows for both interpretations, while a clause-internal adverbial only has the E-interpretation. Moreover, for clause-peripheral adverbials the presence of the adverb già (already) blocks the E-interpretation. It is shown that this pattern can be accounted for under a smuggling analysis, in which (i) the adverbial is merged as a DP in a functional projection intervening between T and the subject in the edge of v/VP, thus blocking Agree between them; (ii) smuggling of v/VP past the adverbial solves the intervention effect; and (iii) an E-adverbial originates in a projection below già (already), while an R-adverbial originates in a projection above it. A compositional semantic analysis is provided for the proposed syntactic structure.

scholarly journals Dog after dog revisited

2006 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sigrid Beck ◽  
Arnim Von Stechow
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
The Other ◽  
Compositional Semantic ◽  
Adverbial Modifiers

This paper presents a compositional semantic analysis of pluractional adverbial modifiers like 'dog after dog' and 'one dog after the other'. We propose a division of labour according to which much of the semantics is carried by a family of plural operators. The adverbial itself contributes a semantics that we call pseudoreciprocal.  

scholarly journals Negative concord in Romanian as polyadic quantification

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianina Iordăchioaia ◽  
Frank Richter
Keyword(s):  
Negative Concord ◽  
Double Negation ◽  
Higher Order Logic ◽  
Logical Language ◽  
Lexical Resource ◽  
Sentential Negation ◽  
Polyadic Quantification ◽  
Negative Quantifiers ◽  
Resource Semantics ◽  
General Semantic

In this paper we develop an HPSG syntax-semantics of negative concord in Romanian. We show that n-words in Romanian can best be treated as negative quantifiers which may combine by resumption to form polyadic negative quantifiers. Optionality of resumption explains the existence of simple sentential negation readings alongside double negation readings. We solve the well-known problem of defining general semantic composition rules for translations of natural language expressions in a logical language with polyadic quantifiers by integrating our higher-order logic in Lexical Resource Semantics, whose constraint-based composition mechanisms directly support a systematic syntax-semantics for negative concord with polyadic quantification.

scholarly journals Lexical resource semantics: From theory to implementation

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerald Penn ◽  
Frank Richter
Keyword(s):  
Description Logics ◽  
Direct Reference ◽  
Constraint Handling ◽  
Lexical Resource ◽  
Constraint Language ◽  
Resource Semantics ◽  
Feature Logic

This paper summarizes the architecture of Lexical Resource Semantics (LRS). It demonstrates how to encode the language of two-sorted theory (Ty2; Gallin, 1975) in typed feature logic (TFL), and then presents a formal constraint language that can be used to extend conventional description logics for TFL to make direct reference to Ty2 terms. A reduction of this extension to Constraint Handling Rules (CHR; Fruehwirth & Abdennadher, 1997) for the purposes of implementation is also presented.

scholarly journals Recursive adjectival modification in CLLRS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Richter
Keyword(s):  
Montague Grammar ◽  
Lexical Resource ◽  
Constraint Language ◽  
Adjectival Modification ◽  
Resource Semantics ◽  
Direct Implementation

This paper sketches an analysis in Lexical Resource Semantics of adverbial and adjectival modification in nominal projections which is extensible to modification of other syntactic categories. It combines insights into the syntax-semantics interface of recursive modification in HPSG with underspecified semantics and type-logical meaning representations in the tradition of Montague grammar. The analysis is phrased in such a way that it receives a direct implementation in the Constraint Language of Lexical Resource Semantics as part of the TRALE system.

scholarly journals Neg-phrases in Eton (Bantu): An HPSG-analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Form
Keyword(s):  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Negative Concord ◽  
Semantic Approach ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Lexical Resource ◽  
Negative Indefinites ◽  
Resource Semantics

This paper presents a study of so-called neg-phrases in Eton, a negative concord language spoken in Cameroon. These phrases strongly resemble negated noun phrases that consist of a negative determiner and a noun, however, I will show that Eton neg-phrases are built differently. Reconciling the non-negative approach to negative indefinites by Penka & Zeijlstra (2005) and the negative approach by Richter & Sailer (2004a,b, 2006), I will argue that Eton neg-phrases consist of an inherently negative modifier and a non-negative indefinite derived from a noun. Embedding the analysis in Lexical Resource Semantics, I will reveal the inherent negativity of Eton neg-phrases and account for their composition by using a lexical rule based on the semantic approach to noun phrases by Beavers (2003).

scholarly journals Indeterminate pronouns in Old English: a compositional semantic analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-269
Author(s):  
Sigrid Beck
Keyword(s):  
Old English ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Semantic Change ◽  
Compositional Semantics ◽  
Compositional Semantic

AbstractIndeterminate pronouns in Old English (expressions like hwa ‘who/what’ and hwelc ‘which’) permit several interpretations in addition to their use as interrogative pronouns, for example readings as universal or existential quantifiers. They combine with morphological prefixes (ge- ‘and, also’ and a- ‘always, ever’), which change the range of possible interpretations. Old English indeterminate pronouns are shown to contribute a crosslinguistically hitherto unattested pattern of available interpretations. In particular, bare indeterminate pronouns have a universal interpretation and ge-indeterminate pronouns can be both universal and existential. This paper offers an alternative semantic analysis in the spirit of Hamblin (Found Lang 10:41–53, 1973) and Shimoyama (Nat Lang Semant 14:139–173, 2006). A compositional semantics is given for the pronouns and the prefixes, which derives the available readings. The paper ends with a proposal for compositional semantic change relating Old English indeterminate pronouns to their modern descendants.

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