Lexical Semantics

Making sense of adjectives: association vs. ascription in a family-resemblance model of semantic inheritance

by Todd Shore

Published in 'SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics', 2010, 7.3: 2-18.

Associative adjectives such as in 'electrical engineer' differ from ascriptive adjectives like in 'red house': They... more Associative adjectives such as in 'electrical engineer' differ from ascriptive adjectives like in 'red house': They are syntactically similar, yet they do not denote an intersective sense like ascriptive adjectives do. However, associative adjectives may (irregularly) denote ascriptive traits connected to the associated entity: The more semantically-similar two entities are, the more regular the traits are which are ascribed to them through association by a given adjective. This model of entities associated through family membership is analogous to a semantic network based on relative word similarities, in which families appear as clusters of relatively-similar entities.

Postsuppositon and Pastiche Talk

by Thorold (Thor) May

University of Melbourne Working Papers in Linguistics 14 (1994): 31-46

Abstract : Natural languages are examined as members of the class of complex dynamic systems in nature. The... more Abstract : Natural languages are examined as members of the class of complex dynamic systems in nature. The mathematical models of Complexity Theory have shown that complex dynamic systems as diverse as cyclones, the stock market and the human genome have the properties of a) being self-organising, b) existing in a precarious state of cyclical activity which alters slightly on each cycle, and c) containing an inherent indeterminacy. This last property, indeterminacy, is taken as a cue to develop an argument that language cannot be entirely representational, or altogether functional. It is proposed that in the generation of language there is a constant oscillation where thought sometimes gives rise to language, and alternatively, where unmotivated fragments of language force the development of post-rationalised ideas. Evidence is sought from the behaviour of formulaic phrases and apparent presuppositions

Purposive Constructions in English

by Thorold (Thor) May

The detailed analysis of Purposive Constructions in this long paper will help researchers to clarify these phenomena in English, even though the linguistic model employed, Chomsky's Government and Binding, has (in my view) been superseded.

Abstract: This thesis* explores some of the syntactic & semantic properties of Purposive Constructions in English.... more Abstract: This thesis* explores some of the syntactic & semantic properties of Purposive Constructions in English. The term "purposive" is recognized as a semantic concept which finds regular expression in a small range of syntactic configurations. Purpose Clauses (PCs) and Rationale Clauses (Rat.Cs) are examined in some detail. Briefer reference is made to several other configurations, notably Because Clauses, So-That Clauses and Infinitival Relatives. In general Purposive Constructions comprise rather fuzzy semantic categories. Nevertheless, the main syntactic features are fairly clear. Interpretation of the constructions requires a systematic account of the control of empty slots (ellipted NPs) by thematic elements in the matrix clause. General conditions of Government and Binding appear adequate to predict the distribution of gaps in most Purposive Clauses. However, the relationship between propositions predicated of a common argument in these constructions is found to sometimes require matching conditions too subtle for syntax alone to predict. A concept of Thematic Coextensiveness is introduced to account for such matching.

Lindner 1981

by Bert Cappelle

Using my own space here to share Susan Lindner's classic 1981 thesis, which might otherwise be hard to come by.

SemKey: A Semantic Collaborative Tagging System

by Francesco Ronzano

Tagging and Metadata for Social Information Organization Workshop at the 16th World Wide Web Conference (WWW), 2007

By analysing the current structure and the usage patterns of collaborative tagging systems, we can find out many... more By analysing the current structure and the usage patterns of collaborative tagging systems, we can find out many important aspects which still need to be improved. Problems related to synonymy, polysemy, different lexical forms, mispelling errors or alternate spellings, different levels of precision and different kinds of tag-to-resource association cause inconsistencies and reduce the efficiency of content search and the effectiveness of the tag space structuring and organization. They are mainly caused by the lack of semantic information inclusion in the tagging process. We propose a new way to describe resources: the semantic tagging. It allows user to state semantic assertions: each of them expresses a defined characteristic of a resource associating it with a concept. We present SemKey, a semantic collaborative tagging system, describing its global architecture and functioning along with the most relevant organizational issues faced. We explore the adequacy of the support offered by the entries of Wikipedia and WordNet in order to access to and reference concepts.

The many ways to find the "right" and the "left": On dynamic projection models in the encoding of spatial relations

by Tatiana Nikitina

Émergence d'une unité sublexicale au cours d'une tâche d'abréviation

by Guy Tiberghien

Legal Language in Paul and the Papyri: A Review of Papathomas

by Brad Bitner

review essay forthcoming in Novum Testamentum

Measuring balanced bilingual children with sentence-embeded word translation.

by Shin-Mei Kao

Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 2 (1), 31-42,
doi:10.4304/tpls.2.1.31-42

This paper reports two studies. The first one investigates how two 10-year-old Taiwanese-Hungarian balanced bilingual... more This paper reports two studies. The first one investigates how two 10-year-old Taiwanese-Hungarian balanced bilingual twin boys translated sentence-embedded words between their native languages over a six-month period as the physical context around them changed. The second one compares how these two bilinguals and four monolingual children defined words in their native languages. The purpose is twofold: to explore the role of an active language in translation, and to propose a new measurement for bilinguals. The reaction time (RT) and accuracy of their verbal protocols were measured and analyzed. The bilingual children’s word translation reveals an active use of metalinguistic skills. The physical context did affect their RT and accuracy in general and in translating concrete/abstract concepts. The two bilinguals defined words as fast and accurate as their monolingual peers in both languages, but different definition aspects were identified from the answers of the two groups. The translation/definition task appears a comprehensive measurement for bilingual and monolingual children with any combination of languages

Il concetto di variabile sociolinguistica a livello del lessico

by Massimo Cerruti

In: "Studi italiani di linguistica teorica e applicata", 40.2 (2011), pp. 211-231. [DRAFT VERSION]

Lexical differences between european and brazilian portuguese

by Anabela Barreiro

Cross-language Semantic Relations between English and Portuguese

by Anabela Barreiro

Locative terms and spatial frames of reference in Wan

by Tatiana Nikitina

Nominal classifiers mediate selectional restrictions: motivations for nominal classifications systems with a strong semantic basis

by Ruth Singer

The Sound Must Seem an Echo to the Sense: Some Cultural Determinants of Language Change in Southern Peruvian Quechua

by Bruce Mannheim

Lexical nets and the discourse structure of a text

by Claudia Monacelli

Enterrando el esqueleto quechumara

by Paul Heggarty

[= Burying the Quechumara skeleton]

FULL REFERENCE:
Heggarty, P., 2011. Enterrando el esqueleto quechumara. In: W. Adelaar, P. Valenzuela, & R. Zariquiey (eds.) Estudios en lenguas andinas y amazónicas. En homenaje a Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino, pp. 147-179. Lima: Fondo Editorial de la PUCP.

Enigmas en el origen de las lenguas andinas: aplicando nuevas técnicas a las incógnitas por resolver

by Paul Heggarty

[Enigmas in the origins of the Andean languages: applying new techniques to the unanswered questions]

FULL REFERENCE:
Heggarty, P., 2005. Enigmas en el origen de las lenguas andinas: aplicando nuevas técnicas a las incógnitas por resolver. Revista Andina 40, pp. 9-57.

ABSTRACT

This article presents results from a completely new broad comparative study of twenty varieties of... more ABSTRACT

This article presents results from a completely new broad comparative study of twenty varieties of the Andean languages, from the Quechua, Aymara and Uru-Chipaya families, based on new data collected mostly in my own recent fieldwork.

My research seeks to provide measures of similarity between these languages both in phonetics and in lexical semantics, which I produce using not the traditional and widely criticised techniques such as lexicostatistics, but new and more sensitive methods I have developed. To my quantifications I then apply also the latest phylogenetic analysis programmes developed in the biological sciences, and which offer powerful new ways of representing and interpreting what signals exist in the comparative data that can be informative about the relationships between and the historical development of those language families – and by extension, the (pre)histories of the populations who spoke them.

My phonetic comparisons will be presented in a later article; this one is limited to results from my lexical study, which sheds new and different light on the key unresolved questions in the origins and relationships of the Quechua and Aymara families. The most fundamental of these is the long-running ‘Quechumara’ question, as to whether the Aymara and Quechua families are ultimately related to each other.

Semantic maps and the typology of colexification: Intertwining polysemous networks across languages

by Alex François

François, Alexandre. 2008. Semantic maps and the typology of colexification: Intertwining polysemous networks across languages. In Martine Vanhove (ed.). From Polysemy to Semantic change: Towards a Typology of Lexical Semantic Associations. Studies in Language Companion Series, 106. Amsterdam, New York: Benjamins. Pp.163-215.

Building upon the model of Semantic Maps (Haspelmath 2003), which typologists have designed mainly for grammatical... more Building upon the model of Semantic Maps (Haspelmath 2003), which typologists have designed mainly for grammatical semantics, this chapter discusses methodological issues for a model in lexical typology.
By breaking up polysemous lexemes of various languages into their semantic “atoms” or senses, one defines an etic grid against which cross-linguistic comparison can be undertaken. Languages differ as to which senses they colexify, i.e., lexify identically. But while each polysemous lexeme as a whole is language-specific, individual pairings of colexified senses can be compared across languages. This model, understood as an empirical, atomistic approach to lexical typology, is finally exemplified with the rich polysemies associated with the notion “breathe”. Intertwined together, they compose a single, universal network of potential semantic extensions.

Semantic weighting mechanisms in scalable lexical sociolectometry

by Tom Ruette

Co-authored with Yves Peirsman, Dirk Geeraerts and Dirk Speelman. To be published in Aggregating dialectology and typology: linguistic variation in text and speech, within and across languages, edited by Benedikt Szmrecsanyi and Bernhard Wälchli.