Reference to Abstract Objects in Discourse

Reference to Abstract Objects in Discourse PDF

Author: Nicholas Asher

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 468

ISBN-13: 9401117152

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Reference to Abstract Objects in Discourse presents a novel framework and analysis of the ways we refer to abstract objects in natural language discourse. The book begins with a typology of abstract objects and related entities like eventualities. After an introduction to `bottom up, compositional' discourse representation theory (DRT) and to previous work on abstract objects in DRT (notably work on the semantics of the attitudes), the book turns to a semantic analysis of eventuality and abstract object denoting nominals in English. The book then substantially revises and extends the dynamic semantic framework of DRT to develop an analysis of anaphoric reference to abstract objects and eventualities that exploits discourse structure and the discourse relations that obtain between elements of the structure. A dynamic, semantically based theory of discourse structure (SDRT) is proposed, along with many illustrative examples. Two further chapters then provide the analysis of anaphoric reference to propositions VP ellipsis. The abstract entity anaphoric antecedents are elements of the discourse structures that SDRT develops. The final chapter discusses some logical and philosophical difficulties for a semantic analysis of reference to abstract objects. For semanticists, philosophers of language, computer scientists interested in natural language applications and discourse, philosophical logicians, graduate students in linguistics, philosophy, cognitive science and artificial intelligence.

Text, Speech and Dialogue

Text, Speech and Dialogue PDF

Author: Vaclav Matousek

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2003-06-30

Total Pages: 463

ISBN-13: 3540448055

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This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Text, Speech and Dialogue, TSD 2001, held in Zelezna Ruda, Czech Republic in September 2001. The 59 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 117 submissions. The book presents a wealth of state-of-the-art research and development results from the field of natural language processing with emphasis on text, speech, and spoken language.

Abstract Objects and the Semantics of Natural Language

Abstract Objects and the Semantics of Natural Language PDF

Author: Friederike Moltmann

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-03-28

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 0199608741

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Friederike Moltmann presents an original approach to philosophical issues to do with abstract objects. She focuses on natural language, and finds that reference to abstract objects such as properties, numbers, and propositions is much more restricted than is generally thought, and she offers a substantially new ontological picture.

Abstract Objects

Abstract Objects PDF

Author: José L. Falguera

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-05-08

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 3030382427

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This volume examines the question “Do abstract objects exist?”, presenting new work from contributing authors across different branches of philosophy. The introduction overviews philosophical debate which considers: what objects qualify as abstract, what do we mean by the word "exist” and indeed, what evidence should count in favor or against the thesis that abstract objects exist. Through subsequent chapters readers will discover the ubiquity of abstract objects as each philosophical field is considered. Given the ubiquitous use of expressions that purportedly refer to abstract objects, we think that it is relevant to attend to the controversy between those who want to advocate the existence of abstract objects and those who stand against them. Contributions to this volume depict positions and debates that directly or indirectly involve taking one position or other about abstract objects of different kinds and categories. The volume provides a variety of samples of how positions for or against abstract objects can be used in different areas of philosophy in relation to different matters.

Cross-Linguistic Semantics

Cross-Linguistic Semantics PDF

Author: Cliff Goddard

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2008-04-10

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 9027291373

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Cross-linguistic semantics – investigating how languages package and express meanings differently – is central to the linguistic quest to understand the nature of human language. This set of studies explores and demonstrates cross-linguistic semantics as practised in the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM) framework, originated by Anna Wierzbicka. The opening chapters give a state-of-the-art overview of the NSM model, propose several theoretical innovations and advance a number of original analyses in connection with names and naming, clefts and other specificational sentences, and discourse anaphora. Subsequent chapters describe and analyse diverse phenomena in ten languages from multiple families, geographical locations, and cultural settings around the globe. Three substantial studies document how the metalanguage of NSM semantic primes can be realised in languages of widely differing types: Amharic (Ethiopia), Korean, and East Cree. Each constitutes a lexicogrammatical portrait in miniature of the language concerned. Other chapters probe topics such as inalienable possession in Koromu (Papua New Guinea), epistemic verbs in Swedish, hyperpolysemy in Bunuba (Australia), the expression of "momentariness" in Berber, ethnogeometry in Makasai (East Timor), value concepts in Russian, and “virtuous emotions” in Japanese. This book will be valuable for linguists working on language description, lexical semantics, or the semantics of grammar, for advanced students of linguistics, and for others interested in language universals and language diversity.

Constraints in Discourse 3

Constraints in Discourse 3 PDF

Author: Anton Benz

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 9027256284

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The analysis of discourse is probably one of the most complex problems of linguistics. It can be approached from many different directions, involving a large variety of different methods. This volume unites psycholinguistic studies, investigations of logical and computational models of discourse, corpus studies, and linguistic case studies of language-specific devices. This variety of approaches reflects the complexity of discourse production and understanding, and it also reflects the necessity of understanding the complex interplay of diverse parameters which influence these processes. The growing importance of corpus-based and experimental approaches to discourse analysis is duly reflected in this volume. Most of the chapters make use of them in one or the other form. This collection of articles grew out of the third installment of the Constraints in Discourse conferences, and will be of interest to researchers from linguistics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive science.

Anaphora Processing

Anaphora Processing PDF

Author: António Branco

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2005-01-27

Total Pages: 463

ISBN-13: 9027294674

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Anaphora processing is a central topic in the study of natural language and has long been the object of research in a wide range of disciplines. The correct interpretation of anaphora has also become increasingly important for real-world natural language processing applications, including machine translation, automatic abstracting, information extraction and question answering. This volume provides a unique overview of the processing of anaphora from a multi- and inter-disciplinary angle. It will be of interest and practical use to readers from fields as diverse as theoretical linguistics, corpus linguistics, computational linguistics, computer science, natural language processing, artificial intelligence, human language technology, psycholinguistics, cognitive science and translation studies. The readership includes but is not limited to university lecturers, researchers, postgraduate and senior undergraduate students.

God and Abstract Objects

God and Abstract Objects PDF

Author: William Lane Craig

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-09-05

Total Pages: 540

ISBN-13: 3319553844

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This book is an exploration and defense of the coherence of classical theism’s doctrine of divine aseity in the face of the challenge posed by Platonism with respect to abstract objects. A synoptic work in analytic philosophy of religion, the book engages discussions in philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of language, metaphysics, and metaontology. It addresses absolute creationism, non-Platonic realism, fictionalism, neutralism, and alternative logics and semantics, among other topics. The book offers a helpful taxonomy of the wide range of options available to the classical theist for dealing with the challenge of Platonism. It probes in detail the diverse views on the reality of abstract objects and their compatibility with classical theism. It contains a most thorough discussion, rooted in careful exegesis, of the biblical and patristic basis of the doctrine of divine aseity. Finally, it challenges the influential Quinean metaontological theses concerning the way in which we make ontological commitments.

The Logiphro Dilemma

The Logiphro Dilemma PDF

Author: James C. McGlothlin

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2017-01-10

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1498282237

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Is God above logic? If so, is he irrational? Is God subservient to logic? If so, is he really omnipotent? These questions are similar to Socrates' infamous challenge to explaining God's relation to morality, the so-called Euthyphro dilemma. In this book McGlothlin argues that the Euthyphro challenge can be extended to help explain the relationship between God and logic, what he call the Logiphro dilemma. Logic, on this account, depends on aspects of God's mind other than God's will. This is a nonstandard form of theistic logical dependence. It contrasts both with the standard form of theistic logical dependence, according to which logic depends on God's will, and with theistic logical independence, according to which logic is independent of God. These rival views can be seen as the horns of the Logiphro dilemma: either logic depends on God's will, in which case special revelation would no longer be communicable; or logic is independent of God, in which case core claims of classical theism--for example, that God is the only independent being--would be violated. The best way to escape both of these horns, according to McGlothlin, is to adopt the nonstandard form of theistic logical dependence.