Straddling the line between attitude verbs and necessity modals

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aynat Rubinstein
Keyword(s):  
Modal Analysis ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Heavy Machinery ◽  
Attitude Verbs ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Semantic Properties

This chapter explores the semantic properties of verbs and adjectives with closely related meanings having to do with desires and goals. I evaluate recent work on verbs of desire (e.g. ‘want’) which has suggested that these attitude predicates require access to multiple alternatives for their interpretation (Villalta 2006, 2008). I argue that this heavy machinery is in fact not required, integrating important insights proposed in this recent work into a quantificational modal analysis of comparison-based attitudes. The proposed analysis highlights the similarities and differences between ‘want’ and ‘necessary’, an adjective that is shown (including naturalistic corpus data) to be primarily goal-oriented and to be semantically dependent to a certain degree on the syntactic configuration it appears in. Whether or not the modality is lexically relativized to an individual is also suggested to play a role in defining the semantic properties of desire- and goal-oriented modal expressions.

scholarly journals Construction or Constructing? Some Observations on English Deverbal and Gerundial Nouns

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-164
Author(s):  
Gašper Ilc
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Nominal Phrase ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Gradual Process ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Semantic Properties

English deverbal and gerundial nouns are traditionally analysed as instances of verbal nominalisations with a hybrid syntactic and semantic nature: while predominantly having nominal properties, they display some of the verbal characteristics as well. Using relevant examples from English corpora (BNC, ukWaC, enTenTen13), the paper examines the similarities and differences between the two types of nominalisations with special focus on their syntactic and semantic properties. The paper discusses deverbal/gerundial nouns in relation to the s.c. gerundial cline, which refers to the gradual process of nominalisation as observed in English. The analysis of examples shows that gerundial nouns are typically associated with the eventive interpretation, and that the structure of the nominal phrase headed by a gerundial noun directly reflects the syntactic properties of the verbal root. Deverbal nouns, on the other hand, are typically associated with the result-object interpretation, and the structure of the nominal phrase headed by a deverbal noun is less dependent on the syntactic properties of the verbal root. Despite these apparent differences, corpus data also reveal that the converse is also true: deverbal nouns can be used as gerundial nouns and vice versa.

Not the optimistic type

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 575-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Caplan ◽  
Chris Tillman ◽  
Brian McLean ◽  
Adam Murray
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Scott Soames ◽  
Semantic Properties

In recent work, Peter Hanks and Scott Soames argue for the type view, according to which propositions are types whose tokens are acts, states, or events. Hanks and Soames think that one of the virtues of the type view is that it allows them to explain why propositions have semantic properties. But, in this paper, we argue that their explanations aren't satisfactory.

scholarly journals On the Road to a Dialect Dictionary of Khanty Postpositions

2015 ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
Zsófia Schön
Keyword(s):  
Web Application ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
The Road ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Sound Files ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Ongoing Project

This paper aims to present the first steps of a corpus based dialect dictionary of postpositions in several Khanty dialects and subdialects. Based primarily on specifically elicitated data from more than fifty informants, this ongoing project focuses not only on the semantic properties of this part of speech in Khanty, but also on the morphology and combinatorics as exhibited by (sub)dialectal microvariation. Special attention is paid to two of the Northern dialects – Kazym and Shuryshkary Khanty – and to one of the Eastern dialects – Surgut Khanty.The lexicon entries have been compiled according to TEI P5 guidelines in XML format, while the corpus data is stored in a MySQL database. A web application combining the lexicon with the corpus data, sound files, annotations and metadata is currently under construction.As a multilingual dialect dictionary of Khanty postpositions, this project hopes to fill a gap in current research on Khanty: namely the lack of easily accessible digital dictionaries. It is designed to be a pilot project for forthcoming digital Khanty dictionaries.

scholarly journals Modelling Selectional Super-Flexibility

2022 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 324
Author(s):  
Kristina Liefke
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Formal Semantics ◽  
Concrete Object ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Attitude Verbs ◽  
Small Clauses ◽  
Generalized Type

The selectional flexibility of some attitude verbs (e.g. know, realize, report) between declarative and interrogative complements has been the subject of much recent work in formal semantics. However, little attention has been paid to verbs (e.g. see, remember, observe) that embed an even wider variety of complements (incl. subject-controlled gerundive small clauses and concrete object-denoting DPs). Since the familiar types of some of these complements resist an embedding in the type for questions [= sets of propositions], these verbs challenge Theiler, Roelofsen & Aloni’s (2018) uniform interpretation strategy for the complements of responsive verbs. My paper answers this challenge by uniformly interpreting the different complements of selectionally super-flexible verbs like remember in a generalized type for questions, viz. as parametrized centered questions. It shows that the resulting semantics captures the intuitive entailment pattern of these verbs.

Idioms and Phraseology

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Teresa Espinal ◽  
Jaume Mateu
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Roles ◽  
External Structure ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Syntactic Properties ◽  
Linguistic Units ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Interesting Behavior

Idioms, conceived as fixed multi-word expressions that conceptually encode non-compositional meaning, are linguistic units that raise a number of questions relevant in the study of language and mind (e.g., whether they are stored in the lexicon or in memory, whether they have internal or external syntax similar to other expressions of the language, whether their conventional use is parallel to their non-compositional meaning, whether they are processed in similar ways to regular compositional expressions of the language, etc.). Idioms show some similarities and differences with other sorts of formulaic expressions, the main types of idioms that have been characterized in the linguistic literature, and the dimensions on which idiomaticity lies. Syntactically, idioms manifest a set of syntactic properties, as well as a number of constraints that account for their internal and external structure. Semantically, idioms present an interesting behavior with respect to a set of semantic properties that account for their meaning (i.e., conventionality, compositionality, and transparency, as well as aspectuality, referentiality, thematic roles, etc.). The study of idioms has been approached from lexicographic and computational, as well as from psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic perspectives.

Motivations for Emotions in Bipolar Disorder

2021 ◽  
pp. 216770262097958
Author(s):  
Yael Millgram ◽  
June Gruber ◽  
Cynthia M. Villanueva ◽  
Anna Rapoport ◽  
Maya Tamir
Keyword(s):  
Bipolar Disorder ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Emotional Instability ◽  
Behavioral Measures ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Similarities And Differences

Recent work has begun to examine the link between motivation for specific emotions and psychopathology. Yet research on this topic to date has focused primarily on depression. To understand patterns of motivation for emotions within and across affective disorders, we assessed motivation for emotions in adults at increased risk for and diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD). We focused on motivation for negative (i.e., sadness) and positive (i.e., happiness) emotions and for emotional instability using self-report and behavioral measures. Both increased BD risk and diagnosis of BD were associated with increased motivation for sadness and decreased motivation for happiness as assessed by behavioral measures. Such motivational tendencies were less consistent when assessed by self-reports. Higher BD risk was associated with increased self-reported motivation for emotional instability (Studies 1–3), although this association was not evident in BD (Study 4). Findings suggest both similarities and differences in motivation for emotions in affective disorders.

scholarly journals The Norwegian lexical item akkurat and the Polish akurat: a cognitive semantic analysis

2014 ◽  
pp. 219-235
Author(s):  
Ewa Data-Bukowska
Keyword(s):  
Complex Networks ◽  
Semantic Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Lexical Item ◽  
Cognitive Semantics ◽  
Conceptual Content ◽  
Semantic Difference ◽  
Cognitive Semantic ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Similarities And Differences

The Norwegian lexical item akkurat and the Polish akurat: a cognitive semantic analysisThe aim of the article is to demonstrate to what extent the Norwegian akkurat and the Polish akurat show similarities and differences in their conceptual content (meaning). Adopting the perspective of cognitive semantics (CS), as described in Langacker (1987) and Lakoff (1987), I shall try to show that the meanings ascribed to these etymologically and formally related words constitute complex networks of senses, rooted in a prototypical centre in each of the languages under discussion. In addition to this, the findings will be interpreted with reference to the process of pragmaticalization (a language unit’s development of increasing pragmatic functions). Within this theoretical framework I shall demonstrate that subjectification/intersubjectification and pejoration/melioration motivate the main semantic difference between akkurat and akurat. The analysis is based on Norwegian and Polish monolingual corpus data.

scholarly journals THE CONCEPT OF KONFLIKT / CONFLICT IN THE POLISH MENTAL AND LINGUISTIC SYSTEMS

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (XIX) ◽  
pp. 83-96
Author(s):  
Aneta Dłutek
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Human Existence ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
The Public ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Second Stage ◽  
Linguistic System ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
Similarities And Differences

When observing the contemporary world, one cannot fail to notice that in many areasof life, not only in the personal lives of particular people, but also within the public andsocial aspects of human existence, conflict seems to be fairly omnipresent. This paper setsto analyse the discussed concept in the Polish language from two different perspectives.The first stage of the research deals with the analysis of the immediate linguisticvicinity of the notion of konflikt / conflict to search for the location of the aforementionedphenomenon within the Polish linguistic system. The aim of this research is to presentwhat types of domains are employed to conceptualise konflikt / conflict. The analysisis based on the selected corpus data found in the Polish language.The second stage of the research comprises the analysis of 183 surveys containingtwo elements: the definitions of konflikt / conflict and the association maps referringto this concept created by students at the age of 16-24. The aim of this task is to searchfor the associations attached to the discussed phenomenon by young people, andthe similarities and differences within the definitions suggested by them.

scholarly journals Similarities and Differences between the Demonstratives in Kurdish and English

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-37
Author(s):  
Rezhna Maarwf Husein ◽  
Shler Mohammed Ali
Keyword(s):  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Semantic Properties

This study explores the English and Central Kurdish[1] demonstratives as deictic expressions by stating their morphological, syntactical and semantic properties. As a result, the similar and different linguistic properties of the demonstratives of the two languages are pointed out. The outcome of the study may provide more elucidation to linguistics in general. Additionally, it may give clearer vision to language pedagogy and translation.

scholarly journals Semantische Besonderheiten phraseologischer Ausdrücke – korpusbasierte Analyse

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christiane Hümmer
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Corpus Linguistics ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
English Expression ◽  
Great Ease ◽  
Contextual Elements ◽  
Corpus Data ◽  
The One ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Semantic Properties

In the linguistic literature, phraseological units have been described as a subgroup of lexical units characterised by a set of morphosyntactic and semantic properties such as idiomaticity, expressiveness, motivation and fixedness. These properties are generally seen as gradual, i. e. their validity for individual phraseological units is a matter of degree, none of them being obligatory. With the increasing importance of corpus linguistics in recent years, there has been a growing interest in grounding all linguistic generalizations on a broad empirical basis. The present paper therefore proposes a method for systematically inferring statements on the degree of idiomaticity, motivation and expressiveness of phraseological units from corpus data. The criteria taken as relevant for this aim are derived from the realisation of the phraseological unit itself as well as from properties of its contextual embedding. Thus, evidence for a greater or lesser degree of idiomaticity, expressiveness and motivation comes from certain types of deviations from the canonical form of a phraseological unit on the one hand. On the other hand, contextual elements and structures that are related to that phraseological unit on the level of literal or figurative meaning of its components or of the entire unit, to the level of metaphor or to the phraseological unit's internal phrase structure provide the basis for systematic insights. The present paper illustrates the practical application of the proposed method by means of three case studies. The contextual behaviour of the German expressions etw. aus dem Ärmel schütteln ('to do sth. with great ease'), etw. mit der Muttermilch einsaugen/aufsaugen ('to learn sth. very early in life') and auf allen Hochzeiten tanzen (similar to the English expression to have a finger in every pie) is analysed in detail on the basis of their occurrences in the 949 mio word-corpus of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the Humanities. As a result, the case studies show that idiomaticity, expressiveness and motivation can be quantified on the basis of the criteria proposed here. Nevertheless, no direct quantification is possible, since the evidence has to be interpreted in terms of its function for each individual idiom under analysis.

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