Evolution of Semantic Systems
Evolution of Semantic Systems

Author: Bernd-Olaf Küppers

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-04-08

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 3642349978

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Complex systems in nature and society make use of information for the development of their internal organization and the control of their functional mechanisms. Alongside technical aspects of storing, transmitting and processing information, the various semantic aspects of information, such as meaning, sense, reference and function, play a decisive part in the analysis of such systems. With the aim of fostering a better understanding of semantic systems from an evolutionary and multidisciplinary perspective, this volume collects contributions by philosophers and natural scientists, linguists, information and computer scientists. They do not follow a single research paradigm; rather they shed, in a complementary way, new light upon some of the most important aspects of the evolution of semantic systems. Evolution of Semantic Systems is intended for researchers in philosophy, computer science, and the natural sciences who work on the analysis or development of semantic systems, ontologies, or similar complex information structures. In the eleven chapters, they will find a broad discussion of topics ranging from underlying universal principles to representation and processing aspects to paradigmatic examples.

The Semantic Theory of Evolution
The Semantic Theory of Evolution

Author: Marcello Barbieri

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-06-11

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1000063658

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Originally published in 1985, The Semantic Theory of Evolution addresses the notion that life is not shaped by the single law of natural selection, but instead by a plurality of laws that resemble grammatical rules in language. This remarkable work presents a semantic theory centering on the concept of the ribotype. Supported by both sound facts and logical arguments, this analysis reaches beyond the established cadre of biological thought to unravel many of life’s mysteries and paradoxes, including the origin of the cell and the nucleus and the evolution of ribosomes.

Innovations, Developments, and Applications of Semantic Web and Information Systems
Innovations, Developments, and Applications of Semantic Web and Information Systems

Author: Lytras, Miltiadis D.

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2018-01-19

Total Pages: 493

ISBN-13: 1522550437

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In the last few years, there has been an increased advancement and evolution in semantic web and information systems in a variety of fields. The integration of these approaches to ontology engineering, sophisticated methods and algorithms for open linked data extraction, and advanced decision-making creates new opportunities for a bright future. Innovations, Developments, and Applications of Semantic Web and Information Systems is a critical scholarly resource that discusses integrated methods of research and analytics in information technology. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics, such as cognitive computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analysis, and algorithms, this book is geared towards researchers, academicians, and professionals seeking current information on semantic web and information systems.

Computational approaches to semantic change
Computational approaches to semantic change

Author: Nina Tahmasebi

Publisher: Language Science Press

Published: 2021-08-30

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 3961103127

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Semantic change — how the meanings of words change over time — has preoccupied scholars since well before modern linguistics emerged in the late 19th and early 20th century, ushering in a new methodological turn in the study of language change. Compared to changes in sound and grammar, semantic change is the least understood. Ever since, the study of semantic change has progressed steadily, accumulating a vast store of knowledge for over a century, encompassing many languages and language families. Historical linguists also early on realized the potential of computers as research tools, with papers at the very first international conferences in computational linguistics in the 1960s. Such computational studies still tended to be small-scale, method-oriented, and qualitative. However, recent years have witnessed a sea-change in this regard. Big-data empirical quantitative investigations are now coming to the forefront, enabled by enormous advances in storage capability and processing power. Diachronic corpora have grown beyond imagination, defying exploration by traditional manual qualitative methods, and language technology has become increasingly data-driven and semantics-oriented. These developments present a golden opportunity for the empirical study of semantic change over both long and short time spans. A major challenge presently is to integrate the hard-earned knowledge and expertise of traditional historical linguistics with cutting-edge methodology explored primarily in computational linguistics. The idea for the present volume came out of a concrete response to this challenge. The 1st International Workshop on Computational Approaches to Historical Language Change (LChange'19), at ACL 2019, brought together scholars from both fields. This volume offers a survey of this exciting new direction in the study of semantic change, a discussion of the many remaining challenges that we face in pursuing it, and considerably updated and extended versions of a selection of the contributions to the LChange'19 workshop, addressing both more theoretical problems — e.g., discovery of "laws of semantic change" — and practical applications, such as information retrieval in longitudinal text archives.

Why Only Us
Why Only Us

Author: Robert C. Berwick

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2017-05-12

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 0262533499

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Berwick and Chomsky draw on recent developments in linguistic theory to offer an evolutionary account of language and humans' remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire it. “A loosely connected collection of four essays that will fascinate anyone interested in the extraordinary phenomenon of language.” —New York Review of Books We are born crying, but those cries signal the first stirring of language. Within a year or so, infants master the sound system of their language; a few years after that, they are engaging in conversations. This remarkable, species-specific ability to acquire any human language—“the language faculty”—raises important biological questions about language, including how it has evolved. This book by two distinguished scholars—a computer scientist and a linguist—addresses the enduring question of the evolution of language. Robert Berwick and Noam Chomsky explain that until recently the evolutionary question could not be properly posed, because we did not have a clear idea of how to define “language” and therefore what it was that had evolved. But since the Minimalist Program, developed by Chomsky and others, we know the key ingredients of language and can put together an account of the evolution of human language and what distinguishes us from all other animals. Berwick and Chomsky discuss the biolinguistic perspective on language, which views language as a particular object of the biological world; the computational efficiency of language as a system of thought and understanding; the tension between Darwin's idea of gradual change and our contemporary understanding about evolutionary change and language; and evidence from nonhuman animals, in particular vocal learning in songbirds.

Multiscale Analysis and Nonlinear Dynamics
Multiscale Analysis and Nonlinear Dynamics

Author: Misha Meyer Pesenson

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-09-13

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 352767165X

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Since modeling multiscale phenomena in systems biology and neuroscience is a highly interdisciplinary task, the editor of the book invited experts in bio-engineering, chemistry, cardiology, neuroscience, computer science, and applied mathematics, to provide their perspectives. Each chapter is a window into the current state of the art in the areas of research discussed and the book is intended for advanced researchers interested in recent developments in these fields. While multiscale analysis is the major integrating theme of the book, its subtitle does not call for bridging the scales from genes to behavior, but rather stresses the unifying perspective offered by the concepts referred to in the title. It is believed that the interdisciplinary approach adopted here will be beneficial for all the above mentioned fields.

The Role of Semantic, Pragmatic, and Discourse Factors in the Development of Case
The Role of Semantic, Pragmatic, and Discourse Factors in the Development of Case

Author: Jóhanna Barðdal

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2009-03-11

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 9027289921

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The aim of this volume is to bring non-syntactic factors in the development of case into the eye of the research field, by illustrating the integral role of pragmatics, semantics, and discourse structure in the historical development of morphologically marked case systems. The articles represent fifteen typologically diverse languages from four different language families: (i) Indo-European: Vedic Sanskrit, Russian, Greek, Latin, Latvian, Gothic, French, German, Icelandic, and Faroese; (ii) Tibeto-Burman, especially the Bodic languages and Meithei; (iii) Japanese; and (iv) the Pama-Nyungan mixed language Gurindji Kriol. The data also show considerable diversity and include elicited, archival, corpus-based, and naturally occurring data. Discussions of mechanisms where change is obtained include semantically and aspectually motivated synchronic case variation, discourse motivated subject marking, reduction or expansion of case marker distribution, case syncretism motivated by semantics, syntax, or language contact, and case splits motivated by pragmatics, metonymy, and subjectification.

Linguistic Evolution
Linguistic Evolution

Author: M. L. Samuels

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1975-01-23

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 9780521099134

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Professor Samuels presents a comprehensive explanation of the reasons for linguistic change, applying his theory in particular to the history of English. He assesses and mediates between the conflicting dogmas of different schools of linguistics, and offers an alternative theory of linguistic change which is basically simple but has the scope to cover any type of change.

The Evolution of Case Grammar
The Evolution of Case Grammar

Author: Remi Van Trijp

Publisher:

Published: 2017-06-26

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 9783944675848

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There are few linguistic phenomena that have seduced linguists so skillfully as grammatical case has done. Ever since Panini (4th Century BC), case has claimed a central role in linguistic theory and continues to do so today. However, despite centuries worth of research, case has yet to reveal its most important secrets. This book offers breakthrough explanations for the understanding of case through agent-based experiments in cultural language evolution. The experiments demonstrate that case systems may emerge because they have a selective advantage for communication: they reduce the cognitive effort that listeners need for semantic interpretation, while at the same time limiting the cognitive resources required for doing so.