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Squiggle Operator
In formal semantics, the squiggle operator \sim is an operator that constrains the occurrence of focus. In one common definition, the squiggle operator takes a syntactic argument \alpha and a discourse salient argument C and introduces a presupposition that the ''ordinary semantic value'' of C is either a subset or an element of the ''focus semantic value'' of \alpha. The squiggle was first introduced by Mats Rooth in 1992 as part of his treatment of focus within the framework of alternative semantics. It has become one of the standard tools in formal work on focus, playing a key role in accounts of contrastive focus, ellipsis, deaccenting, and question-answer congruence. Empirical motivation The empirical motivation for the squiggle operator comes from cases in which focus marking requires a salient antecedent in discourse that stands in some particular relation with the focused expression. For instance, the following pairs shows that contrastive focus is only felicitous when ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formal Semantics (natural Language)
Formal semantics is the scientific study of linguistic meaning through formal tools from logic and mathematics. It is an interdisciplinary field, sometimes regarded as a subfield of both linguistics and philosophy of language. Formal semanticists rely on diverse methods to analyze natural language. Many examine the meaning of a sentence by studying the circumstances in which it would be true. They describe these circumstances using abstract mathematical models to represent entities and their features. The principle of compositionality helps them link the meaning of expressions to abstract objects in these models. This principle asserts that the meaning of a compound expression is determined by the meanings of its parts. Propositional and predicate logic are formal systems used to analyze the semantic structure of sentences. They introduce concepts like singular terms, predicates, quantifiers, and logical connectives to represent the logical form of natural language expres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Question
A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammar, grammatical forms, typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are interrogative in form but may not be considered wiktionary:bona fide, bona fide questions, as they are not expected to be answered. Questions come in a number of varieties. For instance; ''Polar questions'' are those such as the English language, English example "Is this a polar question?", which can be answered with yes and no, "yes" or "no". ''Alternative questions'' such as "Is this a polar question, or an alternative question?" present a list of possibilities to choose from. ''Open-ended question, Open questions'' such as "What kind of question is this?" allow many possible resolutions. Questions are widely studied in linguistics and philosophy of language. In the subfield of pragmatics, questions are regarded as illocutionary acts whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Givenness
In linguistics, givenness is the degree to which a speaker assumes certain contextual information of a topic of discourse is already known to the listener. The speaker thus considers it unnecessary to provide further contextual information through an expression's linguistic properties (e.g. its syntactic form or position, or its patterns of stress and intonation). A given contextual information in a discourse is assumed to be known by the addressee in the moment of utterance, therefore a given expression must be known from prior discourse.Kratzer, Angelica & Selkirk, Elizabeth (2018). Deconstructing Information Structure. Manuscript, University of Massachusetts, at Amherst and University College London (UCL). https://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/004201 Givenness is marked by the absence of emphasis or detailed explanations. For example, when informing a close friend of having taken a long-considered action, one might simply say "I did it!" The givenness of the action which "it" refers to r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Focus (linguistics)
In linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ..., focus ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical category that conveys which part of the sentence contributes new, non-derivable, or contrastive information. In the English language, English sentence "Mary only insulted BILL", focus is expressed Prosody (linguistics), prosodically by a pitch accent (intonation), pitch accent on "Bill" which identifies him as the only person whom Mary insulted. By contrast, in the sentence "Mary only INSULTED Bill", the verb "insult" is focused and thus expresses that Mary performed no other actions towards Bill. Focus is a cross-linguistic phenomenon and a major topic in linguistics. Research on focus spans numerous subfields including phonetics, syntax, semantics (linguistics), semantics, pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alternative Semantics
Alternative semantics (or Hamblin semantics) is a framework in formal semantics and logic. In alternative semantics, expressions denote ''alternative sets'', understood as sets of objects of the same semantic type. For instance, while the word "Lena" might denote Lena herself in a classical semantics, it would denote the singleton set containing Lena in alternative semantics. The framework was introduced by Charles Leonard Hamblin in 1973 as a way of extending Montague grammar to provide an analysis for questions. In this framework, a question denotes the set of its possible answers. Thus, if P and Q are propositions, then \ is the denotation of the question whether P or Q is true. Since the 1970s, it has been extended and adapted to analyze phenomena including focus, scope, disjunction In logic, disjunction (also known as logical disjunction, logical or, logical addition, or inclusive disjunction) is a logical connective typically notated as \lor and read aloud as "o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constituent (linguistics)
In syntactic analysis, a constituent is a word or a group of words that function as a single unit within a hierarchical structure. The constituent structure of sentences is identified using ''tests for constituents''. These tests apply to a portion of a sentence, and the results provide evidence about the constituent structure of the sentence. Many constituents are phrases. A phrase is a sequence of one or more words (in some theories two or more) built around a head lexical item and working as a unit within a sentence. A word sequence is shown to be a phrase/constituent if it exhibits one or more of the behaviors discussed below. The analysis of constituent structure is associated mainly with phrase structure grammars, although dependency grammars also allow sentence structure to be broken down into constituent parts. Tests for constituents in English Tests for constituents are diagnostics used to identify sentence structure. There are numerous tests for constituents that are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Expression (mathematics)
In mathematics, an expression is a written arrangement of symbol (mathematics), symbols following the context-dependent, syntax (logic), syntactic conventions of mathematical notation. Symbols can denote numbers, variable (mathematics), variables, operation (mathematics), operations, and function (mathematics), functions. Other symbols include punctuation marks and bracket (mathematics), brackets, used for Symbols of grouping, grouping where there is not a well-defined order of operations. Expressions are commonly distinguished from ''mathematical formula, formulas'': expressions are a kind of mathematical object, whereas formulas are statements ''about'' mathematical objects. This is analogous to natural language, where a noun phrase refers to an object, and a whole Sentence (linguistics), sentence refers to a fact. For example, 8x-5 is an expression, while the Inequality (mathematics), inequality 8x-5 \geq 3 is a formula. To ''evaluate'' an expression means to find a numeric ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ordinary Denotation
Ordinary or The Ordinary often refer to: Music * ''Ordinary'' (EP) (2015), by South Korean group Beast * ''Ordinary'' (album) (2011), by Every Little Thing * "Ordinary" (Alex Warren song) (2025) * "Ordinary" (Two Door Cinema Club song) (2016) * "Ordinary" (Wayne Brady song) (2008) * "Ordinary", song by Train from ''Alive at Last'' (2004) Religion * Ordinary (Catholic Church), a supervisor, typically a bishop, in charge of a territory comparable to a diocese, or a major superior of a religious institute * Ordinary (church officer), an officer of a church or civic authority who by reason of office has ordinary power to execute laws * Ordinary (liturgy), a set of texts in Roman Catholic and other Western Christian liturgies that are generally invariable * Ordinary Time, the parts of the Roman Catholic liturgical year that are outside Advent, Christmastide, Lent, and Eastertide. * Ordinary (lecture), a type of lecture given in universities of the Middle Ages Other * An archaic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Focus Denotation
Focus (: foci or focuses) may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in East Australia Film * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based on the Arthur Miller novel * ''Focus'' (2015 film), a 2015 film about con artists Music * Focus (music), a musical technique also known as modal frame * Focus..., American music producer * Focus (band), Dutch progressive rock band Albums * ''Focus'' (Stan Getz album), 1961 jazz album * ''Focus'' (Bill Hardman album), 1984 jazz album * ''Focus'' (Jan Akkerman & Thijs van Leer album), 1985 * ''Focus'' (Cynic album), 1993 metal album * ''Focus'' (Chico Freeman album), 1994 jazz album * ''Focus'' (Souls of Mischief album), 1998 alternative hip-hop album * ''Focus'' (Holly Starr album), 2012 CCM album * ''Focus'' (Arthur Blythe album), 2002 jazz album * ''Focus'' (Diaura album), 2013 Japanese visual kei album Songs * "Focus" (Ariana Grande song), 2015 * "Focus" (Bazzi song), 2019 * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stroopwafel
A ''stroopwafel'' (; ) is a thin, round cookie made from two layers of sweet baked dough held together by syrup filling.Stroopwafels. Een traditionele Goudse lekkernij Retrieved on 2 January 2008. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Felicity (pragmatics)
In linguistics and philosophy of language, an utterance is felicitous if it is pragmatically well-formed. An utterance can be infelicitous because it is self-contradictory, trivial, irrelevant, or because it is somehow inappropriate for the context of utterance. Researchers in semantics and pragmatics use felicity judgments much as syntacticians use grammaticality judgments. An infelicitous sentence is marked with the pound sign. The terms ''felicitous'' and ''infelicitous'' were first proposed by J. L. Austin as part of his theory of speech acts. In his thinking, a performative utterance is neither true nor false, but can instead be deemed felicitous or infelicitous according to a set of conditions whose interpretation differs depending on whether the utterance in question is a declaration ("I sentence you to death"), a request ("I ask that you stop doing that") or a warning ("I warn you not to jump off the roof"). Felicity conditions for declarations * ''Conventionality ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
