MASLIŠ, Martin. Isolated nominal forms in Ancient Greek. Prague, 2019. Master's thesis. Charles University. Faculty of Arts. Institute of Greek and Latin Studies. Supervisor Ján BAKYTA. The submitted thesis is a study of isolated nominal forms in Ancient Greek undergoing semantic change. Synchronically isolated lexemes are defined as forms which cannot be classed with their respective cognates by the speakers due to formal disparities. This leads to increased opacity which in turn hampers the mapping of meaning onto the forms during the acquisition phase. Accordingly, a hypothesis that isolated forms are susceptible to semantic change is tested. An argumentation is developed based on the assumed information structure in the mental lexicon of speakers and the mechanism of word meaning acquisition. This process allows for reanalysis on the part of speakers which results in semantic change from the diachronic point of view. Lexemes which have been selected according to the proposed research method are organized in a dataset and their occurrences textually analysed. A synthesis aims to describe the mechanism of semantic change for the transparent as well as isolated forms. Keywords: mental lexicon, derivational family, isolated forms, semantic change, deetymologization

<div>Comparisons provide an important tool for exploring the syntax and semantics of gradable properties. American Sign Language (ASL) appears to have several such constructions, but they have yet to receive much linguistic analysis. This study establishes basic empirical facts concerning clausal boundaries, constituency structure, compatibility with various indicators for the presence of degrees, and composition of the standard of comparison for the MORE- and BEAT-construction in ASL. Such facts are needed for any formal syntactic or semantic treatment of the constructions. Motivated by typological observations, this study proposes that a reasonable set of initial hypotheses is that the ASL MORE-construction is a comparison of degrees and that the BEAT-construction is a comparison of individuals (as both terms are defined in Kennedy 2007). Results from the tests conducted in this study are largely consistent with those analyses, but also show where there is room for further refinement. Results additionally demonstrate that both more and beat qualify as explicit rather than implicit comparatives, confirming previous work in Wilbur et al. (2018) concerning the latter. An incidental finding of this study involves the distributional patterns for</div><div>two modifiers frequently used with gradable properties, intensive aspect and Y-OO, indicating both have a semantics distinct from that of the English very even though</div><div>frequently translated between English and ASL with that modifier. Finally, this study contributes to the discussion of comparison constructions cross-linguistically by illustrating</div><div>the need to conduct cross-linguistic work that looks beyond what is considered the default comparison of the languages under investigation.</div>

Sentiment classification is the process of categorizing data into categories based on its polarity with a wide array of applications across several industries. This report examines a combination of two prominent approaches to sentiment classification using a lexicon of weighted words and machine learning respectively. These approaches are compared with the combined hybrid approach in order to give an account of their relative strengths and weaknesses. When run on a set of IMDb movie reviews the results indicate that the hybrid model performs better than the lexicon-based approach, in turn being outperformed by the learning-based approach. However, the gain in convenience brought on by eliminating the need for training data makes the hybrid model an appealing alternative to the other approaches with a slight trade-off in performance. / Att klassificera text i kategorier baserat på känslan de uttrycker är ett aktuellt område idag och kan tillämpas inom många industrier. Rapporten undersöker en kombination av de två framstående tillvägagångssätten till denna typ av klassificering baserade på ett lexikon med definerade ordvikter respektive maskininlärning. Denna hybridlösning jämförs mot de två andra tillvägagångssätten för att framlägga deras relativa styrkor och svagheter. På ett dataset med filmrecensioner från IMDb får maskininlärningsklassificeraren bäst resultat, följt av hybridlösningen och sist den lexikonbaserade lösningen. Trots det kan hybridlösningen vara att föredra i situationer där det är ogenomförbart eller oskäligt att förbereda träningsdata för maskininlärningsklassificeraren, dock med ett visst avkall på prestanda.

Vocabulary learning is a fundamental aspect in second language acquisition, yet it produces difficulties due to the use of translation as its most common means. An interesting thesis in this field is the connection between words and culture. But what are the actual theories and tools that make this connection worthwhile? How could it be operative for teachers of FLE (French: French as a foreign language) in Sweden? On the first place, a theoretical framework is established in order to formulate pedagogical propositions. It will examine the connection between vocabulary and culture through a wide array of literature in the field of second language learning. Thus, the intercultural context of language learning offers a relevant platform where notions such as intercomprehension, “lexiculture”, cultural and lexical competences and authentic texts are at play. Based on this theoretical framework, a practical teaching proposition is elaborated. Exercises, ways to introduce new words or examples of the use of intercomprehension in language learning are thus explored. This proposition is supported by two interviews made in dialogue with two French teachers. Their answers tend to confirm in part the relevancy of the theoretical notions explained earlier such as intercomprehension. However, the connection between vocabulary and culture seems to remain vague in the field of word learning. It seems this assumption is rather a context or a framework that emphasizes the complexity of word acquisition and that offers the ability to develop a certain desire in learning new words.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(情報学) / 甲第21395号 / 情博第681号 / 新制||情||117(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院情報学研究科社会情報学専攻 / (主査)教授 石田 亨, 教授 吉川 正俊, 教授 河原 達也 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Informatics / Kyoto University / DFAM

No description available.

In the years since Joseph Smith completed the translation of the Book of Mormon, the English language has changed; some common phraseologies and word meanings are dissimilar to today's. Often, in reading the Book of Mormon, we impose our current definitions onto terms that in 1830 had a different meaning. Our interpretation of these words, as well as the passages in which they are found, is skewed by our modern definitions. These words, when they occur in the Book of Mormon, demonstrate dialectal and obsolete senses. In the case of some words, the dialectal or obsolete sense is so far removed in meaning from the prevailing modern sense that Book of Mormon readers may be unsure how to interpret the meaning.In this study I investigate words in the Book of Mormon text that have taken on different meanings, thus leading to potential misreadings within some passages of the text.

We propose the fuzzy lexical representations (FLRs) hypothesis that regards fuzziness as a core property of nonnative (L2) lexical representations (LRs). Fuzziness refers to imprecise encoding at different levels of LRs and interacts with input frequency during lexical processing and learning in adult L2 speakers. The FLR hypothesis primarily focuses on the encoding of spoken L2 words. We discuss the causes of fuzzy encoding of phonological form and meaning as well as fuzzy form-meaning mappings and the consequences of fuzzy encoding for word storage and retrieval. A central factor contributing to the fuzziness of L2 LRs is the fact that the L2 lexicon is acquired when the L1 lexicon is already in place. There are two immediate consequences of such sequential learning. First, L2 phonological categorization difficulties lead to fuzzy phonological form encoding. Second, the acquisition of L2 word forms subsequently to their meanings, which had already been acquired together with the L1 word forms, leads to weak L2 form-meaning mappings. The FLR hypothesis accounts for a range of phenomena observed in L2 lexical processing, including lexical confusions, slow lexical access, retrieval of incorrect lexical entries, weak lexical competition, reliance on sublexical rather than lexical heuristics in word recognition, the precedence of word form over meaning, and the prominence of detailed, even if imprecisely encoded, information about LRs in episodic memory. The main claim of the FLR hypothesis – that the quality of lexical encoding is a product of a complex interplay between fuzziness and input frequency – can contribute to increasing the efficiency of the existing models of LRs and lexical access.

This study investigates how two non-finite forms, infinitives and conversion nouns, are represented in the mind of L1 and L2 speakers and what is their relationship to other members of the corresponding word family. German native speakers and proficient German learners with Czech as L1 participated in four overt priming experiments involving a grammatical judgement task. We investigated the relationship between infinitives (Experiment 1) and conversion nouns (Experiment 2) and formally identical verbal or noun forms. We further focussed on the relationship between conversion nouns and regular nominal derivation forms with two derivational suffixes: -er and -ung (Experiments 3 and 4). Our results show that the two non-finite forms differ in their relations to other members of a word family and do not constitute a special class of non-finites as suggested in previous literature. While German infinitives seem to be closer related to finite verbal forms, conversion nouns behave in the same way as other regular nominal derivatives within the same word family. As for the German L1 and L2 contrast, no significant difference in the mental representation of the examined forms was found. This finding suggests that with respect to the explored phenomena, proficient learners rely on the same linguistic organisation as L1 speakers.

No description available.