University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of Chinese

In this thesis the structure of the nominal group in Black South African English (BSAfE) is investigated by means of a comparison of data from the Tswana Learner English Corpus (TLEC) and the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays (LOCNESS). Both corpora consist of student essays and are sub-corpora of the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE). The TLEC represents a non-native variety of English, namely BSAfE, while LOCNESS represents native English from the United States and the United Kingdom. In the existing literature there are observations about and examples of (non-standard) characterizing features of BSAfE pertaining to nouns, determiners and quantifiers (e.g. Gough 1996), but until now, no in-depth study of the grammar of the nominal group in BSAfE has been undertaken. This study is an attempt to fill that gap. I present a description of the grammatical features of BSAfE observed in the corpus data in terms of linguistic functions and without assuming that they are errors or evidence of deficiencies. Though the approach is comparative (in the sense that a control corpus is used), it is primarily descriptive and non-normative, and as such, function-based. This study is conducted within the theoretical framework of functional linguistics, drawing on systemic functional linguistics as well as other functional and cognitive approaches to language. The specifying functions that the nominal group and its elements may fulfill form the basis of the descriptive framework. These functions are (1) the type-specifying function of the noun, (2) the (referent-)specifying function of the determiner, (3) quantification and (4) quality specification by modifiers and complements. The type-specifying function of the noun is particularly relevant in Chapter 4, which deals with the grammatical patterns of the noun people, although it also informs analyses in Chapters 5 and 6 which deal with determiners and quantification respectively. Quality specification is especially relevant in the description of the grammatical patterns of the noun people. The noun people is the most frequent noun in each of the corpora, but is at the same time a positive keyword in the TLEC, which means that it occurs much more frequently in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. Analysis of the full corpus concordances of this noun provides much evidence of anti-deletion in BSAfE (as first postulated by Mesthrie, 2006) and also sheds some light on left dislocation patterns involving the noun people (cf. Mesthrie, 1997). This analysis also reveals unique uses of the definite article and certain quantifying constructions in the TLEC data, which are investigated in the next two analysis chapters. A comparison of concordance samples of the articles indicates that the definite/indefinite distinction is made in both corpora and that there is not enough corpus evidence to postulate that there is a different system underlying the choice of article in BSAfE, such as a system based principally on the specific/non-specific distinction, as postulated by Platt, Weber and Ho (1984) for New Englishes in general. Analysis of the concordances of demonstrative and possessive determiners indicate that these determiners are used proportionally more frequently in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. Concordances of the words that are normally classified as quantifiers indicate that there are many more partitive-of quantifying constructions in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. The words some and most are positive keywords in the TLEC. After analyses of their concordances, it is concluded that their relative frequency can be attributed to the fact that some is often used merely as an indefinite marker and that most is often used as a synonym for many. The study shows that BSAfE largely shares its general grammar of the nominal group with other (including native) varieties of English, but at a finer level of analysis, some characteristic constructions and uses are detected. The corpus data indicate that the unique constructions in the TLEC data are mostly functionally motivated. These constructions represent conventionalized innovations in the sense used by Van Rooy (2010), rather than mere language learning errors. / Thesis (PhD (Linguistics and Literary Theory))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

In this thesis the structure of the nominal group in Black South African English (BSAfE) is investigated by means of a comparison of data from the Tswana Learner English Corpus (TLEC) and the Louvain Corpus of Native English Essays (LOCNESS). Both corpora consist of student essays and are sub-corpora of the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE). The TLEC represents a non-native variety of English, namely BSAfE, while LOCNESS represents native English from the United States and the United Kingdom. In the existing literature there are observations about and examples of (non-standard) characterizing features of BSAfE pertaining to nouns, determiners and quantifiers (e.g. Gough 1996), but until now, no in-depth study of the grammar of the nominal group in BSAfE has been undertaken. This study is an attempt to fill that gap. I present a description of the grammatical features of BSAfE observed in the corpus data in terms of linguistic functions and without assuming that they are errors or evidence of deficiencies. Though the approach is comparative (in the sense that a control corpus is used), it is primarily descriptive and non-normative, and as such, function-based. This study is conducted within the theoretical framework of functional linguistics, drawing on systemic functional linguistics as well as other functional and cognitive approaches to language. The specifying functions that the nominal group and its elements may fulfill form the basis of the descriptive framework. These functions are (1) the type-specifying function of the noun, (2) the (referent-)specifying function of the determiner, (3) quantification and (4) quality specification by modifiers and complements. The type-specifying function of the noun is particularly relevant in Chapter 4, which deals with the grammatical patterns of the noun people, although it also informs analyses in Chapters 5 and 6 which deal with determiners and quantification respectively. Quality specification is especially relevant in the description of the grammatical patterns of the noun people. The noun people is the most frequent noun in each of the corpora, but is at the same time a positive keyword in the TLEC, which means that it occurs much more frequently in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. Analysis of the full corpus concordances of this noun provides much evidence of anti-deletion in BSAfE (as first postulated by Mesthrie, 2006) and also sheds some light on left dislocation patterns involving the noun people (cf. Mesthrie, 1997). This analysis also reveals unique uses of the definite article and certain quantifying constructions in the TLEC data, which are investigated in the next two analysis chapters. A comparison of concordance samples of the articles indicates that the definite/indefinite distinction is made in both corpora and that there is not enough corpus evidence to postulate that there is a different system underlying the choice of article in BSAfE, such as a system based principally on the specific/non-specific distinction, as postulated by Platt, Weber and Ho (1984) for New Englishes in general. Analysis of the concordances of demonstrative and possessive determiners indicate that these determiners are used proportionally more frequently in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. Concordances of the words that are normally classified as quantifiers indicate that there are many more partitive-of quantifying constructions in the TLEC than in LOCNESS. The words some and most are positive keywords in the TLEC. After analyses of their concordances, it is concluded that their relative frequency can be attributed to the fact that some is often used merely as an indefinite marker and that most is often used as a synonym for many. The study shows that BSAfE largely shares its general grammar of the nominal group with other (including native) varieties of English, but at a finer level of analysis, some characteristic constructions and uses are detected. The corpus data indicate that the unique constructions in the TLEC data are mostly functionally motivated. These constructions represent conventionalized innovations in the sense used by Van Rooy (2010), rather than mere language learning errors. / Thesis (PhD (Linguistics and Literary Theory))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012

Os sistemas Q1 e Q2, desenvolvidos por Andréa Lopari?, perfazem três principais modificações na semântica clássica: primeiramente, o universo do discurso pode não estar limitado aos objetos que pertencem ao domínio de uma dada estrutura; em segundo lugar, a relação de identidade é determinada como a diagonal desse domínio (assim, tal relação pode não ser aplicável a todas as coisas sobre as quais a linguagem possa falar); em terceiro lugar, o quantificador existencial, em Q1, bem como o universal, em Q2, podem alcançar valores que estejam fora do domínio da estrutura. Como consequência, embora definida classicamente, a negação apresenta alguns comportamentos não clássicos - a negação de um predicado numa fórmula atômica, por exemplo, pode caracterizar algo maior que, e não tão bem definido quanto, o complemento da extensão desse predicado relativamente ao domínio. [...]. / The systems Q1 and Q2, developed by Andréa Lopari?, make up three main changes in classical semantics: first, the universe of discourse can be not limited by the objects that belongs to the domain of a given structure; second, the relation of identity is fixed as a diagonal of this domain (so, it may be not applicable to all things about what the language can speak); third, the existential quantifier in Q1, as well as the universal in Q2, may capture values out of the domain of the structure. As a consequence, although classically defined, the negation presents some non-classical behavior - a negated predicate in an atomic formula, for instance, may characterize something larger and not as well defined as the complement of the extension of this predicate relatively to the domain. [...].

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In this thesis, we study advanced reasoning about dynamical systems in a logical framework -- the situation calculus. In particular, we consider promoting the efficiency of reasoning about action in the situation calculus from three different aspects. First, we propose a modified situation calculus based on the two-variable predicate logic with counting quantifiers. We show that solving the projection and executability problems via regression in such language are decidable. We prove that generally these two problems are co-NExpTime-complete in the modified language. We also consider restricting the format of regressable formulas and basic action theories (BATs) further to gain better computational complexity for reasoning about action via regression. We mention possible applications to formalization of Semantic Web services. Then, we propose a hierarchical representation of actions based on the situation calculus to facilitate development, maintenance and elaboration of very large taxonomies of actions. We show that our axioms can be more succinct, while still using an extended regression operator to solve the projection problem. Moreover, such representation has significant computational advantages. For taxonomies of actions that can be represented as finitely branching trees, the regression operator can sometimes work exponentially faster with our theories than it works with the BATs current situation calculus. We also propose a general guideline on how a taxonomy of actions can be constructed from the given set of effect axioms. Finally, we extend the current situation calculus with the order-sorted logic. In the new formalism, we add sort theories to the usual initial theories to describe taxonomies of objects. We then investigate what is the well-sortness for BATs under such framework. We consider extending the current regression operator with well-sortness checking and unification techniques. With the modified regression, we gain computational efficiency by terminating the regression earlier when reasoning tasks are ill-sorted and by reducing the search spaces for well-sorted objects. We also study that the connection between the order-sorted situation calculus and the current situation calculus.

In this thesis, we study advanced reasoning about dynamical systems in a logical framework -- the situation calculus. In particular, we consider promoting the efficiency of reasoning about action in the situation calculus from three different aspects. First, we propose a modified situation calculus based on the two-variable predicate logic with counting quantifiers. We show that solving the projection and executability problems via regression in such language are decidable. We prove that generally these two problems are co-NExpTime-complete in the modified language. We also consider restricting the format of regressable formulas and basic action theories (BATs) further to gain better computational complexity for reasoning about action via regression. We mention possible applications to formalization of Semantic Web services. Then, we propose a hierarchical representation of actions based on the situation calculus to facilitate development, maintenance and elaboration of very large taxonomies of actions. We show that our axioms can be more succinct, while still using an extended regression operator to solve the projection problem. Moreover, such representation has significant computational advantages. For taxonomies of actions that can be represented as finitely branching trees, the regression operator can sometimes work exponentially faster with our theories than it works with the BATs current situation calculus. We also propose a general guideline on how a taxonomy of actions can be constructed from the given set of effect axioms. Finally, we extend the current situation calculus with the order-sorted logic. In the new formalism, we add sort theories to the usual initial theories to describe taxonomies of objects. We then investigate what is the well-sortness for BATs under such framework. We consider extending the current regression operator with well-sortness checking and unification techniques. With the modified regression, we gain computational efficiency by terminating the regression earlier when reasoning tasks are ill-sorted and by reducing the search spaces for well-sorted objects. We also study that the connection between the order-sorted situation calculus and the current situation calculus.

[pt] Existem diferentes estilos de cálculos dedutivos, usados para derivar os teoremas de uma lógica. Os mais habituais são os sistemas axiomáticos; mas, do ponto de vista da teoria da prova, os sistemas em dedução natural parecem ser mais interessantes. Essa é a motivação que leva ao desenvolvimento de técnicas que visam a facilitar a transformação de um cálculo dedutivo para o estilo em dedução natural. Esse trabalho se concentra no aspecto de modelar regras para os quantificadores da linguagem considerada e, para isso, faz uso de rótulos. Após uma apresentação intuitiva da técnica desenvolvida, passa-se à exposição de sistemas lógicos tratados pelo método: lógica de ultrafiltros, lógica de filtros, CTL, lógica de Keisler e CTL*. Em cada caso, analisam-se aspectos de teoria da prova. / [en] There are many kinds of deductive calculus. The axiomatic ones are the more usual. However, from the point of view of proof theory, Natural Deduction systems seem to be more interesting. This is the motivation for developping a technique that aims to ease the transformation from deductive calculus to Natural Deduction style. This work concentrates on the aspect of modeling the rules for the quantifiers of the logic considered, and for this purpose labels are used. After an intuitive presentation of the technique developped, some logical systems are treated by the method: ultrafilter logic, filter logic, CTL, Keisler`s logic and CTL*. For each one of them proof-theoretical aspects are analysed.

Le thème central de la présente thèse est le contenu sémantique des quantificateurs logiques. Dans leur forme la plus simple, les quantificateurs permettent d’établir l’existence, ou la non-existence, d’individus répondant à une propriété. En tant que tels, ils incarnent la richesse et la complexité de la logique du premier ordre, par delà la logique propositionnelle. Nous contribuons à l’analyse sémantique des quantificateurs, du point de vue de la théorie de la dualité, dans trois domaines différents des mathématiques et de l’informatique théorique. D’une part, dans la théorie des langages formels à travers la logique sur les mots. D’autre part, dans la logique intuitionniste propositionnelle et dans l’étude de l’interpolation uniforme. Enfin, dans la topologie catégorique et dans la sémantique catégorique de la logique du premier ordre. / The unifying theme of the thesis is the semantic meaning of logical quantifiers. In their basic form quantifiers allow to state theexistence, or non-existence, of individuals satisfying a property. As such, they encode the richness and the complexity of predicate logic, as opposed to propositional logic. We contribute to the semantic understanding of quantifiers, from the viewpoint of duality theory, in three different areas of mathematics and theoretical computer science. First, in formal language theory through the syntactic approach provided by logic on words. Second, in intuitionistic propositional logic and in the study of uniform interpolation. Third, in categorical topology and categorical semantics for predicate logic.