In natural languages, words can occur in single units called simplex words or in a group of simplex words that function as a single unit, called multiword expressions (MWEs). Although MWEs are similar to simplex words in their syntax and semantics, they pose their own sets of challenges (Sag et al. 2002). MWEs are arguably one of the biggest roadblocks in computational linguistics due to the bewildering range of syntactic, semantic, pragmatic and statistical idiomaticity they are associated with, and their high productivity. In addition, the large numbers in which they occur demand specialized handling. Moreover, dealing with MWEs has a broad range of applications, from syntactic disambiguation to semantic analysis in natural language processing (NLP) (Wacholder and Song 2003; Piao et al. 2003; Baldwin et al. 2004; Venkatapathy and Joshi 2006). / Our goals in this research are: to use computational techniques to shed light on the underlying linguistic processes giving rise to MWEs across constructions and languages; to generalize existing techniques by abstracting away from individual MWE types; and finally to exemplify the utility of MWE interpretation within general NLP tasks. / In this thesis, we target English MWEs due to resource availability. In particular, we focus on noun compounds (NCs) and verb-particle constructions (VPCs) due to their high productivity and frequency. / Challenges in processing noun compounds are: (1) interpreting the semantic relation (SR) that represents the underlying connection between the head noun and modifier(s); (2) resolving syntactic ambiguity in NCs comprising three or more terms; and (3) analyzing the impact of word sense on noun compound interpretation. Our basic approach to interpreting NCs relies on the semantic similarity of the NC components using firstly a nearest-neighbor method (Chapter 5), then verb semantics based on the observation that it is often an underlying verb that relates the nouns in NCs (Chapter 6), and finally semantic variation within NC sense collocations, in combination with bootstrapping (Chapter 7). / Challenges in dealing with verb-particle constructions are: (1) identifying VPCs in raw text data (Chapter 8); and (2) modeling the semantic compositionality of VPCs (Chapter 5). We place particular focus on identifying VPCs in context, and measuring the compositionality of unseen VPCs in order to predict their meaning. Our primary approach to the identification task is to adapt localized context information derived from linguistic features of VPCs to distinguish between VPCs and simple verb-PP combinations. To measure the compositionality of VPCs, we use semantic similarity among VPCs by testing the semantic contribution of each component. / Finally, we conclude the thesis with a chapter-by-chapter summary and outline of the findings of our work, suggestions of potential NLP applications, and a presentation of further research directions (Chapter 9).

Diss. Uppsala : Uppsala Universitet, 2006.

In this thesis I will explore the impersonal constructions in Modern Welsh. In doing so, I will follow the approach of the previous literature in comparing this construction with the analytic Welsh passive. The general linguistic literature on passivization assumes that both constructions involve passivization and despite some studies of Welsh concluding that the impersonal construction is not a passive, this thesis cannot support or deny this claim. I show that it is the definition of passive that obstructs a conclusive analysis for the Welsh impersonal morphology's syntactic and semantic effects, ultimately. Using the data described in detail throughout the thesis, I conclude with an assessment of the scope of our current theories of passive - be they typological or theoretical - that reveals problematic areas. Typological, prototypical and canonical approaches to the passive of course fail to include enough nuance to identify the relevant structural components of the Welsh impersonal, whilst theoretical approaches cannot account for the restrictions found on intransitive impersonals. LFG's mapping theory has the potential to accommodate the Welsh data according to current proposals and as such is examined in more depth. I have given an emphasis to using naturally occurring data whenever possible and this has led to a data-rich, descriptive work, in an attempt to expand the breadth of examples of Welsh found in discussions of linguistic theory. Additionally, this approach provide the basis for future work on Welsh verb classes by describing the behaviour of verbs in several constructions relevant to the work at hand. Along with a general synthesis of the previous literature on impersonals and analytic passives in chapter 2, I include an elaborated analysis of Welsh analytic passives and some problematic new impersonal data. The novel data on verb classes begins in chapter 3 with a study of verbs of psychological state. The lack of restriction on the impersonal contrasts with the analytic GET-passive's failure in a subset of these transitive verbs previously unobserved. In chapter 4, I investigate the availability of unaccusativity diagnostics in Welsh, in an attempt to prove that unaccusative verbs do indeed impersonalize, as suggested by previous literature. Chapter 5 then uses the diagnostic, amongst others to track down further restrictions on the impersonal and I show that whilst unaccusativity cannot be excluded as a potential restriction to impersonal morphology, the semantic restrictions are as plausible an account. This chapter uses different structural and semantic verbs and predicates and finds that animacy in intransitives is the only restriction needed to describe impersonals. In the following chapter (6) I examine this restriction in more detail and summarize the data on the impersonal in order to then probe the current linguistic theories in chapter 7.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the department of AFRICAN LANGUAGES at the UNIVERSITY OF ZULULAND, 2001. / This document consists of five chapters which are as follows: Chapter 1 is an introductory part where the primary concept "pidgin" will be defined. Other basic terms namely survey, target language, lingua franca, mother tongue and others are also defined. It will deal with a survey of pidgins of the world where trends of Fanakalo as a pidgin begin to appear. Chapter 2 will deal with comparison of Fanakalo varieties to the standard form of isiZulu where linguistic aspects such as phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics will be highlighted. Chapter 3 will focus on the extent to which Fanakalo lexicon can be compared with that of isiZulu. This will necessitate the inclusion of sociolinguistic aspects such as borrowing, adaptation, coinage and interlarding. Chapter 4 is concerned with the perceptions of Fanakalo by members of the community where the results of the interviews conducted will be given and analyzed accordingly. Chapter 5 which is the final chapter will be the conclusion where the viability of Fanakalo in the "New" South Africa as well as general statements about Fanakalo will be given.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis presents a computational method for the inductive inference of explicit and implicit semantic design knowledge from the symbolic-mathematical syntax of design formulations using an unsupervised pattern recognition and extraction approach. Existing research shows that AI / machine learning based design computation approaches either require high levels of knowledge engineering or large training databases to acquire problem reformulation knowledge. The method presented in this thesis addresses these methodological limitations. The thesis develops, tests, and evaluates ways in which the method may be employed for design problem reformulation. The method is based on the linear algebra based factorization method Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), dimensionality reduction and similarity measurement through unsupervised clustering. The method calculates linear approximations of the associative patterns of symbol cooccurrences in a design problem representation to infer induced coupling strengths between variables, constraints and system components. Unsupervised clustering of these approximations is used to identify useful reformulations. These two components of the method automate a range of reformulation tasks that have traditionally required different solution algorithms. Example reformulation tasks that it performs include selection of linked design variables, parameters and constraints, design decomposition, modularity and integrative systems analysis, heuristically aiding design “case” identification, topology modeling and layout planning. The relationship between the syntax of design representation and the encoded semantic meaning is an open design theory research question. Based on the results of the method, the thesis presents a set of theoretical postulates on computable relationships between design syntax and semantics. The postulates relate the performance of the method with empirical findings and theoretical insights provided by cognitive neuroscience and cognitive science on how the human mind engages in symbol processing and the resulting capacities inherent in symbolic representational systems to encode “meaning”. The performance of the method suggests that semantic “meaning” is a higher order, global phenomenon that lies distributed in the design representation in explicit and implicit ways. A one-to-one local mapping between a design symbol and its meaning, a largely prevalent approach adopted by many AI and learning algorithms, may not be sufficient to capture and represent this meaning. By changing the theoretical standpoint on how a “symbol” is defined in design representations, it was possible to use a simple set of mathematical ideas to perform unsupervised inductive inference of knowledge in a knowledge-lean and training-lean manner, for a knowledge domain that traditionally relies on “giving” the system complex design domain and task knowledge for performing the same set of tasks.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis presents a computational method for the inductive inference of explicit and implicit semantic design knowledge from the symbolic-mathematical syntax of design formulations using an unsupervised pattern recognition and extraction approach. Existing research shows that AI / machine learning based design computation approaches either require high levels of knowledge engineering or large training databases to acquire problem reformulation knowledge. The method presented in this thesis addresses these methodological limitations. The thesis develops, tests, and evaluates ways in which the method may be employed for design problem reformulation. The method is based on the linear algebra based factorization method Singular Value Decomposition (SVD), dimensionality reduction and similarity measurement through unsupervised clustering. The method calculates linear approximations of the associative patterns of symbol cooccurrences in a design problem representation to infer induced coupling strengths between variables, constraints and system components. Unsupervised clustering of these approximations is used to identify useful reformulations. These two components of the method automate a range of reformulation tasks that have traditionally required different solution algorithms. Example reformulation tasks that it performs include selection of linked design variables, parameters and constraints, design decomposition, modularity and integrative systems analysis, heuristically aiding design “case” identification, topology modeling and layout planning. The relationship between the syntax of design representation and the encoded semantic meaning is an open design theory research question. Based on the results of the method, the thesis presents a set of theoretical postulates on computable relationships between design syntax and semantics. The postulates relate the performance of the method with empirical findings and theoretical insights provided by cognitive neuroscience and cognitive science on how the human mind engages in symbol processing and the resulting capacities inherent in symbolic representational systems to encode “meaning”. The performance of the method suggests that semantic “meaning” is a higher order, global phenomenon that lies distributed in the design representation in explicit and implicit ways. A one-to-one local mapping between a design symbol and its meaning, a largely prevalent approach adopted by many AI and learning algorithms, may not be sufficient to capture and represent this meaning. By changing the theoretical standpoint on how a “symbol” is defined in design representations, it was possible to use a simple set of mathematical ideas to perform unsupervised inductive inference of knowledge in a knowledge-lean and training-lean manner, for a knowledge domain that traditionally relies on “giving” the system complex design domain and task knowledge for performing the same set of tasks.

<p>U radu se identifikuju unutarjezicke gre&scaron;ke,<br />sistematizuju se prema jezickim nivoima i<br />tipovima, morfolo&scaron;kim i sintaksickosemantickim<br />modelima, zatim se opisuju i<br />gre&scaron;ke i uzroci njihovog nastanka (gde god je to<br />moguce). Izlažu se rezultati analize prema:<br />- jezickim nivoima,<br />- gramatickim kategorijama,<br />- ucestalosti pojavljivanja gre&scaron;aka,<br />- prvom jeziku studenata, tako ce se pokazati<br />koje gre&scaron;ke su odlika govornika samo jednog<br />polaznog jezika, a koje su zajednicke<br />govornicima razlicitih ili možda cak svih<br />polaznih jezika.</p> / <p>In the paper, intralinguistic errors are<br />identified, systematized according to linguistic<br />levels and types, morphological and syntactic<br />and semantic models. Errors are then described<br />including the causes of their occurrence (in<br />cases in which it is possible). The results of the<br />analysis are presented according to:<br />- linguistic levels,<br />- grammatical categories,<br />- frequency of error occurrence,<br />- students&#39; L1, which will indicate which<br />errors are characteristic of speakers of<br />only one L1 as well as which errors are<br />common to speakers of different or<br />possibly all the native languages</p>

In this thesis, we have developed a flow-sensitive data flow analysis framework for value set analyses for Java-like languages. Our analysis frame work is based on access paths—a variable followed by zero or more field accesses. We express our abstract states as maps from bounded access paths to abstract value sets. Using access paths instead of allocation sites enables us to perform strong updates on assignments to dynamically allocated memory locations. We also describe several optimizations to reduce the number of access paths that need to be tracked in our analysis. We have instantiated this frame work for flow-sensitive pointer and null-pointer analysis for Java. We have implemented our analysis inside the Chord frame work. A major part of our implementation is written declaratively using Datalog. We leverage the use of BDDs in Chord for keeping our memory usage low. We show that our analysis is much more precise and faster than traditional flow-sensitive and flow-insensitive pointer and null-pointer analysis for Java. We further extend our access path based analysis frame work to concurrent Java programs. We use the synchronization structure of the programs to transfer abstract states from one thread to another. Therefore, we do not need to make conservative assumptions about reads or writes to shared memory. We prove our analysis to be sound for the happens-before memory model, which is weaker than most common memory models, including sequential consistency and the Java Memory Model. We implement a null-pointer analysis for concurrent Java programs and show it to be more precise than the traditional analysis.

<p>U radu se analizira funkcionisanje determinativnih<br />padežnih sistema u romanijskim govorima Starog<br />Vlaha. Razmatraju se sintaksičko-semantičke<br />karakteristike padežnih konstrukcija koje su<br />sintaksički formalizatori semantičke kategorije<br />prostornosti, a zatim i one koje su sintaksički<br />formalizatori vi&scaron;e apstraktnih semantičkih kategorija,<br />a to su: temporalnost, kvalifikativnost (u okviru nje:<br />instrumentalnost, kvalifikativnost u užem smislu,<br />propratna okolnost, kriterijum / osnov<br />kvalifikativnog tipa, komparativnost,<br />kvantifikativnost), intencionalnost, kauzalnost,<br />kondicionalnost, koncesivnost i posesivnost.<br />Posebno se sagledavaju padežne konstrukcije s<br />primarno prostornim značenjem, kao izvornim<br />domenom, koje mehanizmom metaforizacije prostora<br />nalaze svoje mesto u sistemu formalizatora navedenih<br />apstraktnih semantičkih kategorija kao ciljnih<br />domena.</p> / <p>The thesis analyses the function of<br />determinative case systems in the Romanija<br />speech of the Stari Vlah region. It deals with<br />syntactic and semantic characteristics of case<br />constructions which act as syntactic formalisers<br />of the semantic category of spatiality as well as<br />those which are syntactic formalisers of more<br />abstract semantic categories, such as the<br />following: temporality, qualificability<br />(including instrumentality, qualificability in a<br />narrower sense, concomitancy, the criterion /<br />basis of the qualificative type, comparability<br />and quantifiability), intentionality, causality,<br />conditionality, concessionality and<br />possessiveness. A special attention is devoted to<br />the case constructions whose primary meaning<br />is that of spatiality, as their source domain,<br />which then by the mechanism of<br />metaphorisation of space find their place in the<br />system of formalisers of the aforementioned<br />abstract semantic categories as their target<br />domains.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wis. / bibl.; diags.; Typescript (processed). eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 442-447).