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Does Meaning Evolve?
Aug 14, 2004
A common method of making a theory more understandable, is by comparing it to another theory which has been better developed. Radical interpretation is a theory which attempts to explain how communication has meaning. Radical interpretation is treated as another time-dependent theory and compared to the time dependent theory of biological evolution. The main reason for doing this is to find the nature of the time dependence; producing analogs between the two theories is a necessary prerequisite to this and brings up many problems. Once the nature of the time dependence is better known it might allow the underlying mechanism to be uncovered. Several similarities and differences are uncovered, there appear to be more differences than similarities.
Ultrametric Distance in Syntax
Jul 08, 2001
Phrase structure trees have a hierarchical structure. In many subjects, most notably in Taxonomy such tree structures have been studied using ultrametrics. Here syntactical hierarchical phrase trees are subject to a similar analysis, which is much siompler as the branching structure is more readily discernible and switched. The occurence of hierarchical structure elsewhere in linguistics is mentioned. The phrase tree can be represented by a matrix and the elements of the matrix can be represented by triangles. The height at which branching occurs is not prescribed in previous syntatic models, but it is by using the ultrametric matrix. The ambiguity of which branching height to choose is resolved by postulating that branching occurs at the lowest height available. An ultrametric produces a measure of the complexity of sentences: presumably the complexity of sentence increases as a language is aquired so that this can be tested. A All ultrametric triangles are equilateral or isocles, here it is shown that X structur implies that there are no equilateral triangles. Restricting attention to simple syntax a minium ultrametric distance between lexical categories is calculatex. This ultrametric distance is shown to be different than the matrix obtasined from feaures. It is shown that the definition of c-commabnd can be replaced by an equivalent ultrametric definition. The new definition invokes a minimum distance between nodes and this is more aesthetically satisfing than previouv varieties of definitions. From the new definition of c-command follows a new definition of government.
* 28 pages, 55508 bytes, 16 eps diagrams, 39 references, some small changes from the previous version, matrices reset, background to this work can be found at: http://cosmology.mth.uct.ac.za/~roberts/pastresearch/ultrametric.html
P-model Alternative to the T-model
Jul 08, 2001
Standard linguistic analysis of syntax uses the T-model. This model requires the ordering: D-structure $>$ S-structure $>$ LF. Between each of these representations there is movement which alters the order of the constituent words; movement is achieved using the principles and parameters of syntactic theory. Psychological serial models do not accommodate the T-model immediately so that here a new model called the P-model is introduced. Here it is argued that the LF representation should be replaced by a variant of Frege's three qualities. In the F-representation the order of elements is not necessarily the same as that in LF and it is suggested that the correct ordering is: F-representation $>$ D-structure $>$ S-structure. Within this framework movement originates as the outcome of emphasis applied to the sentence.
Autocatalytic Theory of Meaning
Feb 16, 1999Recently it has been argued that autocatalytic theory could be applied to the origin of culture. Here possible application to a theory of meaning in the philosophy of language, called radical interpretation, is commented upon and compared to previous applications.
* 4 pages, no diagrams, LaTex2e
Name Strategy: Its Existence and Implications
Dec 04, 1998
It is argued that colour name strategy, object name strategy, and chunking strategy in memory are all aspects of the same general phenomena, called stereotyping. It is pointed out that the Berlin-Kay universal partial ordering of colours and the frequency of traffic accidents classified by colour are surprisingly similar. Some consequences of the existence of a name strategy for the philosophy of language and mathematics are discussed. It is argued that real valued quantities occur {\it ab initio}. The implication of real valued truth quantities is that the {\bf Continuum Hypothesis} of pure mathematics is side-stepped. The existence of name strategy shows that thought/sememes and talk/phonemes can be separate, and this vindicates the assumption of thought occurring before talk used in psycholinguistic speech production models.
* 32 pages, 2 ascii diagrams