WHO: Andr\u00e1s Kornai
\nWHAT: Lexical semantics by machines
\nWHEN: Friday 14 October, 1:00PM-2:30PM
\nWHERE: 32-D831<\/p>\n
Abstract:<\/p>\n
\nA simple information-theoretic argument shows that about 90% of the
\ninformation in a sentence is carried by the choice of words, and only
\n10% depends on function-argument structure. In light of this, it is
\nsomewhat surprising that 90% of formal semantics (basically, all of
\nMontague Grammar and its descendants) deals with the compositional
\naspects of meaning, with lexical semantics relegated to the fringes of
\nformal work. In this talk we discuss how a classical piece of algebra,
\nEilenberg’s (1974) theory of machines, can be used to provide a
\nnontrivial formal theory of word meaning, and how the resulting model
\ninterfaces with compositional tecto- and phenogrammar.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nReferences: (* = suggested reading)<\/p>\n
S. Eilenberg (1974) Automata, Languages, and Machines. Academic Press
\n[This book is excellent background for those interested in the
\nalgebraic theory of finite state automata, transducers, and machines
\nthat this work puts to use for semantics.]<\/p>\n*A. Kornai (2010a) The treatment of ordinary quantification in English
\nproper. Hungarian Review of Philosophy 2010 54\/4 150-162
\n[This is a summary of what is wrong, in this author’s view, with MG and
\nrelated theories of formal semantics. Formal issues are discussed,
\nbut no heavy machinery is used.]<\/p>\n*A. Kornai (2010b) The algebra of lexical semantics. In C. Ebert, G.
\nJaeger, J. Michaelis (eds) Proc. 11th Mathematics of Language workshop
\n(MOL11) Springer LNCS 6149 174-199
\n[This is the intro to the new approach.]<\/p>\n*A. Kornai (2011) Eliminating ditransitives. To appear in M. Egg, P. de
\nGroote, M-J Nederhof, F. Richter (eds) Selected Papers from the 15th
\nand 16th Formal Grammar Conferences, Springer LNAI, in press.
\n[One area where the algebraic approach shows some promise.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WHO: Andr\u00e1s Kornai WHAT: Lexical semantics by machines WHEN: Friday 14 October, 1:00PM-2:30PM WHERE: 32-D831 Abstract: A simple information-theoretic argument shows that about 90% of the information in a sentence is carried by the choice of words, and only 10% depends on function-argument structure. In light of this, it is somewhat surprising that 90% of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-talks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3110"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3119,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3110\/revisions\/3119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ling-phil.mit.edu\/whamit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}