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The article examines the interpretations of Area X as a hyperobject in the book "Area X: The Southern Reach" by Jeff VanderMeer, with a focus on the epistemological crisis as it manifests at the levels of semantics and figuration. Topics discussed include origins of the trilogy, ways in which Area X manifests beyond its borders, and questions posed by linguist Hsyu regarding signification. The definition of "hyperobjects" given by author Timothy Morton is also discussed.

The Holy Qur'an is the main source of the Islamic religion, and for this reason, Muslims have been trying to understand it for a long time. The important point here is that non-Arabic speaking Muslims were forced to use translations of the Holy Quran due to their language barrier. The problem here is that in some cases, translation does not have the possibility of transferring the entire concept to the target language, therefore, the general translations of the Holy Quran are facing some inadequacies. One of the topics mentioned in the Holy Quran is despair. In the Holy Qur'an, two articles "Qunt" and "Despair" are used to refer to this issue, which naturally have differences based on the principle of divine wisdom and the linguistic principle of linguistic economy, while in the Persian translations below these two words are equivalent "Disappointment" is used. In this research, we intend to answer this question through library studies and the use of semantic methods, what is the difference in meaning between the two words "qant" and "despair" and what new equivalent can be suggested for them? It should be noted that despite the great importance of this question, no such research has been conducted so far. From the results of the current research, we can also point to the suggestion of translating "disappointment-turning back" for the article of Qant and assigning the equivalent of "disappointment" to the article of despair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine hemodynamic and functional connectivity alterations and their association with neurocognitive and mental health indices in patients with chronic mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Methods: Resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and neuropsychological assessment of 37 patients with chronic mTBI were performed. Intrinsic connectivity contrast (ICC) and time-shift analysis (TSA) of the rs-fMRI data allowed the assessment of regional hemodynamic and functional connectivity disturbances and their coupling (or uncoupling). Thirty-nine healthy age- and gender-matched participants were also examined. Results: Patients with chronic mTBI displayed hypoconnectivity in bilateral hippocampi and parahippocampal gyri and increased connectivity in parietal areas (right angular gyrus and left superior parietal lobule (SPL)). Slower perfusion (hemodynamic lag) in the left anterior hippocampus was associated with higher self-reported symptoms of depression (r = − 0.53, p =.0006) and anxiety (r = − 0.484, p =.002), while faster perfusion (hemodynamic lead) in the left SPL was associated with lower semantic fluency (r = − 0.474, p =.002). Finally, functional coupling (high connectivity and hemodynamic lead) in the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)) was associated with lower performance on attention and visuomotor coordination (r = − 0.50, p =.001), while dysfunctional coupling (low connectivity and hemodynamic lag) in the left ventral posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and right SPL was associated with lower scores on immediate passage memory (r = − 0.52, p =.001; r = − 0.53, p =.0006, respectively). Uncoupling in the right extrastriate visual cortex and posterior middle temporal gyrus was negatively associated with cognitive flexibility (r = − 0.50, p =.001). Conclusion: Hemodynamic and functional connectivity differences, indicating neurovascular (un)coupling, may be linked to mental health and neurocognitive indices in patients with chronic mTBI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to provide a complete Natural Kind Semantics for an Essentialist Theory of Kinds. The theory is formulated in two-sorted first order monadic modal logic with identity. The natural kind semantics is based on Rudolf Willes Theory of Concept Lattices. The semantics is then used to explain several consequences of the theory, including results about the specificity (species–genus) relations between kinds, the definitions of kinds in terms of genera and specific differences and the existence of negative kinds. First, I show under which conditions the Hierarchy principle, which has been subjected to counterexamples in the literature, holds. I also show that a different principle about the species–genus relations between kinds, namely Kant's Law , follows from the essentialist theory. Second, I introduce two new operations for kinds and show that they can be used to provide traditional definitions of kinds in terms of genera and specific differences. Finally, I show that these operations of specific difference induce, for each kind, a uniquely specified contrary kind and a uniquely specified subcontrary kind, which can be used as semantic values for non-classical predicate negations of kind terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the interface between concepts and word meanings by asking English speakers to list members of superordinate categories under one of three conditions: (1) when cued by a label (e.g. animals), (2) an exemplar list (e.g. dog, cat, mouse), or (3) a definition (e.g. "living creatures that roam the Earth"). We find that categories activated by labels lead to participants listing more category-typical responses, as quantified through typicality ratings, similarity in word embedding space, and accuracy in guessing category labels. This effect is stronger for some categories than others (e.g. stronger for appetizers than animals). These results support the view that a word is not merely a label for a concept, but rather a unique way of accessing and organizing conceptual space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sentences "More than half of the students passed the exam" and "Fewer than half of the students failed the exam" describe the same set of situations, and yet the former results in shorter reaction times in verification tasks. The two-step model explains this result by postulating that negative quantifiers contain hidden negation, which involves an extra processing stage. To test this theory, we applied a novel EEG analysis technique focused on detecting cognitive stages (HsMM-MVPA) to data from a picture-sentence verification task. We estimated the number of processing stages during reading and verification of quantified sentences (e.g. "Fewer than half of the dots are blue") that followed the presentation of pictures containing coloured geometric shapes. We did not find evidence for an extra step during the verification of sentences with fewer than half. We provide an alternative interpretation of our results in line with an expectation-based pragmatic account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grainger et al. examined flanker effects in an experiment where target words could be morphologically complex (e.g. farmer), have a pseudo-morphological structure (e.g. corner), or have no morphological structure (e.g. cashew). Target words were flanked on both sides by the left-aligned embedded word in the related flanker condition (e.g. farm farmer farm; corn corner corn; cash cashew cash). Effects of related flankers were compared with matched unrelated flankers (e.g. book farmer book). Significantly greater effects of flanker relatedness were found with morphologically related flankers compared with both pseudo-morphological flankers and non-morphological embedded word flankers. However, more recent work in Spanish has failed to replicate this specific pattern. We therefore sought to replicate our findings in French, while increasing experimental power and modifying the nonword targets. The results of the present study successfully replicate the findings of Grainger et al. [(2021). Morphological processing in the flankers task. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 36(3), 288–295. ]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multilingual children living in areas with low socioeconomic status (SES) are at an increased risk of having speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). Many multilingual children with SLCN in Sweden have insufficient basic vocabulary knowledge in the majority language, preventing them from achieving the school's learning goals. However, there is a lack of studies of interventions that could improve vocabulary development in this group, and that can be delivered in an everyday educational setting. This pilot study evaluates the effect of a school-based vocabulary group intervention, which combines elements from shared book reading and the Lexicon Pirate method, on vocabulary skills. A non-randomised pretest–posttest control group design was used. Eighteen six- to seven-year-old multilingual children attending preschool class in low SES areas either received intervention (n = 9) or were included in a control group (n = 9). The intervention group participated in 12 intervention sessions over six weeks. Word knowledge, semantic fluency, and comprehension of semantic relations were assessed pre- and post-intervention. Results revealed that children in the intervention group demonstrated significant gains in knowledge of both trained and untrained words, compared to the control group. No effects were found on semantic fluency or comprehension of semantic relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bilmes's work in the last decade of his career was primarily concerned with the approach he developed and called Occasioned Semantics. Bilmes based OS on Sacks' (1995) membership categorisation work together with components of taxonomical analysis derived from ethno-semantics. While the approach was primarily aimed at the field of Semantics, Bilmes also argued that OS offered a way to develop upon Sacks' work by situating categorial inferencing within 'occasioned fields of meaning' within which categorial definitions and descriptions evolve through a taxonomic branching texture. In this paper we explore the potential analytic intersection between aspects of Bilmes' OS and Sacks' category analysis together with later developments in Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA). In particular we revisit the 'consistency rule' together with 'omni-relevance', which provides a way of understanding shifts in fields of meaning as hierarchical and multi-layered. The combined approach allows to bring into view multi-layered sequential and categorial flow with taxonomic branching that takes place within an ongoing, unfolding and contingent interactional context of 'who-we-are-and-what-we-are-doing'. • Explore the analytic intersections of Occasioned Semantics and MCA. • Consider how combined OS and MCA can add to the analytic insights of each other. • Explore how emergent structures of meaning are co-constructed by participants. • Shed further light onto the routine layering of members' situated categorial practices. • Revisit the 'consistency rule' together with 'omni-relevance'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Declarative sentences are known to be compatible with a wide range of different speech acts. The paper develops, for German, a proposal in which declarative sentences that express assertions, declarations (including explicit performatives), exclamations, wishes, commands, observations (or miratives), reminders and questions have slightly distinct syntactic representations and, consequently, semantic interpretations. The syntactic representation allows for epistemic and evidential modifications of assertions and for markers of assertive strength by speechact-related adverbials and by embedding verbal predicates that are usually analyzed as parenthetical. It also contains new proposals for evidential modal verbs and for the reportative subjunctive in German. Speech acts are interpreted as common ground updates that typically do not only involve an informative update but also a performative update that changes the worldtime indices of the common ground. This does not only hold for declarations but also for assertions and exclamations, where the former are analyzed as creating a commitment to the truth of a proposition, and the latter as committing to an emotional attitude. In contrast to proposals that relegate the illocutionary interpretation of declarative clauses largely to pragmatics, the paper develops a perspective in which it is predominantly a matter of syntactic structure and compositional interpretation. • Syntax and semantics of different interpretations of declarative sentences. • Assertions, declarations, exclamations, wishes, observations, reminders, questions. • Speech acts as updates of common ground. • Modifications of assertions by epistemic, evidential and commitment strength markers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Under modern conditions, "romantic love" forms a central source of social recognition. However, its increased significance, frequently signaled by the use of religious semantics, simultaneously ensures an increase in the vulnerability of the individual. This text explores the tense nature of the sphere of recognition of love under modern conditions. The focus is on two contemporary authors who have dealt with the ambivalences of contemporary love relationships in a particularly impressive way: the cultural sociologist Eva Illouz and the writer Sally Rooney. After an introductory look at the themes common to both authors, the focus turns to specific experiences of insecurity associated with the rise of love as a central sphere of recognition. Then the tension between recognition and autonomy, also characteristic of romantic relationships, is considered. Finally, theological considerations follow, which tie in with Illouz's own remarks on the religious dimension of love. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the heterodox economic literature on pluralism, attention has predominately focussed on epistemic and methodological levels. The response to the question of what ontological pluralism could mean, and its contribution to the debate, remains limited. This paper argues for greater attention to be given to ontological pluralism, not only because it enriches the existing discussions around pluralism in the heterodox literature but it also provides support for a plurality of epistemological standards and methodological approaches. The paper proposes an alternative definition of ontological pluralism based on the work of McDaniel and Turner. Both argue that ontological pluralism should be understood as saying that there are different ways to exist and that acceptance of the semantic characteristics of ontological questions and statements within different ontological discourses are essential in a proper definition. This paper details their definition and explores its consequences with an analysis of the Searle–Lawson dispute on social objects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For qualitative data analysis (QDA), researchers assign codes to text segments to arrange the information into topics or concepts. These annotations facilitate information retrieval and the identification of emerging patterns in unstructured data. However, this metadata is typically not published or reused after the research. Subsequent studies with similar research questions require a new definition of codes and do not benefit from other analysts' experience. Machine learning (ML) based classification seeded with such data remains a challenging task due to the ambiguity of code definitions and the inherent subjectivity of the exercise. Previous attempts to support QDA using ML rely on linear models and only examined individual datasets that were either smaller or coded specifically for this purpose. However, we show that modern approaches effectively capture at least part of the codes' semantics and may generalize to multiple studies. We analyze the performance of multiple classifiers across three large real-world datasets. Furthermore, we propose an ML-based approach to identify semantic relations of codes in different studies to show thematic faceting, enhance retrieval of related content, or bootstrap the coding process. These are encouraging results that suggest how analysts might benefit from prior interpretation efforts, potentially yielding new insights into qualitative data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we defend two claims. First, we argue that a notion of contextuality that has been formalized in physics and psychology is applicable to linguistic contexts. Second, we propose that this formal apparatus is philosophically significant for the epistemology of language because it imposes homogeneous rational constraints on speakers. We propose a Contextuality Principle that explains and articulates these two claims. This principle states that speakers update contextual information by significantly reducing the space of probabilities and variables in a non-commutative way. Some contexts affect other contexts not merely in terms of the information they contain, but also on the basis of their sequential order. In particular, we argue that the Contextuality by Default (CBD) theory provides a formalism that helps explain the role of contextuality in rational linguistic exchanges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Religious expressivism is the view that religious sentences, like 'God is all-loving' and 'God offers us the gift of salvation', are devoid of cognitive meaning. Such sentences are not truth-evaluable: they cannot be judged as true or false. In Religious Language , Michael Scott asked what explains the seeming logical behaviour of religious sentences if they are not truth-evaluable, as religious expressivists claim. In particular, religious expressivists need to explain (i) how a given religious sentence and its negation seem inconsistent and (ii) how religious sentences could figure in logically valid arguments. In this article, I develop a version of Weak Kleene semantics that could address these two 'logic' challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various big geo-data provide a social sensing approach to measure spatial interactions. Existing studies often aggregate individual-level movement trajectories or social ties to obtain the interaction intensity between places, neglecting the detailed meanings (i.e. the semantics) behind spatial interactions. However, such meanings help to understand the relationship between two places, and consequently, the characteristics of both places. We argue that semantics can be extracted from spatial interactions through features of space, time, symmetry, and individual-based statistics. Whereafter the calculation and applications of the features are given. Furthermore, we discuss the construction of spatial interaction networks with semantics, as well as approaches to representing places according to spatial interactions. Finally, we illustrate the potential value of spatial interaction semantics in facilitating decision-making through an example in the context of tourism planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Headings purpose: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic, nondegenerative disease with important limitations in patients. Its average global prevalence is 1.78%, and women are more affected than men (3:1). Due to the lack of objective diagnostic tools, it is a complex medical condition that is frequently unseen by patients' relatives and doctors, which might nonetheless have a noticeable impact on the patient's entourage. Material and Methods: This qualitative descriptive study aimed to elicit family members' views on how FM affects their lives. It was conducted in two community health centers (one rural and one urban) from the Sagunto Health Department (Valencia Community, Spain). We included seven focus groups with 41 family members. We analyzed the data gathered with an inductive thematic semantic analysis approach using NVivo 12 software. Results: We identified four major themes: (1) fibromyalgia as a nosological entity or an invention that is always burdensome; (2) children and spouses as caregivers (or not); (3) adverse effects of fibromyalgia on the couple's sexual life; and (4) harmful consequences of FM on the family economy. The findings showed a negative impact of the disease within the family context. Family members face complex and changing roles and difficulties when living with women with fibromyalgia. Conclusions: Relatives' better understanding of the disease, greater acceptance of new family roles, and improvement of patients' work conditions are all interventions that may help reduce the negative impact of FM in the family context. Vázquez Canales LDM, Aguilar García-Iturrospe E, and Pereiro Berenguer I. Impact of fibromyalgia in the family context. FISABIO Foundation Primary Care Research Journey, Generalitat Valenciana (Valencia, Spain). 25th November 2021. Awarded Best Research Project in Primary Care Year 2021. Vázquez Canales LDM, Aguilar García-Iturrospe E, and Pereiro Berenguer I. Qualitative approach in the impact of fibromyalgia in the family context. IV Autonomic Fibromyalgia Journey for professionals and patients. Organized by Sagunto Hospital (Sagunto, Spain). 15th May 2018. Vázquez Canales LDM, Aguilar García-Iturrospe E, and Pereiro Berenguer I. Research project about the Impact of fibromyalgia in the family context. National Spanish Conference about Family Medicine. Organized by the Spanish Family Medicine Society (Madrid, Spain). 6th May 2017. Vázquez Canales LDM, Aguilar García-Iturrospe E, and Pereiro Berenguer I. Quantitative approach in the impact of fibromyalgia in the family context. III Autonomic Fibromyalgia Journey for Professionals and Patients. Organized by Sagunto Hospital (Sagunto, Spain). 2nd October 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perception involves the processing of content or information about the world. In what form is this content represented? I argue that perception is widely compositional. The perceptual system represents many stimulus features (including shape, orientation, and motion) in terms of combinations of other features (such as shape parts, slant and tilt, common and residual motion vectors). But compositionality can take a variety of forms. The ways in which perceptual representations compose are markedly different from the ways in which sentences or thoughts are thought to be composed. I suggest that the thesis that perception is compositional is not itself a concrete hypothesis with specific predictions; rather it affords a productive framework for developing and evaluating specific empirical hypotheses about the form and content of perceptual representations. The question is not just whether perception is compositional, but how. Answering this latter question can provide fundamental insights into perception.This article is categorized under: Philosophy > Representation Philosophy > Foundations of Cognitive Science Psychology > Perception and Psychophysics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Herding games” are mimicry games played by children in several East African pastoralist societies. This article presents an ethnographic account of the herding game among the Hamar agro-pastoralist people of Southwest Ethiopia, and reveals the dynamics by which children learn pastoral ecological knowledge from each other and socialise one another into pastoralist linguacultural practices. During the herding game, male children of various ages learn from each other the indigenous categorisation system for livestock individuation, and internalise important semantic distinctions in the domain of coat colours and patterns, by mapping the categories for livestock appearance on pebbles and shells. The game also allows children to learn and practise the communicative style used in human–animal interactions: this includes the Hamar system of address for cattle, animal directives and “bell-ideophones”, which are crucial in a pastoral soundscape. The study demonstrates the importance of child agency in linguacultural socialisation. Herding games and children’s play are an important context for horizontal learning in small-scale pastoralist societies and should be given more attention in cross-cultural studies on child socialisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How we reason about objectivity--whether an assertion has a ground truth--has implications for belief formation on wide-ranging topics. For example, if someone perceives climate change to be a matter of subjective opinion similar to the best movie genre, they may consider empirical claims about climate change as mere opinion and irrelevant to their beliefs. Here, we investigate whether the language employed by journalists might influence the perceived objectivity of news claims. Specifically, we ask whether factive verb framing (e.g., "Scientists know climate change is happening") increases perceived objectivity compared to nonfactive framing (e.g., "Scientists believe [...]"). Across eight studies (N = 2,785), participants read news headlines about unique, noncontroversial topics (studies 1a-b, 2a-b) or a familiar, controversial topic (climate change; studies 3a-b, 4a-b) and rated the truth and objectivity of the headlines' claims. Across all eight studies, when claims were presented as beliefs (e.g., "Tortoise breeders believe tortoises are becoming more popular pets"), people consistently judged those claims as more subjective than claims presented as knowledge (e.g., "Tortoise breeders know..."), as well as claims presented as unattributed generics (e.g., "Tortoises are becoming more popular pets"). Surprisingly, verb framing had relatively little, inconsistent influence over participants' judgments of the truth of claims. These results demonstrate how, apart from shaping whether we believe a claim is true or false, epistemic language in media can influence whether we believe a claim has an objective answer at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The default mode network (DMN) typically deactivates to external tasks, yet supports semantic cognition. It comprises medial temporal (MT), core, and frontotemporal (FT) subsystems, but its functional organization is unclear: the requirement for perceptual coupling versus decoupling, input modality (visual/verbal), type of information (social/spatial), and control demands all potentially affect its recruitment. We examined the effect of these factors on activation and deactivation of DMN subsystems during semantic cognition, across four task-based human functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) datasets, and localized these responses in whole-brain state space defined by gradients of intrinsic connectivity. FT showed activation consistent with a central role across domains, tasks, and modalities, although it was most responsive to abstract, verbal tasks; this subsystem uniquely showed more "tuned" states characterized by increases in both activation and deactivation when semantic retrieval demands were higher. MT also activated to both perceptually coupled (scenes) and decoupled (autobiographical memory) tasks and showed stronger responses to picture associations, consistent with a role in scene construction. Core DMN consistently showed deactivation, especially to externally oriented tasks. These diverse contributions of DMN subsystems to semantic cognition were related to their location on intrinsic connectivity gradients: activation was closer to the sensory-motor cortex than deactivation, particularly for FT and MT, while activation for core DMN was distant from both visual cortex and cognitive control. These results reveal distinctive yet complementary DMN responses: MT and FT support different memory-based representations that are accessed externally and internally, while deactivation in core DMN is associated with demanding, external semantic tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes, as an entryway into the complex debate about 'exclusion' (apoha) in Indian philosophy, that the main idea underlying Dignāga's theory of apoha is that the relation between a word and its meaning—all the individuals that it can refer to—is established more by noticing what it is not used for than what it is used for. The Mīmāṃsā philosopher Kumārila raises a number of objections based on his construal of an apoha as a 'non-existence' (abhāva), but he also zeroes in on the problem of how, if apoha s are known only by language and inference, they could ever be known at all. In this connection, he criticises Dignāga's idea that the meaning of a word is learned by noticing that it is not used for things other than its usual referent. It seems, then, that much of what Dharmakīrti is doing in his discussion of apoha is to provide, in response to Kumārila, an account of how perceptual experiences of distinct particulars that have the same effects naturally give rise to an ascertainment of their exclusion from other entities, which can then be assigned as the meaning of an expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conversation elaborates on the latest work of the Paris-based writer, philosopher, translator, mathematician and pianist Andrei Vieru, where he maintains that human freedom is inseparable from the idea of closure. Vieru’s model is rooted in the topological semantics of modal logic and provides valuable epistemological insights for the broader community of scholars (death and grief scholars, social scientists, humanists) as well as for policymakers, civil social actors and, generally, for all existentially concerned individuals in times of eroding democracies and pressing global risks. In this dialogue conducted during 2023 in face-to-face sessions and via email exchanges between Paris and Bucharest, Vieru reflects on what is at stake philosophically, artistically and existentially when humans are confronted with the radical openness of possibilities brought by contemporary challenges like global crises and digital technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New insights into intractable industrial challenges can be revealed by framing them in terms of natural science. One intractable industrial challenge is that creative production can be much more financially expensive and time consuming than standardized production. Creative products include a wide range of goods that have one or more original characteristics. The scaling up of creative production is hindered by high financial production costs and long production durations. In this paper, creative production is framed in terms of interactions between entropy and complexity during progressions from emergent pragmatics to action semantics. An analysis of interactions between entropy and complexity is provided that relates established practice in creative production to organizational survival in changing environments. The analysis in this paper is related to assembly theory, which is a recent theoretical development in natural science that addresses how open-ended generation of complex physical objects can emerge from selection in biology. Parallels between assembly practice in industrial production and assembly theory in natural science are explained through constructs that are common to both, such as assembly index. Overall, analyses reported in the paper reveal that interactions between entropy and complexity underlie intractable challenges in creative production, from the production of individual products to the survival of companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phonological networks are representations of word forms and their phonological relationships with other words in a given language lexicon. A principle underlying the growth (or evolution) of those networks is preferential attachment, or the "rich-gets-richer" mechanisms, according to which words with many phonological neighbors (or links) are the main beneficiaries of future growth opportunities. Due to their limited number of words, language lexica constitute node-constrained networks where growth cannot keep increasing in a linear way; hence, preferential attachment is likely mitigated by certain factors. The present study investigated obsolescence effects (i.e., a word's finite timespan of being active in terms of growth) in an evolving phonological network of English as a second language. It was found that phonological neighborhoods are constructed by one large initial lexical spurt, followed by sublinear growth spurts that eventually lead to very limited growth in later lexical spurts during network evolution. First-language-given neighborhood densities are rarely reached even by the most advanced language learners. An analysis of the strength of phonological relationships between phonological word forms revealed a tendency to incorporate phonetically more distant phonological neighbors at earlier acquisition stages. Overall, the findings suggest an obsolescence effect in growth that favors younger words. Implications for the second-language lexicon include leveraged learning mechanisms and learning bouts focused on a smaller range of phonological segments, and involve questions concerning lexical processing in aging networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the Complementary Learning Systems model of word learning, only integrated novel words can interact with familiar words during lexical selection. The pre-registered study reported here is the first to examine behavioural and electrophysiological markers of integration in a task that relies primarily on automatic semantic processing. 71 young adults learned novel names for two sets of novel concepts, one set on each of two consecutive days. On Day 2, learning was followed by a continuous primed lexical decision task with EEG recording. In the N400 window, novel names trained immediately before testing differed from both familiar and untrained novel words, and, in the time window between 500–800 ms post onset, they also differed from novel names that had undergone a 24-hour consolidation, for which a small behavioural priming effect was observed. We develop an account that attributes the observed effects to processes rooted in episodic, rather than semantic, memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study tested the activation of different phonological units of Chinese characters during silent sentence reading. Fifty-five participants were tested in an eye-tracking experiment. A highly predictable target character in each experimental sentence was replaced by four types of substitutes (i.e. no-violation, tone-violation, rime-violation, and double-violation). The participants exhibited a shorter total reading time in the no-violation and tone-violation conditions than in the double-violation baseline condition, whereas the rime-violation condition did not differ from the baseline. Moreover, the participants did not benefit from tonal information in addition to syllable-level phonological overlap. Our findings are consistent with a notion of late phonological activation in Chinese, and therefore suggest a direct route of lexical activation bypassing phonological mediation during visual word recognition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Speakers have been shown to find sentences with erroneous agreement acceptable under certain conditions. This so-called agreement attraction effect has also been found in genitive-possessive structures such as "the teacher's brother" in Turkish [Lago et al. (2019). Straight from the horsefs mouth: Agreement attraction effects with Turkish possessors. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 9(3), 398–426. ], which is in contrast to its absence in similar constructions in English [Nicol et al. (2016). Minimal interference from possessor phrases in the production of subject-verb agreement. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 548. ]. It has been hypothesised that this discrepancy is a result of the association between genitive case marking and being a controller in Turkish. We test an alternative explanation according to which Lago et al.'s findings are due to a potential confound in their experiment, as the morphology on all agreement controllers were locally ambiguous between possessive and accusative case. The results of our speeded acceptability judgment experiment suggest that the presence of case syncretism does not affect agreement attraction contrary to previous findings in the literature. Abbreviations: ACC, accusative; DAT, dative; GEN, genitive; NMLZ, nominaliser; PASS , passive; PL, plural; POSS, possessive; PST, past; SG, singular; WHEN, when. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The event-related N400 provides a measure of lexical-semantic processing, indexing the encoding strength of newly learned words. We examined N400 modulations following associative learning of novel written words paired with novel object pictures from early to later stages of acquisition. During the initial learning session, novel picture-word pairs accompanied by semantic attributes were presented as stimuli for learning at multiple timepoints. Following learning at each of these timepoints, we examined behavioural and neural effects for recognition of familiar and novel words, as well as at a follow-up session several days later. Rapid behavioural learning was accompanied by N400 congruity effects for novel words, displaying a similar neurophysiological profile to familiar words. These behavioural and neural effects were largely sustained several days later in the follow-up session. Our findings indicate that explicit learning of novel object-word associations leads to the rapid formation and longer-term retention of new word memory traces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet image collections containing photos captured by crowds of photographers show promise for enabling digital exploration of large‐scale tourist landmarks. However, prior works focus primarily on geometric reconstruction and visualization, neglecting the key role of language in providing a semantic interface for navigation and fine‐grained understanding. In more constrained 3D domains, recent methods have leveraged modern vision‐and‐language models as a strong prior of 2D visual semantics. While these models display an excellent understanding of broad visual semantics, they struggle with unconstrained photo collections depicting such tourist landmarks, as they lack expert knowledge of the architectural domain and fail to exploit the geometric consistency of images capturing multiple views of such scenes. In this work, we present a localization system that connects neural representations of scenes depicting large‐scale landmarks with text describing a semantic region within the scene, by harnessing the power of SOTA vision‐and‐language models with adaptations for understanding landmark scene semantics. To bolster such models with fine‐grained knowledge, we leverage large‐scale Internet data containing images of similar landmarks along with weakly‐related textual information. Our approach is built upon the premise that images physically grounded in space can provide a powerful supervision signal for localizing new concepts, whose semantics may be unlocked from Internet textual metadata with large language models. We use correspondences between views of scenes to bootstrap spatial understanding of these semantics, providing guidance for 3D‐compatible segmentation that ultimately lifts to a volumetric scene representation. To evaluate our method, we present a new benchmark dataset containing large‐scale scenes with ground‐truth segmentations for multiple semantic concepts. Our results show that HaLo‐NeRF can accurately localize a variety of semantic concepts related to architectural landmarks, surpassing the results of other 3D models as well as strong 2D segmentation baselines. Our code and data are publicly available at https://tau‐vailab.github.io/HaLo‐NeRF/. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building information modeling (BIM) and geographic information system (GIS) are often integrated to achieve more refined urban management. Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) and City Geography Markup Language (CityGML) are widely used standards in BIM and GIS. The main problem of the transformation of these two standards lies in the gap between them in geometry and semantics. This article introduces an ontology‐based rule mapping approach, achieving the transformation from IFC to CityGML through coordinate system conversion, geometric expression conversion, and semantic mapping. For semantic mapping, we have designed and established rules, enabling the effective mapping of the IFC model to the CityGML level of detail 0 (LOD0) to LOD4 model based on entities, appearance properties and building properties. To fully demonstrate the entire process, we give a detailed elaboration of the conversion of several IFC models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) is a contrast-enhanced X-ray acquired during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. IOC images the biliary tree whereby filling defects, anatomical anomalies and duct injuries can be identified. In Australia, IOC are performed in over 81% of cholecystectomies compared with 20 to 30% internationally (Welfare AIoHa in Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation, 2017). In this study, we aim to train artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to interpret anatomy and recognise abnormalities in IOC images. This has potential utility in (a) intraoperative safety mechanisms to limit the risk of missed ductal injury or stone, (b) surgical training and coaching, and (c) auditing of cholangiogram quality. Methodology: Semantic segmentation masks were applied to a dataset of 1000 cholangiograms with 10 classes. Classes corresponded to anatomy, filling defects and the cholangiogram catheter instrument. Segmentation masks were applied by a surgical trainee and reviewed by a radiologist. Two convolutional neural networks (CNNs), DeeplabV3+ and U-Net, were trained and validated using 900 (90%) labelled frames. Testing was conducted on 100 (10%) hold-out frames. CNN generated segmentation class masks were compared with ground truth segmentation masks to evaluate performance according to a pixel-wise comparison. Results: The trained CNNs recognised all classes.. U-Net and DeeplabV3+ achieved a mean F1 of 0.64 and 0.70 respectively in class segmentation, excluding the background class. The presence of individual classes was correctly recognised in over 80% of cases. Given the limited local dataset, these results provide proof of concept in the development of an accurate and clinically useful tool to aid in the interpretation and quality control of intraoperative cholangiograms. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that a CNN can be trained to identify anatomical structures in IOC images. Future performance can be improved with the use of larger, more diverse training datasets. Implementation of this technology may provide cholangiogram quality control and improve intraoperative detection of ductal injuries or ductal injuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the relationship between theory and observation in scientific research, specifically in the field of linguistics. It discusses different perspectives on the role of observation and data in linguistic research, with a focus on generative syntax. The article emphasizes the importance of intuitive judgments and introspective data in this field, while also acknowledging the value of linguistic corpora and experimental methods. It concludes by presenting two papers that offer new perspectives on existing data in linguistics. The article is part of a collection of papers written to honor the 90th birthday of Mary A. Kato, a respected linguist. These papers cover various topics in linguistics, including language acquisition, syntax, semantics, and the use of judgment data in research. The authors present their findings based on extensive research and analysis of data from different sources, such as corpora and experimental studies. The papers provide valuable insights into the field of linguistics and highlight the significance of judgment data in linguistic research. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: Shared reading provides preschool-age children with the opportunity to learn novel, low-frequency words. Abundant empirical evidence demonstrates that children can learn the meanings of such words during shared reading, referred to as “semantic learning.” However, less is known about whether children learn the spellings of words during shared reading, referred to as “orthographic learning,” and whether this learning is related to early word reading. The present study tested relations between individual differences in 4- to 6-year-old children’s semantic and, critically, orthographic learning during shared reading and their early word reading skill. Method: In an adaptation of the self-teaching paradigm, children listened to a storybook about novel inventions referred to with nonword names. Children then completed orthographic and semantic choice tests, as well as standardized measures of early word reading and phonological awareness. Results: Individual differences in orthographic, but not semantic, learning during shared reading were related to early word reading, after controls for age and phonological awareness. Conclusions: This study provides a novel test of learning during shared reading, helping to specify the relation between orthographic and semantic learning and early word reading skill. These findings hold implications for theoretical perspectives on relations between learning during shared reading and early word reading, as well as implications for educational practice [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: According to the interpersonal synergy model of spoken dialogue, interlocutors modify their communicative behaviors to meet the contextual demands of a given conversation. Although a growing body of research supports this postulation for linguistic behaviors (e.g., semantics, syntax), little is understood about how this model applies to speech behaviors (e.g., speech rate, pitch). The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that interlocutors adjust their speech behaviors across different conversational tasks with different conversational goals. Method: In this study, 28 participants each engaged in two different types of conversations (i.e., relational and informational) with two partners (i.e., Partner 1 and Partner 2), yielding a total of 112 conversations. We compared six acoustic measures of participant speech behavior across conversational task and partner. Results: Linear mixed-effects models demonstrated significant differences between speech feature measures in informational and relational conversations. Furthermore, these findings were generally robust across conversations with different partners. Conclusions: Results suggest that contextual demands influence speech behaviors. These findings provide empirical support for the interpersonal synergy model and highlight important considerations for assessing speech behaviors in individuals with communication disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the task of generating fluent descriptions by training on a non-uniform combination of data sources, containing both human-annotated and web-collected captions. Large-scale datasets with noisy image-text pairs, indeed, provide a sub-optimal source of supervision because of their low-quality descriptive style, while human-annotated datasets are cleaner but smaller in scale. To get the best of both worlds, we propose to leverage and separate semantics and descriptive style through the incorporation of a style token and keywords extracted through a retrieval component. The proposed model avoids the need of object detectors, is trained with a single objective of prompt language modeling, and can replicate the style of human-collected captions while training on sources with different input styles. Experimentally, the model shows a strong capability of recognizing real-world concepts and producing high-quality captions. Extensive experiments are performed on different image captioning datasets, including CC3M, nocaps, and the competitive COCO dataset, where our model consistently outperforms baselines and state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the basic tenets of predictive theories of language processing is that of misprediction cost. Post-N400 positive event-related potential (ERP) components are suitable for studying misprediction cost but are not adequately described, especially in older adults, who show attenuated N400 ERP effects. We report a secondary analysis of a previously collected EEG data set. Using a picture–word matching paradigm, in which the target word could sometimes be predicted by context and sometimes not, the relationship between aging and late ERP effects was examined. Positivity effects for prediction violations were larger and more extended in older compared with younger adults, independent of context. Younger adults showed frontal negativity effects, indicating frame-shifting processes. Our data suggest that aging does not entail specific declines in prediction. Rather, they indicate that older adults may experience more processing difficulties than younger adults when their expectations are disconfirmed and that multiple mechanisms may be employed during language processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income-based childcare programs provide children access to developmentally appropriate and vocabulary-rich literacy experiences. For this study, participating U.S. Head Start Centers requested families complete a weekly home literacy log to encourage vocabulary-rich shared book reading activities in the home. Using participant characteristics, including literacy log competition, this study examined which factors adequately predicted vocabulary growth as measured by Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–Fourth Edition standard scores. Results indicated that vocabulary increased significantly for children who were enrolled in participating Head Start pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) programs. Important predictors of the magnitude of vocabulary growth during an academic year included sex, language(s) spoken in the home, and completion of home literacy logs. Clinical implications of this study would warrant recommending home literacy logs as a component of holistic Head Start programming, as completion of literacy logs emerged as an important variable in predicting the magnitude of vocabulary growth second only to race and sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• ClearSCD considers the bidirectional dependency between semantics and change. • A BSCC mechanism establishes the correlation of bi-temporal semantic features. • A deep CVAPS module enhances the efficiency of change detection. • A SACL module optimizes feature space of semantics explicitly. • A new semantic change detection dataset, LsSCD, was proposed by this study. The Earth has been undergoing continuous anthropogenic and natural change. High spatial resolution (HSR) remote sensing imagery provides a unique opportunity to accurately reveal these changes on a planetary scale. Semantic change detection (SCD) with HSR imagery has become a common technique for tracking the evolution of land surface types at a semantic level. However, existing SCD methods rarely model the dependency between semantics and changes, resulting in suboptimal accuracy in detecting complicated surface changes. To address this limitation, we propose ClearSCD, a multi-task learning model that leverages the mutual gain relationship between semantics and change through three innovative modules. The first module interprets semantic features at different times into posterior probabilities for surface types to detect binary change information; the second module learns the correlation between surface types over time and the binary change information; a semantic augmented contrastive learning module is used as the third module to improve the performance of the other two modules. We tested ClearSCD's performance against state-of-the-art methods on benchmark datasets and a real-world scenario (named LsSCD dataset), showing that ClearSCD outperformed the alternatives on mIoU sc metrics by 1.23% to 19.34%. Furthermore, ablation experiments demonstrated the unique contribution of the three innovative modules to performance improvement. The high computational efficiency and robust performance over diverse landscapes demonstrate that ClearSCD is an operational tool for detecting detailed land surface changes from HSR imagery. Code and LsSCD dataset available at https://github.com/tangkai-RS/ClearSCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One construction that has traditionally been neglected in the typological study of clause-linkage is that built on 'let alone' (e.g., the baby can't even talk, let alone walk). The present study explores this construction in a convenience sample of 47 languages. There are languages in which 'let alone' clauses appear not only with a clause-linking device, but also with an optional standard negative marker. Moreover, there are languages in which standard negation is forbidden in the 'let alone' clause. Here it is shown that optional standard negation may be semantically empty or may have an expressive-evaluative layer of semantic interpretation. On the other hand, standard negation tends to be forbidden in 'let alone' clauses appearing with semantically monofunctional clause-linking devices. The paper further investigates whether the analysis advanced for 'let alone' clauses can be generalized to other semantically negative adverbial clauses: 'without V-ing', 'instead of V-ing', and 'before' clauses. It is demonstrated that in these latter adverbial clauses, standard negation may be forbidden or optional. Interestingly, unlike the situation with 'let alone' clauses, there are languages in which standard negation may be obligatory in the 'without V-ing', 'instead of V-ing', and 'before' clause. In this scenario, the adverbial relations are compositionally encoded by a standard negative marker together with a general marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation is a large-scale comparative corpus study of the oppositive contrast domain (also called "semantic opposition") based on parallel texts. Oppositive contrast is established as a fuzzy region of the similarity space of contrast ('but'), a domain also characterized by the occurrence of selectives ("topic markers") and of initial non-predicative phrases in VSO/VOS-languages. Major findings are that many languages have special oppositive contrast markers and that there is a continuum between oppositive contrast markers and selectives, although truly intermediate markers are rare. The gradualness between oppositive and counterexpectative contrast is explained by semantic fuzziness and by emphasis, with strong emphasis being dependent on scales. Contrast is a rhetorical discourse relation and strong oppositive contrast can be used as a persuasive strategy aiming at establishing new common ground stepwise. The fuzziness of oppositive contrast has major theoretical and methodological implications. The encoding of the domain neither follows strict universals nor is it maximally diverse (diversity is strongly constrained). Due to its syntactic properties, oppositive contrast cannot be conceived of merely as a preestablished extralinguistic semantic domain. Furthermore, contrast exhibits a high degree of language-internal variability. General trends are reflected both by stable and by emergent grammar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ancient Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian traditions are the main sources of the eschatological compositions of the apocalypse. Through the combination of various symbolic elements and a prefigured narrative, apocalyptic visions offer a script that can be applied in diverse historical situations to deal with the uncertainty of the present, to justify political action and to allocate resources. In contemporary society, the high complexity and significance of the socio-natural and socio-technical operations in the domains of climate change and artificial intelligence create a fertile ground for the proliferation of apocalyptic eschatologies. The analysis shows that while the use of the apocalyptic script indeed motivates action in the present to avoid a future posited as unavoidable, it also generates strong moral and political distinctions that emphasize a unilateral projection of the future and undervalue alternative possibilities. The article concludes that apocalyptic eschatology promotes a ritualistic action in the present that evades the explanation of the complex causalities underlying climate change and artificial intelligence. The magnetism of the apocalyptic narrative lies in its ability to motivate action based on a recognizable architecture, but in doing so, it precludes alternative future options. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Russian, the subordinator kak 'how' is both a manner question word and an eventive complementizer. The Russian linguistic tradition explains the colexification of the two functions in terms of a semantic shift from manner as characteristic of a situation to event description as a whole. Alternatively, a grammaticalization scenario from manner complements to event/propositional complements has been suggested: manner complements originally have a propositional frame, which is foregrounded concurrently with the loss of the manner meaning, giving rise to both eventive and propositional interpretations. This article is aimed at testing both hypotheses. We study several large Old Russian manuscripts, starting from the first available documents of the 11th century, and show that at the earliest documented period Old Russian kako/kakъ could be used in all types of complement clauses. It could introduce eventive, propositional, manner and irrealis purposive-like complements. Accordingly, the evolution of the subordinator kak in complementation involves a narrowing of its functional domain. We classify Old Russian texts based on the period and trace the gradual loss of particular functions during the centuries. Thus, we show that the Russian data supports the second grammaticalization scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Turkish nominalizer -(y)Iş demonstrates a broad spectrum of functions ranging from a deverbal word-formation device that forms lexicalized nouns with concrete and abstract meanings to an inflectional marker used in nominal clauses, especially in clausal complementation. In some uses, the item conveys manner semantics. While the item itself has been variously investigated and forms an established part of any Turkish grammar description, there is still a lack of consensus on its functional and semantic properties. This article investigates the morphosyntactic functions and the semantic features of the nominalizer -(y)Iş in light of the claims in the linguistic literature on the one hand, which include manner, countable events, factive imperfective, single instance of an event, direct reference to the inner process of an action, etc., and of examples from primary sources on the other, and evaluates the findings from the perspective of grammaticalization. It will be argued that the range of functions of this item and the fact that it seems to resist any straightforward analysis result from its transition from a derivational marker to an inflectional marker with tasks including complementizer functions, a process in which manner semantics will be argued to play a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real‐world environments are multisensory, meaningful, and highly complex. To parse these environments in a highly efficient manner, a subset of this information must be selected both within and across modalities. However, the bulk of attention research has been conducted within sensory modalities, with a particular focus on vision. Visual attention research has made great strides, with over a century of research methodically identifying the underlying mechanisms that allow us to select critical visual information. Spatial attention, attention to features, and object‐based attention have all been studied extensively. More recently, research has established semantics (meaning) as a key component to allocating attention in real‐world scenes, with the meaning of an item or environment affecting visual attentional selection. However, a full understanding of how semantic information modulates real‐world attention requires studying more than vision in isolation. The world provides semantic information across all senses, but with this extra information comes greater complexity. Here, we summarize visual attention (including semantic‐based visual attention), crossmodal attention, and argue for the importance of studying crossmodal semantic guidance of attention. This article is categorized under:Psychology > AttentionPsychology > Perception and Psychophysics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]