Showing papers on "Phrase published in 1978"

Acoustic determinants of phrase boundary perception

Abstract: How three supersegmental variables (amplitude, pitch contour, and duration pattern) influence phrase boundary perception was investigated in two studies. Listeners located the phrase boundary in ambiguous algebraic expressions, such as ’’(A plus E) times O’’ and ’’A plus (E times O).’’ In one experiment, two values of each of three variables (appropriate or neutral) were orthogonally varied, using linear predictive coding analysis–synthesis procedures. There was a total of eight manipulations for each expression. In the other, the three suprasegmental variables were exchanged between the two alternative meanings of an expression, yielding a total of eight manipulations for each expression. Results from the two studies were consistent in showing that listeners use all three cues, and just these three to parse such utterances. That is, it was possible to completely shift the meaning of an expression uttered with one meaning into its alternate meaning by exchanging all three variables. In both studies, the effects of duration pattern and pitch contour were additive in total proportion correct. Possible models of how listeners process pitch and duration information independently in making a parsing decision are discussed.

What Is a Tone Language

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the tonal phenomena in two languages: the one is standard Japanese that is generally regarded as a prototype for the notion pitch–accent system and the other is Mandarin Chinese, a textbook case of a true tonal system. It also discusses some of the typological questions raised by this familiar dichotomy. Pitch in standard Japanese has the following characteristics: (1) lexical information: depending on the morphological category of the morpheme, its dictionary entry will specify either the syllable, if any, on which it contributes an accent or merely whether or not it contributes an accent and (2) phonological rules: the rules apply in such a way as to yield outputs in which each phrase has at most one accent. Some accent rules make one accent predominate over others, others attract accent into a given position. In either case, the action may be at a distance: The accent on a postposition is eliminated after an accented noun, no matter how many syllables away the accent on the noun is and the accent on the first element of a compound is eliminated no matter how many syllables away from the second element of the compound that syllable is.

Hearing ’’words’’ without words: Prosodic cues for word perception

Abstract: We found that the stress pattern and rhythm of speech were prosodic cues for word perception in trisyllabic adjective–noun phrases. When listeners heard a ’’ma mama’’ nonsense phrase that mimicked an actual English adjective–noun sequence such as ’’new result,’’ they correctly parsed (divided) the phrase into the words ’’ma’’ and ’’mama’’ corresponding to ’’new’’ and ’’result.’’ Listeners must have used prosodic features to parse the phrases because the speech had the stress pattern, rhythm, and pitch prosody of normal speech, but had none of the usual meaning and sound cues for words. The stress pattern was a prosodic cue for word perception because the phrases were easy or hard to parse depending on their stress pattern. And rhythm was also a prosodic cue for word perception because the parsing of a phrase was changed when its rhythm was changed via synthetic speech. But the pitch and amplitude contours were not prosodic cues for word perception because the parsing of a phrase remained unchanged when its pitch and amplitude contours were changed via synthetic speech. The results suggest that, in the rule synthesis of speech, the rules for stress and rhythm must be carefully formulated because they affect not only the naturalness of the speech, but also the ease with which it can be understood.

A Grammatical Description of the Engenni Language

Abstract: This thesis presents a systematic description of the grammar of the Engenni language. The first chapter gives a general introduction to the Engenni people and language and describes the linguistic model which is used for the analysis. The phonology of the language including the main features of the tonal system, and the transcription used in the thesis are outlined in Chapter Two. Chapter Three describes the features of the largest unit in the grammar, the discourse. Chapter Four is an account of the sentence, and Chapters Five and Six an account of the clause. Chapters Seven to Nine describe the three phrase classes. Chapter Seven is an account of the verbal phrase; Chapter Eight an account of the nominal phrase; and Chapter Nine an account of the adverbial phrase. The major word classes are described in Chapter Ten, and the minor word classes in Chapter Eleven. Chapter Twelve contains an analysed text. The thesis ends with a list of abbreviations, a bibliography and an index.

A comparison of the origin and temporal arrangement of pulsed sounds in the songs of the Grasshopper and Sedge warblers, Locustella naevia and Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

Abstract: The songs of the two British warblers Locustella naevia and Acrocephalus schoenobaenus were examined by means of oscillographic recordings. Both songs are composed of pulsed elements arranged in rhythmical successions. The song of L. naevia is simple and stereotyped consisting of a succession of paired pulses with a repetition frequency of 26 Hz. The song of A. schoenobaenus contains many different phrases each consisting of a succession of identical chirps. Chirps consist of successions of pulses, the number and repetition rate of which vary from phrase to phrase. The songs are discussed in relation to the physiology of sound production and to the way in which information is encoded into sound signals. It is proposed that pulses are produced by the syringeal muscles, whilst the rhythm, tempo and duration of chirps and phrases are controlled by the respiratory muscles. A distinction is drawn between the action of the extrinsic syringeal muscles, which may produce low frequency pulses, and the intrinsic syringeal muscles, which may produce high frequency pulses. The codal format in both songs is shown to be highly redundant, being based on the repetition of identical units of information. This device reduces the possibility of distortion of meaning by interference from environmental noise but limits the information carrying capacity of the code. The method of pulse coding is shown to be particularly well suited to the avian auditory system which is adapted to receiving and processing rapid transient signals. This ability is in part attributable to the fine discrimination of time and amplitude changes in the cochlea.

The user — cordial interface

Abstract: A great deal of effort has been expended on the topic of user‐oriented interface (UOI) to online retrieval systems. This paper discusses the contradictory nature of the phrase UOI as commonly applied to retrieval systems today and describes a different approach to the problem made feasible through improvements in the technnology.

Linked Phrase Indexing.

Abstract: LIPHIS (Linked Phrase Indexing System) is a system of computer-assisted permuted subject indexing designed, like its precursor NEPHIS, to be economical and to be as easy as possible for the indexer, for the programmer, and for the user of the index. Unlike NEPHIS, LIPHIS is designed to handle more complex networks of concept relations, and so produce better indexing of highly detailed subjects.

The ELL(1) parser generator and the error recovery mechanism

Abstract: A syntactic error recovery technique is presented that is simple and at the same time very powerful. It has the main property that it is phrase marker oriented, where phrase markers are considered symbols delimiting language constructions, e.g., begin and end for blocks, (and) for expressions, and [and] for indices. The basic idea of this error recovery technique originates from P. Branquart and has been worked out in the Algol 68 compiler project, see [8] and [9]. Here, we are especially concerned with the generation aspects of error recovery. In particular, it is investigated how error recovery can be mechanised in an ELL(1) and LALR(1) syntax directed translation scheme and which conditions the syntax must satisfy. Both the ELL(1) and LALR(1) generators are implemented and are part of the system LILA: a Language Implementation LAboratory [28, 29, 30]. Only the ELL(1) generator is described here.

The Present Stage of the Global Crisis of Capitalism

Abstract: The issue is the economic crisis—la crise. The phrase is omnipresent in political speech. By it are understood several things: high and persisting levels of unemployment and inflation; the sense that the economic boom of the postwar epoch is over; the knowledge that the economic policies of the boom can no longer ensure full employment. —Emma Rothschild, just returned from France, New York Times, Op-Ed page, March 1, 1978This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Identity and Reference

Abstract: I wish to consider proper names and nounphrases with the definite and indefinite articles, 'the F' and 'an F', in their use in referring. Some such uses result in what are commonly called 'identity statements', in which the copula is termed the 'is' of identity, marked off from the 'is' of predication. I hold that we do not need to locate the difference between identity statements and others of the form FA is B1 in a distinction between two copulas. It lies rather in the different uses of the phrase following the one copula, the phrase occupying the predicate position in the sentence. To begin with, then, I need to make a sharp distinction between the syntactic or grammatical notion of position, and the notion of use or occurrence. The latter, when used to mark referring and non-referring uses, is, I will argue, semantic. The difference in such uses is not simply a pragmatic one of interpretation. Geach suggested that the copula need not be treated as itself the source of the change in the force of 'is' when a definite or indefinite nounphrase in predicate position is replaced by a proper name. There is not a special copula, but a different use of the predicate expression.' Whereas a proper name here is always, he said, a referring expression, a definite or indefinite nounphrase such as 'the murderer of Smith' or 'a murderer' does not occur referentially in this position, but predicatively or attributively. The predicative use is so-called paronymously from a nounphrase's being characteristically so used in predicate position. I wish to claim, however, that it need not always be so used there (though it often is). The same expression may be used in that very same predicate position referentially. It is sentences with nounphrases in this position used referentially which are commonly called statements of identity. But a referential use is characteristic of a nounphrase in subject position. Once again, terms can there be used predicatively. 'Referentially', in fact,

Contextual Sensitivity in Beginning Readers

Abstract: available for use in recognizing a word that appears in written discourse The sources are the graphic features of the word and the context in which the word appears The graphic cues are helpful in word recognition to the degree that the reader is able to discriminate between the features that make up words and letters and the degree to which the reader has learned the rules that match the sounds of his or her language to its accompanying written code Similarly, the contextual cues may be helpful in word recognition to the degree that the reader is aware of the syntactic and the semantic constraints imposed on a word in a given position in a sentence by the words in the context surrounding that position The purpose of the research reported here is to study the development of sensitivity to contextual constraints among children learning to read Several lines of research indicate that adult readers are aware of the contextual constraints in sentences Levin and Kaplan (1) report that the eye-voice span, the distance that the eyes are ahead of the voice in oral reading, extends to the phrase boundaries of sentences for adults and children down

A phrase recognizer using syllable-based acoustic measurements

Abstract: A system for the recognition of spoken phrases is described The recognizer assumes that the input utterance contains one of a known set of allowable phrases, which may be spoken within a longer carrier sentence Analysis is performed on a syllable-by-syllable basis with only the strong syllables considered in the recognition process Each strong syllable is represented in terms of a set of distinguishing acoustic measurements taken at time points in and around the syllable nucleus Phrases are represented as sequences of strong syllables All parameters used in recognition are derived from LPC coefficients Input speech is limited to 33 kHz upper frequency Recognition is completed within 1-3 s after the utterance is spoken An interactive training facility allows flexible composition of key phrase sets Testing was performed for a number of phrase sets each containing ten or fewer phrases, and included equal numbers of talkers used in training and talkers not used in training Average phrase recognition accuracy was 95 percent when parameters were derived from unquantized (ie, 16-bit) LPC coefficients and 90 percent when the LPC coefficients were transmitted to the recognizer across the ARPA network at 3500 bits/s The recognizer has been incorporated into a user interface system where the parameters required to set up a point-to-point ARPANET voice connection can be established remotely by voice

A Language Processor and a Sample Language

Abstract: This thesis explores shared data in list structures and ambiguity in language processing. Tolerance of ambiguity is necessary to support clear and modular expression. Data sharing is necessary to support ambiguity efficiently. Data sharing is useful also in compiled programs to save memory and time. Let us define some terms. A rewrite grammar is a set of replacement rules each of which specifies that a given phrase may be replaced by another given phrase. Each replacement rule expresses a local translation. A parser finds those sequences of replacements that bring a given text to a machine handleable form. Each such sequence represents a meaning or interpretation for the given text. Tolerance of ambiguity or multiple interpretations for a given text is necessary so that subsequent processing can place further constraints upon the input t e x t . This thesis presents a parser which efficiently, handles general-rewrite grammars. To conserve computer time and memory, only essential differences among multiple interpretations are represented and processed. If several interpretations for a given text are valid, the parser yields a meaning which represents the ambiguity as, locally as possible. Even an exponential number of distinct meanings may be represented in a polynomial amount of memory. This thesis also presents a language processing system which supports semantic processing via independent rewrite grammars. Each grammar represents a distinct aspect of the language. A given sequence of grammars becomes a sequence of passes, or process steps. Each pass derives a meaning with respect to one grammar and uses that meaning to generate phrases which will be interpreted by the next pass. Al though linguistic specification is usually done with context-free grammars, features of this parser which support general-rewrite grammars are essential for the integration of passes. Not only ambiguity, but also the locality of ambiguity is preserved from one pass to the next. It is necessary to preserve locality of ambiguity in order to avoid explosive computation arising from useless interaction among independent sets of interpretations. I have implemented a general-purpose programming language called ICL with this system. The fact that ICL''s datatypes are processed by a rewrite grammar makes it simple to implement both user-defined datatype coercions and functions known as polymorphic operators whose definitions depend on parameter datatypes. Datatype coercions and Polymorphic operators reduce the amount,of specification required in algorithms to such an extent that a user can often modify declarations and achieve optimizations and changes in concept without modifying his algorithmic specification. ICL includes a simple and safe policy about pointers so that the user can ignore their existence completely if he wishes. ICL automatically maximizes data sharing and minimizes copying by adopting a "copy on write" policy. This policy supports the illusion that each an

Will Psycholinguistics Change Reading in Secondary Schools

Abstract: of reading that he had been working on for three decades. This model proposed that a reader first learns to match sounds and letters, then combines these skills with phonics and "other word attack skills" to develop word perception. Gray postulated such word skills as syllabication (the breaking of words into their syllables), structural analysis (breaking words into bound and free morphemes), and context clues (inferring the meaning of the word from its position in a sentence or phrase). Gray's influence on the field of reading has been great and for the past several decades the "skills model" of reading has held sway at all levels of school reading in the United States. More recently other models of reading have begun to emerge as a result of scholarship in such fields as cognitive psychology, linguistics, and information theory. This article traces the development of the "skills model" in the reading programs of secondary

Healthy Respect for the Word

Abstract: Here we are, physicians Prescribing from our shelves Devising our scenarios Writing out ourselves Here we are, plain patients Part of your daily rounds Sifting every utterance Hanging on your sounds. THE PHYSICIAN treats with words; within the physician-patient social system, the patient is moved by fears and other sentiments, and these are modified by the physician's words and phrases. 1 Physicians dispense not only medicines but words that influence medicines or, all by themselves, that affect the patient more than the medicine. 2 Physicians use words in various ways. They use them as tools to uncover diagnosis and as vessels to carry treatment and caring. As the physician explores the human condition, his English may be more meaningful than his biology or neurology. Does the physician listen to his own words as carefully as those of the patient? Does he seek the best word, the best phrase, or the

The Economic Functions of the State

Abstract: We can, perhaps, best approach this task by examining the truth of certain prevalent opinions. I do not think that it is any exaggeration to suggest that to-day, apart from a handful of specialists, the great body of the educated public tends to regard the Classical conception of the functions of the state as sufficiently characterized by Carlyle’s phrase, “Anarchy plus the constable”, or by Lassalle’s simile of the night watchman. It is this view that I propose to examine.

Opinion on SI

Abstract: There has been much discussion in Physics Bulletin over the meaning of the phrase 'magnetic susceptibility'. Similar difficulties exist with 'electric polarisability'.

Inferential searches of knowledge networks as an approach to extensible language-understanding systems1

Abstract: A program has been constructed that implements some inference schemes for inferring the meaning of noun-noun, adjective-noun, and agent-verb-object phrases from the constituent words. Dictionary definitions of words are input directly into a semantic network using a context free grammar implemented in a production system. To interpret a novel phrase (e.g., lawn mower, car tire, car wheel) semantically, an intersection search originating from the nodes representing the constituent words is performed in the semantic network. If an intersection is found, a meaning for the phrase is produced; otherwise the phrase is not interpreted. During this interpretation, only knowledge provided by dictionary definitions and parts of speech of words is used.