The second version of the Multistore Sentence Analysis System, implemented on an IBM 360/65, uses a correlational grammar to parse English sentences and displays the parsings as hierarchical syntactic structures comparable to tree diagrams. Since correlational syntax comprises much that is usually considered semantic information, the system demonstrates ways and means of resolving certain types of ambiguity that are frequent obstacles to univocal sentence analysis. Particular emphasis is given to the “significant address” method of programming which was developed to speed up the procedure (processing times, at present, are 0.5–1.5 seconds for sentences up to 16 words). By structuring an area of the central core in such a way that the individual location of bytes becomes significant, the shifting of information is avoided; the use of binary masks further simplifies the many operations of comparison required by the procedure. Samples of print-out illustrate some salient features of the system.

Key words: Computational Linguistics, Computer Programs, English, Form Classes (Languages), Kernel Sentences, Language Patterns, Machine Translation, Phrase Structure, Programing, Semantics, Sentence Structure, Structural Analysis, Structural Grammar, Syntax

A syntactic parser is described for hierarchical concatena-tion patterns that are presented to the analyzer in the form of linear strings. Particular emphasis is given to the system of “significant addresses” by means of which processing times for large-scale matching procedures can be substantially reduced. The description makes frequent use of examples taken from the fully operational implementation of the parser in an experimental English sentence analyzer. By structuring an area of the computer’s central core storage in such a way that the individual locations of bytes and bits come to represent the data involved in the matching procedure, the shifting of information is reduced to a minimum, and the searching of lists is eliminated altogether. The matches are traced by means of binary masks and the state of single bits determines the operational flow of the procedure. The method could be implemented with any interpretive grammar, provided it can be expressed by the functional classification of the items composing the input hierarchical structures.

Key words: machine translation, cybernetics

This book presents a new paradigm of natural language grammar analysis, based on adposition as the key concept, considered a general connection between two morphemes or group of morphemes. The adpositional paradigm considers the morpheme as the basic unit to represent morphosyntax, taken as a whole, in terms of constructions, while semantics and pragmatics are treated accordingly. All linguistic observations within the book can be described through the methods and tools of Constructive Mathematics, so that the modelling becomes formally feasible. A lot of examples taken from natural languages belonging to different typological areas are offered throughout the volume in order to explain and validate the modeling with special attention given to ergativity. Finally, an application of the paradigm is given, i.e., conversational analysis of the transcript of therapeutic settings in terms of constructive speech acts. The main goal of this book is to broaden the scope of Linguistics by including Constructive Mathematics in order to deal with known topics such as grammaticalization, children’s speech, language comparison, dependency and valency from a different perspective. It primarily concerns advanced students and researchers in the field of Theoretical and Mathematical Linguistics but the audience can also include scholars interested in applications of Topos Theory in Linguistics. Relevance: The book is relevant for constructivism in linguistics, derived from cognitivism.

In this paper our main objective is to interpret the major concepts in Wittgenstein’s philosophy of mathematics, in particular, language games and forms of life, from a social constructivist point of view in an attempt to show that this philosophy is still very relevant in the way mathematics is being taught and practiced today. We start out with a brief discussion of radical constructivism followed by a rudimentary analysis of the basic tenets of social constructivism, the final blow against absolutism – the soulless landmark of mathematics as often construed by the uninitiated. We observe that, the social constructivist epistemology of mathematics reinstates mathematics, and rightfully so, as “…a branch of knowledge which is indissolubly connected with other knowledge, through the web of language” (Ernest 1999), and portrays mathematical knowledge as a process that should be considered in conjunction with its historical origins and within a social context. Consequently, like any other form of knowledge based on human opinion or judgment, mathematical knowledge has the possibility of losing its truth or necessity, as well. In the third section we discuss the main points expounded in Wittgenstein’s two books, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and Philosophical Investigations, as well as in his “middle period” that is characterized by such works as Philosophical Remarks, Philosophical Grammar, and Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics. We then briefly introduce the two main concepts in Wittgenstein’s philosophy that will be used in this paper: forms of life and language games. In the fifth and final section, we emphasize the connections between social constructivism and Wittgenstein’s philosophy of mathematics. Indeed, we argue that the apparent certainty and objectivity of mathematical knowledge, to paraphrase Ernest (Ernest 1998), rest on natural language. Moreover, mathematical symbolism is a refinement and extension of written language: the rules of logic which permeate the use of natural language afford the foundation upon which the objectivity of mathematics rests. Mathematical truths arise from the definitional truths of natural language, and are acquired by social interaction. Mathematical certainty rests on socially accepted rules of discourse embedded in our forms of life, a concept introduced by Wittgenstein (Wittgenstein, 1956). We argue that the social constructivist epistemology draws on Wittgenstein’s (1956) account of mathematical certainty as based on linguistic rules of use and forms of life, and Lakatos’ (1976) account of the social negotiation of mathematical concepts, results, and theories.

Key words: radical constructivism, social constructivism, forms of life, language games

This book is an attempt to re-evaluate some basic assumptions about language, communication, and cognition in the light of the new epistemology of autopoiesis as the theory of the living. Starting with a critique of common myths about language and communication, the author goes on to argue for a new understanding of language and cognition as functional adaptive activities in a consensual domain of interactions. He shows that such understanding is, in fact, what marks a variety of theoretical and empirical frameworks in contemporary non-Cartesian cognitive science; thus, cognitive science is in the process of working out new epistemological foundations for the study of language and cognition. In Part Two, the traditional concept of grammar is reassessed from the vantage point of autopoietic epistemology, and an analysis of specific grammatical phenomena in English and Russian is undertaken, revealing common cognitive mechanisms at work in linguistic categories.

Some misconceptions about language and communication are pointed out as part of the rationalist language myth, and the need for naturalizing language is emphasized. The crucial importance of the concept of languaging as a consensual domain of interactions, in which the signifying function of linguistic signs arises, is discussed. It is argued that the ease of language acquisition by infants stems from the intrinsic indexicality of linguistic signs – their perceptual groundedness in the first- order consensual domain. As indices, linguistic signs cue human understanding with regard to the diverse aspects of the context of dialogical interactions. It is shown how approaching grammar as a perceptually grounded semiotic mechanism that underlies languaging facilitates instructed foreign language acquisition, dispelling the myth about language complexity.

A critique of the traditional dualistic view of grammar as linguistics is given, and an approach is suggested that emphasizes the relational nature of linguistic signs in the framework of the biology of cognition. Using the epistemological lining in the study of language provided by the biology of cognition, grammar studies should take into account the cognitive dynamics of languaging as consensual coordinations of consensual coordinations of behavior, or, semiosis.

Excerpt: Viewing grammar as a cognitive-semiotic mechanism grounded in perception, rather than a set of rules that govern the use of linguistic structures in writing, allows us − not only to better understand the mechanism itself, providing much more coherent explanations of grammatical categories as metasigns − but also to see analogies, unnoticed heretofore, between different languages. Guided by an understanding that language is an evolutionary extension of the human sensorium, linguistic research may become much more insightful by utilizing the cognitivesemiotic distinction “observed vs. known” in probing into the depths of natural language grammar. In particular, this categorization principle may serve as a lodestone in the studies of verbal aspect and related phenomena in different languages, freeing these studies from ungrounded speculations and helping linguists see the well-established grammatical “facts” in a new light. Most importantly, the approach to grammar outlined in this chapter may provide an empirically solid foundation for developing effective didactic techniques that would facilitate second and foreign language acquisition