Syntax Flashcards

1
Q

Cookbook problem

A

“keywords” that provide information on greater; they give us an idea but we don’t find out any actual information

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2
Q

Compositionality

A

heirarchal way of stringing words together, linguistic messages are interpreted, layer by layer, in a way that depends on their structure

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3
Q

Syntax-directed translation

A

layered (recursive) structures of syntax allow us to communicate an infinity of meanings, using a few methods for building phrases with complex meanings out of phrases with simple ones

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4
Q

Syntax-directed translation in ordinary language

A

Steel bar prices = (steel bar) + prices

Stone traffic barriers = stone + (traffic barriers)

Can be really confusing though;
Process control block base register value =
(((process control) block)((base register) value))

English noun compounds also suffer from semantic vagueness in the relations between the words
-Peanut Oil v Hair Oil (one’s made from the other, one’s for the other); Snow Shoe v Horse Shoe

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5
Q

How do we reduce ambiguity?

A

special words or endings for making structural or semantic relationships among other words explicit (for, of, to, dealing with)

interpretation of word order (dung beetle v beetle dung)

patterns may vary from language to language

semantically-related words will tend to be closer together than semantically-unrelated words are; even when it’s not you can tell by the semantic relationship between words

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6
Q

Broca’s Aphasia

A

Trouble speaking fluently from lesion in frontal lobe, comprehension intact but speaking sucks

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