The Composition of Meaning

The Composition of Meaning
Author: Alice G. B. ter Meulen
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2004-01-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9789027247698

In the modular design of generative theory the syntax–semantics interface has accounted all along for meanings at the level of Logical Form. The syntax–pragmatics interface, on the other hand, is the result of what one may call the 'pragmatic turn' in the linguistic theory, where content is partitioned into given and new information. In other words, the structural division of the clause has been subjected to criteria of information, or discourse structure. Both interfaces require a structurally descriptive inventory whose specific shapes can be motivated on theory-internal grounds only. The present collection of original articles develops the concept of these interfaces further. The papers in the first section focus on the syntax–semantics interface, those in the second section on the syntax–pragmatics interface.

Toward a Composition Made Whole

Toward a Composition Made Whole
Author: Jody L. Shipka
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Pre
Total Pages: 202
Release: 2011-04-30
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0822977788

To many academics, composition still represents typewritten texts on 8.5" x 11" pages that follow rote argumentative guidelines. In Toward a Composition Made Whole, Jody Shipka views composition as an act of communication that can be expressed through any number of media and as a path to meaning-making. Her study offers an in-depth examination of multimodality via the processes, values, structures, and semiotic practices people employ every day to compose and communicate their thoughts. Shipka counters current associations that equate multimodality only with computer, digitized, or screen-mediated texts, which are often self-limiting. She stretches the boundaries of composition to include a hybridization of aural, visual, and written forms. Shipka analyzes the work of current scholars in multimodality and combines this with recent writing theory to create her own teaching framework. Among her methods, Shipka employs process-oriented reflection and a statement of goals and choices to prepare students to compose using various media in ways that spur their rhetorical and material awareness. They are encouraged to produce unusual text forms while also learning to understand the composition process as a whole. Shipka presents several case studies of students working in multimodal composition and explains the strategies, tools, and spaces they employ. She then offers methods to critically assess multimodal writing projects. Toward a Composition Made Whole challenges theorists and compositionists to further investigate communication practices and broaden the scope of writing to include all composing methods. While Shipka views writing as crucial to discourse, she challenges us to always consider the various purposes that writing serves.

Introduction to Semantics

Introduction to Semantics
Author: Thomas Ede Zimmermann
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2013-05-28
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110314371

This textbook helps undergraduate students of language and linguistics taking their first steps in one of the core areas of grammar, introducing them to the basic ideas, insights, and techniques of contemporary semantic theory. Requiring no special background knowledge, the book starts with everyday observations about word meaning and use and then hightlights the role of structure in the analysis of the meanings of phrases and clauses, zooming in on the fascinating and vexing question of how speakers manage to meaningfully communicate with sentences and texts they have never come across before. At the same time, the reader becomes acquainted with the modern, functionalist characterization of linguistic meaning in terms of reference (extension) and information (intension), and learns to apply technical tools from formal logic to analyzing the meaning of complex linguistic expressions as being composed by the meanings of their parts. Each of the nine main chapters contains a variety of exercises for self-study and classroom use, with model solutions in the appendix. Extensive English examples provide ample illustration.

Approaches to Meaning

Approaches to Meaning
Author: Daniel Gutzmann
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 363
Release: 2014-08-28
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9004279377

The basic claims of traditional truth-conditional semantics are that the semantic interpretation of a sentence is connected to the truth of that sentence in a situation, and that the meaning of the sentence is derived compositionally from the semantic values meaning of its constituents and the rules that combine them. Both claims have been subject to an intense debate in linguistics and philosophy of language. The original research papers collected in this volume test the boundaries of this classic view from a linguistic and a philosophical point of view by investigating the foundational notions of composition, values and interpretation and their relation to the interfaces to other disciplines. They take the classical theories one step further and closer to a realistic semantic theory that covers speaker’s intentions, the knowledge of discourse participants, meaning of fiction and literature, as well as vague and paradoxical utterances. Ede Zimmermann is a pioneering researcher in semantics whose students, friends, and colleagues have collected in this volume an impressive set of studies at the interfaces of semantics. How do meanings interact with the context and with intentions and beliefs of the people conversing? How do meanings interact with other meanings in an extended discourse? How can there be paradoxical meanings? Researchers interested in semantics, pragmatics, philosophy of language, anyone interested in foundational and empirical issues of meaning, will find inspiration and instruction in this wonderful volume. Kai von Fintel, MIT Department of Linguistics

From Form to Meaning

From Form to Meaning
Author: David Fleming
Publisher: Pitt Series in Composition, Li
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780822961536

In the spring of 1968, the English faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW) voted to remedialize the first semester of its required freshman composition course, English 101. The following year, it eliminated outright the second semester course, English 102. For the next quarter-century, UW had no real campus-wide writing requirement, putting it out of step with its peer institutions and preventing it from fully joining the "composition revolution" of the 1970s. Fleming shows how contributing factors--the growing reliance on TAs; the questioning of traditional curricula by young instructors and their students; the disinterest of faculty in teaching and administering general education courses--were part of a larger shift affecting universities nationally. He also connects the events of this period to the long, embattled history of freshman composition in the United States.

Composition as Explanation

Composition as Explanation
Author: Gertrude Stein
Publisher: Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing
Total Pages: 18
Release: 2024-01-09
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Gertrude Stein's "Composition as Explanation" delves into the intricate relationship between language and artistic expression. Published in 1926, the essay explores Stein's unique approach to writing and challenges conventional perceptions of composition. With a distinctive prose style, she reflects on the nature of creativity, emphasizing the significance of repetition and abstraction. Stein's work serves as both an exploration of her own artistic process and a broader commentary on the essence of language in shaping our understanding of art.

Composing Software

Composing Software
Author: Eric Elliott
Publisher:
Total Pages: 246
Release: 2018-12-27
Genre:
ISBN: 9781661212568

All software design is composition: the act of breaking complex problems down into smaller problems and composing those solutions. Most developers have a limited understanding of compositional techniques. It's time for that to change.In "Composing Software", Eric Elliott shares the fundamentals of composition, including both function composition and object composition, and explores them in the context of JavaScript. The book covers the foundations of both functional programming and object oriented programming to help the reader better understand how to build and structure complex applications using simple building blocks.You'll learn: Functional programmingObject compositionHow to work with composite data structuresClosuresHigher order functionsFunctors (e.g., array.map)Monads (e.g., promises)TransducersLensesAll of this in the context of JavaScript, the most used programming language in the world. But the learning doesn't stop at JavaScript. You'll be able to apply these lessons to any language. This book is about the timeless principles of software composition and its lessons will outlast the hot languages and frameworks of today. Unlike most programming books, this one may still be relevant 20 years from now.This book began life as a popular blog post series that attracted hundreds of thousands of readers and influenced the way software is built at many high growth tech startups and fortune 500 companies

Cultural Composition

Cultural Composition
Author: Yunhe Pan
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2013-08-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3642281575

"Cultural Composition" discusses the intrinsic relationship between culture imagery and visual expression, and for the first time proposed the concepts and methods that take culture as some design elements. Recursive mathematical logic is introduced to resolve the dynamic constitution of culture elements. The multi-level distribution of cultural elements has been demonstrated, the object of which can be refined as ICON. Culture is streamlined for ICON so as to enable it to be used in a creative way. With a cultural image mapping, ICON evokes the values of identity from the depths of feeling, making products endless charming. The proposition of "Cultural Composition" discovered the law how culture appears and changes in design. "Cultural Composition" takes Chinese culture as an example, through hundreds of illustrations, enumerated a large number of design work which contain typical culture elements, showing how culture elements appeals in daily-use things intuitively. It has both high theory value and practical value. Prof. Yunhe Pan is a member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and also a professor at the College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, China. His research area includes digital preservation for cultural heritages, digital library, and intelligent human animation.