Semantic Density and Time

An exploratory and original presentation about time and meaning in

language: a biosemiotic perspective.

Franklin de la Cruz 2013

Universidad de Chile

A presentation about “Reality and mind.”

In partial fulfillment of the

Seminar in Language and Learning: A Biosemiotics perspective.

PhD. Saeid Atoofi

2013

Density

Do you remember this?

Properties

● Density is embodied

● Embodiment takes place in time through time

Example 2

Main hypothesis

The more the time a embodied density interacts in its immediate surrounding, the denser becomes the interaction between the

minimum particles embodied, thus:

the denser the body, the more time units interrelate

Logical inference from Main hypothesis

+time = +density of interactions in time

thus:

-density = - viscosity of meaning

+density = + viscosity of meaning

Example of interaction

The denser the unit...

The more units of time will relate at the same momentum

i.e ongoing time

Viscosity

Time hypothesis

And each particle takes its own period of units of time in this ongoing momentum, thus:

What we think is time, is just but a metaphor of a much more complex symbiotic system of units of time embodied in a major

frame: the momentum, or universal time: the ongoing time.

Properties

It never stops

It embodies all matter

It cannot be studied directly only indirectly

Density and time

Semiotic relation

It is constrained by the nature of embodiment (i.e. matter)

It occupies its own particular part and place in this momentum.

It cannot perceive the momentum because it is embodied in it.

What are four minutes of conversation...

In 20 seconds?

Recursivity

Properties

Discrete infinity . Hauser et al (2002)

Human embodiment

On going time embodiment

Density

Chronesthesical units (e.g. words to index time relations)

Phonological system and semantic density

Piraha

3 vowel sounds and 11 consonantal sounds

It seems to be a low density language, thus:

Is it easier to acquire than English?

Null hypothesis

About phonological acquisition:

languages with less phonemes are not acquired earlier than those with more phonemes

Further research

To study the acquisition of the phonological system of the native piraha speakers

Relaciones de tamaño y velocidad. Maturana, Varela (2009).

The more the time, the more the density of meaning:

Peter

Peter arrived

Peter arrived today

Peter arrived today in the morning

Peter arrived today in the early morning

Peter, my neighbor, arrived today in the early morning

Peter Glass, my neighbor, arrived today in the early morning

Peter Glass, my mad neighbor, arrived today in the early morning

Peter Glass, my mad, but nonetheless very good neighbor, arrived today in the early morning

*Peter Glass, the son of famous Ann Glass, my mad, but nonetheless very good neighbor, arrived

today in the early morning

*Peter Glass, the son of world wide famous singer Ann Glass, my mad, but nonetheless very good neighbor,

arrived today in the early morning by train

*Peter Glass, the son of world wide famous singer Ann Glass, my mad, but nonetheless very good neighbor,

arrived today in the early morning by train to his destination

*Peter Glass, the elder son of world wide famous Brit pop singer Ann Glass, my mad, but nonetheless very good

neighbor, arrived today in the early morning by train to his final destination

*Peter Glass, the elder son of world wide famous Brit pop singer Ann Glass, my mad, but

nonetheless very good and sexy neighbor, finally managed to arrive today in the early morning by

train to his last, but not least, destination in Spain: a very colorless green idea sleeping furiously.

Implications in discourse

The more the time, the denser becomes the interchange of meanings between participants.

At a conversation speakers must take turns because the embodiment people have does not allow them to work with multiple parallels unit of time or dense ongoing time.

Conclusions

● Everything in nature is bound to a universal “ongoing” time that never stops.

● It is believed that this “ongoing” time is the frame that supports our perception of time.

● This perception of time is nothing but a fraction of this ongoing time and depends upon the quality of the matter that builds up the body.

● Semantic density is a relation between this embodied time and the number of possible tokens that this embodiment may support in a specific area of time.

● If null hypothesis is false, the study of the relationship hold between semantic density and time becomes of paramount importance to provide with a new view to understand the nature of language, its relation to nature, to language change and language acquisition.

Bibliography

● Everett, D. 2012. “Cultural Constraints on Grammar and Cognition in Piraha”.Current Anthropology. Volume 46

● Eyal Sagy et al. 2009 “Semantic Density Analysis: Comparing word meaning across time and phonetic space” EACL.

● Hauser, M. 2002. “The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who Has It, and How Did It Evolve?”. Science 298

● Maturana. A, Varela F. 2007. “El Árbol del Conocimiento”.

● Mialcea, R. Word Sense D i s a m b i g u a t i o n based on S e m a n t i c D e n s i t y. Department of Computer Science and Engineering Southern Methodist University