Browsing by Author "Kamp, Hans (Prof. Dr. h.c. PhD)"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

Open Access
Brain, meaning, and computation
(2007) Klein, Michael; Kamp, Hans (Prof. Dr. h.c. PhD)
This thesis deals with the question how the human brain acquires, represents, and processes the meaning of natural language expressions. A computational neural theory of meaning is introduced with the goal of overcoming the strong prevalence of empirical results over theoretical understanding that is currently present in the neuroscience of language. In this context, the brain is regarded as a goal-directed system, which acquires language and meaning as one means for achieving its goals. To accomplish complex learning tasks, such as acquiring a language, the brain uses subsystems, which differ especially with respect to their learning strategies, but interact so as to achieve the global goals of the system.
Open Access
Grounded discourse representation theory : towards a semantics pragmatics interface for human machine collaboration
(2010) Pross, Tillmann; Kamp, Hans (Prof. Dr. h.c. PhD)
This study introduces Grounded Discourse Representation Theory (GDRT), a formalism for the semantics-pragmatics interface of a robot in the framework of goal-oriented human-machine collaboration. The theory of Grounded Discourse Representation Theory (GDRT) as developed in this thesis aims at a uniform processing of speech, thought and action, of object recognition, motor control and natural language meaning, of semantics and pragmatics. Developing a formalism that enables a robot to naturally engage in joint interaction is a demanding enterprise which combines major problems from areas such as computer science, linguistics, robotics, logics, psychology and philosophy. The prominent aspect highlighted in this thesis is that the combination of insights from research in these different areas leads to a revised and novel picture of the standard conceptions of meaning, reference and model theory. From a technical point of view, GDRT embeds the established formalism of Discourse Representation Theory (DRT) into a system of Computational Tree Logic and the Procedural Reasoning System. The main technical innovations of GDRT are the consequent use of anchors to model the referential relations between semantic representations, planning and reality and the introduction of a normative pragmatics of interpretation to the framework of truth-conditional formal semantics. The definition of an interface between action theory (pragmatics) and natural language (semantics) as proposed with GDRT allows for the elegant treatment of phenomena which constitute the core concepts underlying the intentional use of language: propositional attitudes, planning and practical reason. This thesis can also be understood as an attempt to break the ground for other areas of application to DRT (in the sense of a 'language of thoughts' that fills in the gap between linguistics and robotics) without loss of the ability to process the wide range of natural language phenomena DRT has been designed for.
Open Access
The perfect time span : on the present perfect in German, Swedish and English
(2006) Rothstein, Björn Michael; Kamp, Hans (Prof. Dr. h.c. PhD)
This study proposes a discourse based approach to the present perfect in German, Swedish and English. It is argued that the present perfect is best analysed by applying an ExtendedNow-approach. It introduces a perfect time span in which the event time expressed by the present perfect is contained. The present perfects in these languages differ with respect to the boundaries of perfect time span. In English, the right boundary is identical to the point of speech, in Swedish it can be either at or after the moment of speech and in German it can also be before the moment of speech. The left boundary is unspecified. The right boundary is set by context.