This paper discusses computational linguistic methods for the semi-automatic analysis of modality interdependencies (the combination of complex resources such as speaking, writing, and visualizing; MID) in professional crosssituational interaction settings. The overall purpose of the approach is to develop models, methods, and a framework for the description and analysis of MID forms and functi...

One type of deflationism about metaphysical modality suggests that it can be analysed strictly in terms of linguistic or conceptual content and that there is nothing particularly metaphysical about modality. Scott Soames is explicitly opposed to this trend. However, a detailed study of Soames’s own account of modality reveals that it has striking similarities with the deflationary account. In t...

This essay examines the interaction between the project of metamathematics and the cognitive science of concepts. The aim of metamathematics, i.e., the methodology of the deductive sciences, is to provide a precise characterization of the concepts figuring in rigorous, formal theories (Tarski, 1930/1983). The concepts at issue include those familiar frommetalogical inquiry – e.g., completeness ...

It is a cross-linguistically robust fact that the same modal auxiliaries come in different flavors: epistemic, deontic, ability, teleological... This fact is neatly captured in a system where each modal has a single lexical entry, where the difference in flavor comes from contextuallyprovided accessibility relations (cf. Lewis 1973, Kratzer 1981). Equally robust, however, are the phenomena that...

Background: Generally, conservative interventions including physiotherapy modalities and manual therapy have been recommended in the management of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), but this subject has not been studied in diabetic patients with CTS. Therefore the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of manual therapy on diabetic patients with CTS. Methods: Thirty diabetic patients with...

A dynamic semantics for epistemically modalized sentences is an attractive alternative to the orthodox view that our best theory of meaning ascribes to such sentences truth-conditions relative to what is known. I will demonstrate that a dynamic theory about might and must offers elegant explanations of a range of puzzling observations about epistemic modals. The first part of the story offers a...

Ever since the publication of Bolt’s ground-breaking “Put-That There” paper [1], providing multiple modalities as a means of easing the interaction between humans and computers has been a desirable attribute of user interface design. In Bolt’s early approach, the style of modality combination required the user to conform to a rigid order when entering spoken and gestural commands. In the early ...

∗This paper was published in Mind , 115/459 (July 2006): 659–693. Note: In transferring the LTEX in this preprint to the format used for publication in Mind, a couple of symbols were omitted. This preprint can be used to determine what the missing symbols are. †I’d like to thank Adriano Palma and Sacha Bourgeois-Gironde for inviting me to prepare this material and present it at the École Normal...