Just as an interpreter for a source language can be turned into a compiler from the source language to a target language, we observe that an interpreter for a target language can be turned into a compiler from the target language to a source language. In both cases, the key issue is the choice of whether to perform an evaluation or to emit code that represents this evaluation. We substantiate t...

The processing of prosodic phrase boundaries in language is immediately reflected by a specific event-related potential component called the Closure Positive Shift (CPS). A component somewhat reminiscent of the CPS in language has also been reported for musical phrases (i.e., the so-called 'music CPS'). However, in previous studies the quantification of the music-CPS as well as its morphology a...

This paper proposes two revisions to the Lexical Mapping Theory as part of UG and accounts for dative shift and the interaction between dative shift and passive in Chinese and English. The overall strategy is to maximize the universality of the Lexical Mapping Theory by allowing only morpholexical operations to be language-specific.

The problem of verb-noun categorial ambiguity is critical and relatively unique for non-inflectional languages, especially Chinese. We consider the verb-noun categorial fluidity a continuum and any categorial shift a transitional process. A synchronous corpus-based study was conducted to compare the phenomenon with respect to news texts collected from Hong Kong, Beijing, and Taiwan. It was foun...

A computational language game model is presented that shows how a population of language users can evolve from a brightness-based to a brightness+hue-based color term system. The shift is triggered by a change in the communication challenges posed by the environment, comparable to what happened in English during the Middle English period in response to the rise of dyeing and textile manufacturi...