Von Fintel, Fox and Iatridou 2005/2012 argue that 'the NP' should not be taken to refer to the largest NP-object, as is commonly thought, but rather to the object x such that the proposition 'x satisfies NP' is maximally informative. In particular, they show that in some cases an informativity-based treatment correctly predicts that 'the NP' should refer to the smallest rather than to the large...

This paper provides a general technique for lower bounding the Bayes risk of statistical estimation, applicable to arbitrary loss functions and arbitrary prior distributions. A lower bound on the Bayes risk not only serves as a lower bound on the minimax risk, but also characterizes the fundamental limit of any estimator given the prior knowledge. Our bounds are based on the notion of f -inform...

The Monte Carlo Pseudo Inference Engine for Text (MCPIET) addresses the RTE problem within a new theoretic framework for robust inference and logical pattern processing based on integrated deep and shallow semantics. In this report we outline, in some detail, this new theoretic framework, and we will use it to shed some light on the informativity and robustness characteristics for the extreme c...

We propose an account of comparison asymmetries based on viewing comparison as a process of structural alignment and mapping. Specifically, we hypothesize that (1) comparison asymmetries result from directional differences in informativity, and that (2) asymmetries can therefore be predicted from the relative degree of systematicity or conceptual coherence of the items being compared. In Experi...

How do we decide what to say to ensure our meanings will be understood? The Rational Speech Act model (RSA; Frank & Goodman, 2012) asserts that speakers plan what to say by comparing the informativity of words in a particular context. We present the first example of an RSA model of sentence-level (who-did-what-to-whom) meanings. In these contexts, the set of possible messages must be abstracted...

This paper deals with developing tests for checking whether an unknown system has certain structural properties. The that we are aiming at in terms of noisy input–state–output data obtained from the system. Since, general, do not determine uniquely, many systems compatible same set data. Therefore cannot apply identification and existing, model based, tests. Instead, will use concept informativ...

This paper investigates the emergence of lexicalized effects of word usage on word duration by looking at parallel changes in usage and duration over 130years in New Zealand English. Previous research has found that frequent words are shorter, informative words are longer, and words in utterance-final position are also longer. It has also been argued that some of these patterns are not simply o...

Co-referential chaining poses a difficult problem for Automatic Summarization (AS) when a text unit that embeds an anaphoric reference is chosen to compose a summary and its antecedent is not. Coherence, in this case, is often severely damaged and so may the degree of informativity be. This article presents an AS proposal that deals with rhetorical and linguistic knowledge to overcome that. A h...