Language And Equilibrium

A new framework that shows how to derive the meaning of an utterance from first principles by modeling it as a system of interdependent games. In Language and Equilibrium, Prashant Parikh offers a new account of meaning for natural language. He argues that equilibrium, or balance among multiple interacting forces, is a key attribute of language and meaning and shows how to derive the meaning of an utterance from first principles by modeling it as a system of interdependent games. His account results in a novel view of semantics and pragmatics and describes how both may be integrated with syntax. It considers many aspects of meaning—including literal meaning and implicature—and advances a detailed theory of definite descriptions as an application of the framework. Language and Equilibrium is intended for a wide readership in the cognitive sciences, including philosophers, linguists, and artificial intelligence researchers as well as neuroscientists, psychologists, and economists interested in language and communication.

A different approach to the theories on language evolution and change.

Meaning Is Everywhere sketches a theory of meaning from the ground up—with potentially profound consequences. In a sweeping narrative that arcs from the origins of meaning through the emergence of present-day science and technology, Prashant Parikh offers a fresh perspective on some of the most significant challenges and opportunities of the contemporary world, including the promise of AI, relief from scarcity and polarization, and the possibility of at least partial utopias.

This book assembles a collection of papers in two different domains: formal syntax and neurolinguistics. Here Moro provides evidence that the two fields are becoming more and more interconnected and that the new fascinating empirical questions and results in the latter field cannot be obtained without the theoretical base provided by the former. The book is organized in two parts: Part 1 focuses on theoretical and empirical issues in a comparative perspective (including the nature of syntactic movement, the theory of locality and a far reaching and influential theory of copular sentences). Part 2 provides the original sources of some innovative and pioneering experiments based on neuroimaging techniques (focusing on the biological nature of recursion and the interpretation of negative sentences). Moro concludes with an assessment of the impact of these perspectives on the theory of the evolution of language. The leading and pervasive idea unifying all the arguments developed here is the role of symmetry (breaking) in syntax and in the relationship between language and the human brain.

The four volumes of Game Equilibrium Models present applications of non-cooperative game theory. Problems of strategic interaction arising in biology, economics, political science and the social sciences in general are treated in 42 papers on a wide variety of subjects. Internationally known authors with backgrounds in various disciplines have contributed original research. The reader finds innovative modelling combined with advanced methods of analysis. The four volumes are the outcome of a research year at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the University of Bielefeld. The close interaction of an international interdisciplinary group of researchers has produced an unusual collection of remarkable results of great interest for everybody who wants to be informed on the scope, potential, and future direction of work in applied game theory. Volume IV Social and Political Interaction contains game equilibrium models focussing on social and political interaction within communities or states or between states, i.e. national and international social and political interaction. Specific aspects of those interactions are modelled as non-cooperative games and their equilibria are analysed.

In 1972 Stephen Jay Gould took the scientific world by storm with his paper on punctuated equilibrium. Challenging a core assumption of Darwin's theory of evolution, it launched the controversial idea that the majority of species originates in geological moments (punctuations) and persists in stasis. Now, thirty-five years later, Punctuated Equilibrium offers his only book-length testament on a theory he fiercely promoted, repeatedly refined, and tirelessly defended.

Equilibrium searches for that point where there is a balance, even as the poems display a consciousness and self-awareness that belie that balance. The poems negotiate the colossal movement of hearts figuring and being figured by history.

In this paper we introduce a model of a society with two distinct linguistic groups, each consisting of heterogeneous individuals speaking their native language. There is also a world language so that every individual is faced with four learning choices: to study the other local language only, to study the world language only, to study both, and to refrain from studying either language. We examine the Nash equilibiria of that game determined by communicative benefits (Selten & Pool), and address inefficiency of the equilibrium. We then show that government subsidies for language learning could serve as welfare-enhancing policies. Finally, we analyze the three-language policy, certain variants of which have been adopted in multilingual countries or regions.

The development of general equilibrium theory represents one of the greatest advances in economic analysis in the latter half of the twentieth century. This book, intended for advanced undergraduates and graduate students, provides a broad introduction to competitive equilibrium analysis with an emphasis on concrete applications. The first three chapters are introductory in nature, paving the way for the more advanced second half of the book. Relative to the competition, it is much more 'user friendly' while offering exceptionally broad coverage of topics. Well-designed and interesting applications help to make potentially abstract material more accessible. The book includes 92 illustrations and nearly 200 exercises.