An original exploratory presentation about Semantic Density and Time.

1. Semantic Density and Time
An exploratory and original presentation about time and meaning in
language: a biosemiotic perspective.
Franklin de la Cruz
2013

2. Universidad de Chile
A presentation about “Reality and mind.”
In partial fulfillment of the
Seminar in Language and Learning: A Biosemiotics perspective.
PhD. Saeid Atoofi
2013

3. Density
Do you remember this?

5. Properties
● Density is embodied
● Embodiment takes place in time through time

6. Example 2

7. Main hypothesis
The more the time a embodied density interacts in its immediate
surrounding, the denser becomes the interaction between the
minimum particles embodied, thus:
the denser the body, the more time units interrelate

8. Logical inference from Main hypothesis
+time = +density of interactions in time
thus:
-density = - viscosity of meaning
+density = + viscosity of meaning

9. Example of interaction

10. The denser the unit...
The more units of time will relate at the same
momentum
i.e ongoing time

11. Viscosity

12. Time hypothesis
And each particle takes its own period of units of time in this
ongoing momentum, thus:
What we think is time, is just but a metaphor of a much more
complex symbiotic system of units of time embodied in a major
frame: the momentum, or universal time: the ongoing time.

13. Properties
It never stops
It embodies all matter
It cannot be studied directly only indirectly

14. Density and time

15. Semiotic relation
It is constrained by the nature of embodiment (i.e. matter)
It occupies its own particular part and place in this
momentum.
It cannot perceive the momentum because it is embodied
in it.

16. What are four minutes of
conversation...
In 20 seconds?

17. Recursivity

18. Properties
Discrete infinity . Hauser et al (2002)
Human embodiment
On going time embodiment
Density
Chronesthesical units (e.g. words to index time relations)

19. Phonological system and semantic
density
Piraha
3 vowel sounds and 11 consonantal sounds
It seems to be a low density language, thus:
Is it easier to acquire than English?

20. Null hypothesis
About phonological acquisition:
languages with less phonemes are not acquired earlier than those
with more phonemes

21. Further research
To study the acquisition of the phonological system of the native
piraha speakers

22. Relaciones de tamaño y velocidad.
Maturana, Varela (2009).

23. The more the time, the more the
density of meaning:
Peter

24. Peter arrived

25. Peter arrived today

26. Peter arrived today in the morning

27. Peter arrived today in the early morning

28. Peter, my neighbor, arrived today in the early morning

29. Peter Glass, my neighbor, arrived today in the early
morning

30. Peter Glass, my mad neighbor, arrived today in the early
morning

31. Peter Glass, my mad, but nonetheless very good neighbor,
arrived today in the early morning

32. *Peter Glass, the son of famous Ann Glass, my
mad, but nonetheless very good neighbor, arrived
today in the early morning

33. *Peter Glass, the son of world wide famous singer Ann
Glass, my mad, but nonetheless very good neighbor,
arrived today in the early morning by train

34. *Peter Glass, the son of world wide famous singer Ann
Glass, my mad, but nonetheless very good neighbor,
arrived today in the early morning by train to his
destination

35. *Peter Glass, the elder son of world wide famous Brit pop
singer Ann Glass, my mad, but nonetheless very good
neighbor, arrived today in the early morning by train to his
final destination

36. *Peter Glass, the elder son of world wide famous
Brit pop singer Ann Glass, my mad, but
nonetheless very good and sexy neighbor, finally
managed to arrive today in the early morning by
train to his last, but not least, destination in Spain:
a very colorless green idea sleeping furiously.

37. Implications in discourse
The more the time, the denser becomes the interchange of
meanings between participants.
At a conversation speakers must take turns because the
embodiment people have does not allow them to work with
multiple parallels unit of time or dense ongoing time.

38. Conclusions
● Everything in nature is bound to a universal “ongoing” time that never
stops.
● It is believed that this “ongoing” time is the frame that supports our
perception of time.
● This perception of time is nothing but a fraction of this ongoing time and
depends upon the quality of the matter that builds up the body.
● Semantic density is a relation between this embodied time and the
number of possible tokens that this embodiment may support in a
specific area of time.
● If null hypothesis is false, the study of the relationship hold between
semantic density and time becomes of paramount importance to
provide with a new view to understand the nature of language, its
relation to nature, to language change and language acquisition.

39. Bibliography
● Everett, D. 2012. “Cultural Constraints on Grammar and
Cognition in Piraha”.Current Anthropology. Volume 46
● Eyal Sagy et al. 2009 “Semantic Density Analysis:
Comparing word meaning across time and phonetic space”
EACL.
● Hauser, M. 2002. “The Faculty of Language: What Is It, Who
Has It, and How Did It Evolve?”. Science 298
● Maturana. A, Varela F. 2007. “El Árbol del Conocimiento”.
● Mialcea, R. Word Sense D i s a m b i g u a t i o n based on S
e m a n t i c D e n s i t y. Department of Computer Science
and Engineering Southern Methodist University