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Syntactic learning from ambiguous evidence : errors and end-states
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015)
In this thesis I explore the role of ambiguous evidence in first language acquisition by using a probabilistic learner for setting syntactic parameters. As ambiguous evidence is input to the learner that is compatible with ...
Embedded jussives as instances of control : the case of Mongolian and Korean
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018)
This dissertation is an investigation into the semantics of imperatives and imperative-like forms (collectively referred to as jussives) in embedded contexts. The long-held view that imperatives are confined to root (matrix) ...
Bayesian computational models for inferring preferences
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015)
This thesis is about learning the preferences of humans from observations of their choices. It builds on work in economics and decision theory (e.g. utility theory, revealed preference, utilities over bundles), Machine ...
Licensing without Case
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2015)
Abstract Case is a conjectured syntactic property of noun phrases that accounts for aspects of their distribution and form that do not otherwise follow from their PF and LF content (Chomsky 1981, 1986; Chomsky & Lasnik ...
Loanwords and the perceptual map : a perspective from MaxEnt Learning
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020)
This dissertation examines the predictions of two computational models of grammar within the domain of loanword phonology. These models, formulated within a Maximum Entropy (MaxEnt) framework, have been shown to be successful ...
The linear limitations of syntactic derivations
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020)
In this dissertation, I identify and analyze several new generalizations about how phrasal displacement and discontinuity are constrained in natural language. These patterns reveal, I argue, that many limitations of syntactic ...
Doing : an essay on causation, events, and action in the most general sense
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020)
Our world is populated not just by things, such as bombs, matches, and people, but also by events, like explosions, ignitions, and decisions. Part I, "Doings", is centered around my attempt to capture the nature of events. ...
Modest epistemology
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019)
Thinking properly is hard. Sometimes I mess it up. I definitely messed it up yesterday. I'll likely mess it up tomorrow. Maybe I'm messing it up right now. I'm guessing you're like me. If so, then we're both modest: we're ...
The empirical relevance of metaphysics
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2020)
Are metaphysical debates relevant to ordinary empirical inquiry? This dissertation collects a series of papers which answers in the affirmative. The first part of the dissertation is concerned with inductive inference. I ...
What it means to want
(Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2019)
Wanting is an easy concept to use. Talk to any three year-old and you'll know they've mastered it. Wanting is important, too. We understand one another in no small part through what they want, and wanting is a pillar in ...