IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) and IEEE International Conference on Embedded and Ubiquitous Computing (EUC)
Linguistics and Quantum Theory: Epistemological Perspectives
The article will explore the philosophical consequence on the notion of meaning of the adoption of a quantum geometry-based approach in linguistic disciplines such Information Retrieval, which importance grew with Internet and big data. The paper reconstructs an archaeology of the turn to probabilistic and a quantum perspectives in language research and its reasons, we considers some linguistic features which justify the adoption of a quantum perspective (non-distributiveness, failures of the substitutivity principle, periodicity of the meaning function), it underlines two features of quantum models (superposition and entanglement) which seems interesting to represent semantics, we hope to show how quantum models allow a convergence of the interest of different perspectives in philosophy of language.
The article will explore the philosophical consequence on the notion of meaning of the adoption of a quantum geometry-based approach in linguistic disciplines such Information Retrieval, which importance grew with Internet and big data. The paper reconstructs an archaeology of the turn to probabilistic and a quantum perspectives in language research and its reasons, we considers some linguistic features which justify the adoption of a quantum perspective (non-distributiveness, failures of the substitutivity principle, periodicity of the meaning function), it underlines two features of quantum models (superposition and entanglement) which seems interesting to represent semantics, we hope to show how quantum models allow a convergence of the interest of different perspectives in philosophy of language.
Purpose The paper aims to provide a semiotic interpretation of the role played by entanglement in quantum-based models aimed to information retrieval and suggests possible improvements. Actual models are capable of retrieving documents relevant to a query composed of a keyword and its acceptation expressed by a given context. The paper also considers some analogies between this technique and quantum-based approaches in other disciplines to discuss the consequence of this quantum turn, as epistemology and philosophy of language are concerned. Design/methodology/approach We use quantum geometry to design a formal model for textual semiotics. In particular, the authors refer to Greimas’s work on semantics and information theory, to Eco’s writings on semantic memory and to Lotman’s work on a cybernetic notion of culture. Findings Quantum approaches imply a particular point of view on meaning. Meaning is not a real, positive quality of a given word. It is a net of relations constructed in the text, whose value is progressively determined during the reading process. Furthermore, reading is not a neutral operation: to read is to determine meaning. If it is said that, from a general semiotic point of view, meaning is stored in quantum semantic memories and is read/written by semantic machines, then the operation of “reading/writing” is analogous to the operation of measuring in quantum theory: in other terms, meaning is a value, and this implies an instance (not necessarily human) according to which values are valuable. Research limitations/implications The authors are not proposing a complete quantum semantics. At the present, quantum information retrieval can detect the presence of semantic relations. The authors suggest a way to characterize them, leaving open the problem on how to formalize the document as a vector in four-state semantic space. Practical implications A quantum turn shows deep semiotic implications on the approach to language, which shows an immanent semantic organization not reducible to syntax and morphology. This organization is probabilistic and indeterministic and explains to what extent text fixes the meaning of its lexical units. Social implications In the authors’ perspective, signification is not the exclusivity of a human subject. Criticizing Turing test, the great semiotic and cybernetic scholar Jurij Lotman wrote that if we identify “intelligent” and “human”, we raise the failings of an actual form of intelligence to the rank of an essential characteristic. On this line, meaning is considered as a feature of social, artificial and biological systems. Originality/value The adoption of quantum formalism seems in line with cybernetic framework, involving a probabilistic, non-cartesian point of view on meaning aimed to critically discuss the human–machine relation. Furthermore, Quantum theory (QT) implies a phenomenological point of view on the conditions of possibility of meaning.
Abstract Language is not fixed. It is entangled, probabilistic, and observer-dependent. This paper introduces a new paradigm in linguistic theory named "Quantum Linguistics," inspired by the principles of Quantum Physics. Quantum physics and Linguistics have long been regarded as unrelated disciplines,describing nature at the inanimate microlevel on the one hand and language and its scientific study on the other hand. Over the past decades the linguistics has succeeded in providing ever more and refined explanations of generative grammar. Since quantum physics and linguistics deal with the symbolic, rule-governed structure of human language and the non-classical, probabilistic behaviour of subatomic particles, respectively, they have historically been seen as two separate disciplines. This framework allows modeling of polysemy, ambiguity, free word order, and argument structure in a unified, mathematically rigorous manner.To operationalize the model, we implement a Quantum Syntax-Semantics Integration (QSSI) pipeline, which encodes sentences into vector states, applies quantum operations for compositional syntax and semantics, and produces contextually resolved meanings through measurement. Two variants of the pipeline are considered: a classical simulation for experimental validation and a quantum-simulated version for future hardware implementation. The linguistic theory with quantum principles such as superposition, entanglement, and measurement, our model provides a novel probabilistic and context-dependent approach to understand language, explore new insights into human cognitive-linguistic processes, semantic ambiguity observation, and advanced natural language processing applications.
Big Data re-opened the debate between deterministic and probabilistic methods in linguistics. Semantics seems to be a promising field for their application: Greimas observed how semantic layers are stabilized in a document thanks to redundancy, thus transmitting less information. For example, the context stabilizes one of the possible meanings of ambiguous syntactic structures such as “the chicken is ready to eat.” by reducing the probability of the other meanings.Among different probabilistic algorithms, a model based on quantum geometry could better represent natural language semantics. Semantic relationships seem not commutative [3]; they violates Leibniz's law as it happens in quantum logic; many semantic relationships are not represented by morphosyntactic elements, as the vector state is not observable; the stabilisation of a semantic bind could be modelled by entanglement. We will show how the Bell states can be used to encode the basic fundamental semantic relationships represented by Greimas’s semiotic square, thus providing a clue to develop new algorithms designed for information retrieval.
The representation and processing of concepts is one of the hardest challenges in cognitive science. While computer scientists and engineers have focused on developing advances for particular tasks, philosophers and cognitive scientists have focused on elucidating the structural nature of meaning. A remarkable bridge between these two limited-success approaches can be found in behavioral research, since, in a variety of tasks, humans process information at a conceptual level in a way that is incompatible with classical probability and fuzzy set theory. Recently, attempts have been made to use mathematical schemes founded on quantum structures as alternative approaches. For this reason, the application of quantum structures to this type of phenomena has received increasing attention. The quantum approach allows to faithfully model a number of non-classical deviations observed in experimental data. Moreover, it shows that genuine quantum theoretical notions, such as contextuality, superposition, emergence, and entanglement, are powerful epistemic tools to understand and represent cognitive phenomena. In this thesis, we identify the limitations of classical theories to handle some important cognitive tasks, and introduce the fundamentals of the quantum cognitive approach to concepts. Next, we perform a mathematical analysis of current concept combination models and develop an extension that allows for concrete representations of multiple exemplars simultaneously. Our analysis indicates that a superposition of logical reasoning and a specific form of non-logical reasoning, where non-logical reasoning is dominant, allows to faithfully represent the experimental data. Therefore, the non-logical reasoning introduced by this model represents an important but unexplored form of reasoning in humans. In addition, we develop novel experimental methodologies to identify quantum conceptual structures for concept combinations in the context of natural language processing and psychological experiments. Namely, we present a methodology to build entangled concepts represented as sets of words with respect to a corpus of text, and present a computational and psychological methodology to discern if a collection of concepts behaves statistically as a collection of quantum or classical particles. Using both methodologies we have identified a significant presence of quantum conceptual structure in the context of natural language processing and psychological experiments.
This paper examines the philosophical implications of quantum mechanics through the lens of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s later philosophy, particularly the concept of “language games” and rule-following. The discourse surrounding quantum mechanics – characterized by terms like superposition, measurement, observer and entanglement – is deeply metaphoric and often stretches the bounds of classical language-use. This creates interpretative confusions not just in science, but in the metaphysical and epistemological debates that follow. Building on Philosophical Investigations, this paper argues that many foundational problems in quantum mechanics (e.g., the measurement problem, wave-function collapse, observer effect) are not exclusively ontological or physical but are entangled in language-use anomalies. The paper proposes that interpretative divergence among schools (Copenhagen, Many-Worlds, QBism, etc.) can be partly understood as conflicts between distinct language games with different rule-sets about what counts as a “measurement”, “reality”, or “causality”. By reading quantum discourse through Wittgensteinian criteria of meaning-as-use, the paper shows how the scientific community performs tacit normativity in deploying quantum terms – frequently without shared agreement on referents. Quantum mechanics, then, becomes a philosophical case study in the fragility and productivity of linguistic scaffolds in scientific theory. Finally, this paper makes a case for a deflationary yet clarifying approach: instead of seeking a “true” interpretation of quantum mechanics, we may better understand the philosophical stakes by analyzing the discursive rules, contextual boundaries, and pragmatic criteria that underlie quantum speech acts.
This article explores the pioneering application of principles from quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics to the field of natural language processing (NLP). By drawing analogies between physical phenomena such as quantum entanglement, phase transitions, and statistical ensembles, and linguistic concepts like semantic relationships, language use dynamics, and lexical diversity, we offer a novel perspective on language analysis and processing. Quantum linguistic models, leveraging the intricacies of entanglement and quantum probability, provide a framework for understanding complex semantic networks and enhancing computational efficiency through quantum computing. Meanwhile, statistical mechanics inspires models for capturing lexical diversity and understanding the evolution of language patterns, akin to phase transitions in physical systems. This interdisciplinary approach not only deepens our understanding of linguistic phenomena but also introduces advanced mathematical and computational techniques to improve NLP tasks.