Contrast set

Contrast set

A contrast set is a bounded collection of items, each of which could fill the same slot in a given schema, syntactic structure, or other linguistic environment. The seven days of the week, the fifty United States, the eight Hawaiian islands, the letters in the alphabet, the categories "male" and "female," the students in a class, or the flavors on offer at an ice cream store are all examples of contrast sets.

Contrast sets may be relatively natural in origin (such as the eight Hawaiian islands) or relatively conventional (such as the fifty United States). The mastery of certain conventional contrast sets is essential to basic socialization: for example, calendrical units, musical notes, and elements of writing systems like numerals and the alphabet. These contrast sets frequently become the subject of synesthesias.

Linguistic anthropologists Harold Conklin and Charles Frake were the first to work out the concept of the contrast set in the 1950s, and the concept was described in detail in Frake's article "The ethnographic study of cognitive systems."[1]

The Google Sets program (labs.google.com/sets) attempts to generate a list of the members of a contrast set given a few starter members.

In recent years, the term contrast set has been used extensively in the field of data mining.

References

  1. ^ Charles O. Frake, "The Ethnographic Study of Cognitive Systems." Pages 28-41 of Cognitive Anthropology, edited by Stephen Tyler. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1969.



Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • contrast set — noun A set of concepts whose names are coordinate terms …   Wiktionary

  • set off — Synonyms and related words: actuate, adjoin, adorn, allocate, allot, analogize, analyze, anatomize, appoint, appropriate to, array, assign, assign to, assimilate, atomize, atone for, backfire, balance, be at cross purposes, be off, be opposed to …   Moby Thesaurus

  • contrast — Synonyms and related words: allegory, analogize, analogy, antagonism, anteposition, antipathy, antithesis, arc lighting, assimilate, bad copy, bad likeness, balance, balancing, black and white, bracket, bring into analogy, bring into comparison,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • Contrast resolution — is the ability to distinguish between differences in intensity in an image.[1] The measure is used in medical imaging to quantify the quality of acquired images. It is a difficult quantity to define, because it depends on the human observer as… …   Wikipedia

  • set — /set/, v., set, setting, n., adj., interj. v.t. 1. to put (something or someone) in a particular place: to set a vase on a table. 2. to place in a particular position or posture: Set the baby on his feet. 3. to place in some relation to something …   Universalium

  • Contrast-enhanced ultrasound — (CEUS) is the application of ultrasound contrast medium to traditional medical sonography. Ultrasound contrast agents rely on the different ways in which sound waves are reflected from interfaces between substances. This may be the surface of a… …   Wikipedia

  • contrast — [n] difference adverse, antithesis, comparison, contradiction, contradistinction, contraposition, contrariety, converse, differentiation, disagreement, disparity, dissimilarity, dissimilitude, distinction, divergence, diversity, foil,… …   New thesaurus

  • set — [set] vt. set, setting [ME setten < OE settan (akin to Ger setzen & Goth satjan < Gmc * satjan), caus. formation “to cause to sit” < base of SIT] 1. to place in a sitting position; cause to sit; seat 2. a) to cause (a fowl) to sit on… …   English World dictionary

  • contrast — I verb appose, bring into comparison, comparare, compare by observing differences, compare to, compare with, confront, differ, differentiate, discrepare, discriminate, distinguish, distinguish between, draw a comparison, exhibit the differences… …   Law dictionary

  • Contrast — Con*trast , v. t. 1. To set in opposition, or over against, in order to show the differences between, or the comparative excellences and defects of; to compare by difference or contrariety of qualities; as, to contrast the present with the past.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”