Word expert semantics

B.C. Papegaaij

V. Sadler and A.P.M. Witkam (eds.)

WORD EXPERT SEMANTICS
an Interlingual
Knowledge-Based
Approach

1986

FORIS PUBLICATIONS

Dordrecht - Holland/Riverton - U.S.A.

(Distributed Language Translation 1)

[copyright: Mouton de Gruyter]

Contents

Introduction … 1

Part I - Machine Translation and the Problem of Ambiguity … 4

Chapter 1 Natural Language Processing … 5

- The Computer (R)evolution … 5

- Natural Language … 5

- Machine Translation … 6

- Limitations of the Computer … 9

- Natural Language versus the Computer … 10

Chapter 2 Lexical Ambiguity … 19

- Paradigms of Meaning … 19

- Non-determinism … 22

- Knowledge of the World … 25

- The Shiftiness and Creativity of Language … 26

Chapter 3 A Concise Historical Survey … 30

- Word-by-Word Translation … 30

- Syntax Only … 32

- Closed Worlds … 32

- Selection Restrictions … 36

- Case Grammar … 38

- Scripts and Plans … 39

- Preference Semantics … 43

- The Word Expert … 46

Chapter 4 MT & Understanding - Contemporary Techniques … 48

- 'Decompose and Capture' - Classification by Means of Primitives … 48

- The Knowledge Bank - Storing Facts and Figures … 51

- Sublanguage & Limited Domains … 53

- Semantic Networks … 54

- Frames … 57

- Logic, Inferencing & Mechanical Reasoning … 60

Chapter 5 The Importance of the Dictionary … 65

- The Lexical Knowledge Bank … 66

- Lexical Universe & Lexical Function … 68

- Innovations in Lexicography … 71

Chapter 6 The Need for Integration … 73

- Many Solutions for Many Problems … 73

- High Quality MT through Combined Strategies … 73

Part II - The Semantic Word Expert System … 75

Chapter 1 General Lay-out of the DLT System … 77

- Modular Approach … 77

- On-line Parsing … 79

- Interleaved Semantic Processing … 81

- End-of-Sentence Macrocontext Semantics … 82

- Disambiguation Dialogue … 84

Chapter 2 The Structure of the Lexical Knowledge Bank … 85

- Principal Structure … 85

- SL to lL … 86

- IL to TL … 88

- The Central Role of IL … 89

- The Lexical Taxonomy … 91

- Contextual Dependency: SOLL Pairs … 95

- Logical & Ontological Information … 96

- The Core … 99

- Relator Matching … 100

- Closed Sets, Cyclic Data and other Information … 102

Chapter 3 Disambiguation with SWESIL … 105

- Syntactic Analysis … 105

- Interleaved Semantics … 108

- The IST Pair Generator … 108

- Paradigmatic Expansion … 112

- The Matching Cycle … 113

- Ordering the Alternatives … 127
Second-Order Matching … 127

Chapter 4 The Disambiguation Dialogue … 129

- Closed Format Question … 131

- Types of Questions & On-screen Presentation … 133

- Experiments with Disambiguation Dialogues … 136

Part III - The Semantic Work Bench - A Development Tool … 143

Chapter 1 Developing SWESIL and the LKB … 144

- Building a Lexicon … 144

- Experimental Lexicographic Approaches … 147

- The Melby Test … 152

- The Size of the LKB … 156

Chapter 2 The Semantic Work Bench … 163

- The Experimental Environment … 163

- Modular Approach … 164

- Tools … 166

Chapter 3 Tests and Results … 170

- Single IST Pairs … 170

- Sentences with First-Order Matching Only … 174

- Sentences with Second-Order Matching … 188

Chapter 4 Melby Test Results … 191

Part IV - Future Developments … 196

Chapter 1 Computerized Lexicography … 197

- Diversity of Sources … 198

- Formalizing Information … 200

- Storing Entries in the LKB … 201

- Lexicographic Tools … 202

- The Ultimate Aim - The General Purpose IL Knowledge Bank … 205

Chapter 2 Macrocontext and Discourse Analysis … 208

- Beyond the Sentence Boundary … 208

- Text Models … 210

- Incremental Understanding - Validation of Information from Different Sources … 211

- Applications - Summaries, Indexing, Rephrasing … 213

- Increasing Dialogue Efficiency … 213