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A framework for computing extrasentential references
Author(s) -
Strzalkowski Tomek,
Cercone Nick
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
computational intelligence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.353
H-Index - 52
eISSN - 1467-8640
pISSN - 0824-7935
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8640.1986.tb00082.x
Subject(s) - antecedent (behavioral psychology) , computer science , sentence , semantics (computer science) , set (abstract data type) , representation (politics) , meaning (existential) , realization (probability) , transformation (genetics) , artificial intelligence , linguistics , natural language processing , theoretical computer science , epistemology , programming language , mathematics , law , gene , psychology , developmental psychology , philosophy , statistics , biochemistry , chemistry , politics , political science
We are concerned with developing a computational method for selecting possible antecedents of referring expressions over sentence boundaries. Our stratified model which uses a Λ‐categorial language for meaning representation incorporates valuable features of Fregean‐type semantics (a la Lewis, Montague, Partee, and others) along with features of situation semantics developed by Barwise and Perry. We consider a series of selected two‐sentence stories which we use to illustrate referential interdependencies between sentences. We explain the conditions under which such dependencies arise, explain the conditions under which various translations can be performed, and formalize a set of rules which specify how to compute the reference. We restrict our discussion to two‐sentence stories to avoid most of the problems inherent in where to look for the reference, that is, how to determine the proper antecedent. We restrict our considerations in this paper to situations where a reference, if it can be computed at all, has a unique antecedent. Thus we consider examples such as John wants to catch a fish. He (John) wants to eat it. and John interviewed a man. The man killed him (John). We then summarize the transformation which encompasses these rules and relate it to the stratified model. We discuss three aspects of this transformation that merit special attention from the computational viewpoint and summarize the contributions we have made. We also discuss the computational characteristics of the stratified model in general and present our ideas for a computer realization; there is no implementation of the t “ratified model at this time.