scholarly journals Implicit Argument Prediction as Reading Comprehension

Author(s):  
Pengxiang Cheng ◽  
Katrin Erk

Implicit arguments, which cannot be detected solely through syntactic cues, make it harder to extract predicate-argument tuples. We present a new model for implicit argument prediction that draws on reading comprehension, casting the predicate-argument tuple with the missing argument as a query. We also draw on pointer networks and multi-hop computation. Our model shows good performance on an argument cloze task as well as on a nominal implicit argument prediction task.

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 625-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Roth ◽  
Anette Frank

In this article, we investigate aspects of sentential meaning that are not expressed in local predicate–argument structures. In particular, we examine instances of semantic arguments that are only inferable from discourse context. The goal of this work is to automatically acquire and process such instances, which we also refer to as implicit arguments, to improve computational models of language. As contributions towards this goal, we establish an effective framework for the difficult task of inducing implicit arguments and their antecedents in discourse and empirically demonstrate the importance of modeling this phenomenon in discourse-level tasks. Our framework builds upon a novel projection approach that allows for the accurate detection of implicit arguments by aligning and comparing predicate–argument structures across pairs of comparable texts. As part of this framework, we develop a graph-based model for predicate alignment that significantly outperforms previous approaches. Based on such alignments, we show that implicit argument instances can be automatically induced and applied to improve a current model of linking implicit arguments in discourse. We further validate that decisions on argument realization, although being a subtle phenomenon most of the time, can considerably affect the perceived coherence of a text. Our experiments reveal that previous models of coherence are not able to predict this impact. Consequently, we develop a novel coherence model, which learns to accurately predict argument realization based on automatically aligned pairs of implicit and explicit arguments.


1993 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Lasersohn

Popular assumptions about distributive predicates and implicit arguments interact to predict incorrect truth conditions for sentences in which a predi­cate takes both an implicit argument and an overt distributive argument. This paper argues that the conflict provides evidence for a particular approach to argument structure and in particular to the semantics of implicit arguments: namely, a "neo-Davidsonian" approach, in which thematic roles are analyzed as relations between events and individuals, and existentially interpreted implicit arguments do not appear in the syntax or in logical representation at all. The effect of implicit arguments is produced through the use of meaning postulates guaranteeing that any atomic event of a given type must bear the appropriate thematic relation to some individual.


2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gergely Pethő ◽  
Eva Kardos

This paper discusses the occurrence and the licensing of implicit object arguments, also referred to in the literature as null complements or understood arguments. Functionalist accounts (such as those by Groefsema and Németh T. which are couched in a relevance-theoretic framework) have repeatedly claimed that this phenomenon is fundamentally dependent on dis\-course-interpretational factors. In particular, it has been stated that implicit arguments can be used in Hungarian in a rather unrestricted way, and their occurrence is only limited by considerations of interpretability. We argue against both of these positions and try to show that cross-linguistic data can assist in revealing the circular nature and ultimate inadequacy of existing functional accounts of implicit argument licensing.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
ALAN HEZAO KE ◽  
ACRISIO PIRES

This paper argues that inalienable relational nouns in Mandarin Chinese, specifically kinship nouns (KNs, e.g. father, sister) and body-part nouns (BPNs, e.g. head, face), have an implicit reflexive argument. Based on a syntactic comparison between KNs, BPNs, locally and long-distance bound reflexives, we argue that the implicit reflexive arguments of BPNs must be locally bound, whereas that of KNs can either be locally or long-distance bound. We conclude that these two types of implicit arguments in Mandarin Chinese correspond to locally and long-distance bound reflexives, respectively. We analyze this difference in connection with binding theory and a theory of logophoricity. We argue that the implicit argument of BPNs is a locally bound anaphor and cannot be used as a logophor, whereas that of KNs can, supporting a proposal that the logophoric property leads to long-distance binding, as argued by Huang & Liu’s (2001) for reflexives in Mandarin Chinese.


1999 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 527-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
SEIZI IWATA

Massam (1992), challenging the view that the presence of an implicit argument is essential to middles, argues that middles should be defined in terms of genericity and modality. This paper shows that Massam's hypothesis is factually untenable. Genericity and modality are only typical, not essential, properties of middles. Furthermore, middles in Massam's conception do not form a natural class with middles as normally understood. Rather, the presence of an implicit argument is a defining characteristic, as is widely accepted.It is further shown that in order to handle an implicit argument properly, middles need to be represented by conceptual structure in the sense of Jackendoff (1987a, 1987b, 1990). The proposed analysis of middle by means of conceptual structure accommodates even the implicit argument of middles that express specific events.


2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nuria Carriedo ◽  
M. Rosa Elosúa ◽  
Juan A. García-Madruga

The aim of this study was to present a new working memory test following the line of work started by García-Madruga et al. (2007) and to examine its relation to reading comprehension and propositional reasoning measures. In that study we designed a new working memory span test –based on Daneman & Carpenter's (1980) Reading Span Test (RST)– in which the processing task called for an inferential decision –to resolve a pronominal anaphora based on Morpho-Syntactic cues– and had people recall the result of this inference. In the current study, besides the RST and the Morpho-Syntactic Anaphora test, we presented a new Semantic Anaphora measure. In order to check the validity of this new Working Memory (WM) task, we used the same reasoning task used in the previous study as well as a new reading comprehension test. The results show the tight relationship amongst working memory, reading comprehension and reasoning, and confirm the validity of the new WM measure.


Author(s):  
Asem Shehadeh Ali ◽  
Khairunnisa Bint Bukhar

ملخص البحث: تناول هذا البحث دراسة عملية القراءة باللغة العربية من وجهة نظر علم اللغة النفسي؛ حيث هدفت إلى الكشف عن أنواع أخطاء القراءة الجهرية لدى الطلبة الناطقين بالملايوية في قسم اللغة العربية وآدابها بكلية معارف الوحي والعلوم الإنسانية في الجامعة الإسلامية العالمية بماليزيا، ومعرفة مدى تمكّنهم من استخدام الإشارات اللغوية الثلاث - الإشارة الرمزية الصوتية، والإشاراة التركيبية، والإشارة الدلالية - أثناء قراءة النص العربي المشكّل بالحركات للوصول إلى الفهم والاستيعاب، وإظهار تأثير الاستجابات غير المتوقعة للنص العربي المكتوب في مستوى الاستيعاب القرائي. استخدمت الدراسة قائمة تحليل القراءة غير المتوقعة للنص المكتوب لجمع البيانات، تناول الباحثان الأخطاء الواقعة في قراءة المشاركات والدرجات المكتسبة في إعادة صياغة القصة واختبار الاستيعاب القرائي. أظهرت الدراسة أن الخطأ في الحذف كان أكثر الأنواع وقوعاً، ويليه الخطأ في الإبدال، ثم الخطأ في التكرار، وخطأ التنغيم، والخطأ في الإضافة. وأبرزت أيضا أن المشاركات قد اعتمدن كثيراً على الإشارة الرمزية الصوتية، وأنهن لم يستخدمن الإشارة التركيبية بشكل ممتاز، وأما مدى تمكّنهن من استخدام الإشارة الدلالية فكان متوسطاً، وتوصلت الدراسة إلى أن مستوى الاستيعاب للمشاركات لا يرتفع آلياً بانخفاض عدد الاستجابات غير المتوقعة، وكشفت عن أن الاستجابات غير المتوقعة ذات الجودة المنخفضة أدّت إلى فقدان تام للمعنى، ووجدت أن المشاركات قد واجهن المشكلات اللغوية خاصةً في قواعد النحو ومعاني المفردات.   الكلمات المفتاحية: مفهوم القراءة- القراءة الجهرية- المستوى الدلالي- المستوى النحوي- المستوى الصرفي.   Abstract: This study approached Arabic reading process from the psycholinguistic standpoint. It aimed at identifying the types of oral reading errors committed by Malay-speakers learners of Arabic language at the Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Kuliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia. The research addressed itself to the question of how these readers utilized the language cues- graphophonic, syntactic and semantic - to help them make sense of the vowelized Arabic text, and the question of how miscues affected reading comprehension. This study used Reading Miscue Inventory to gather information. The number of miscues made and the scores for the retellings and comprehension questions are patterned using Microsoft Excel program and are converted into percentages. The study indicated that the most common types of reading errors committed were omission, followed by substitution and repetition, and then intonation and insertion. The findings showed that most readers depended extensively on graphophonic cues, and were less efficient in using syntactic cues. Their use of semantic cues was moderate. Quantitative analysis of the miscues showed that although the number of oral reading miscues decrease, reading comprehension scores may not automatically improve. Qualitative analysis of the miscues indicated that the low quality miscues did not make sense in the context of the sentence. The study also revealed that learners have language problems especially in grammar and vocabulary.   Keywords: Concept of Reading – Reading out loud – Semantic level – Syntactic level – Morphological level.   Abstract: Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mendekati proses membaca dari sudut psikolinguistik dengan mengenalpasti jenis-jenis kesalahan bacaan yang dilakukan oleh pelajar Melayu di Jabatan Bahasa Arab dan Sastera, Fakulti IlmuWahyu dan Sains Kemanusiaan, UIAM. Kajian ini menangani persoalan untuk mengenalpasti cara para pembaca memanfaatkan isyarat-isyarat bahasa – bentuk tulisan, tatabahasa, semantic – untuk membantu mereka memahami teks bahasa Arab yang tidak berbaris; persoalan tentang kesan penggunaan isyarat yang salah yang mebawa kepada pemahaman bacaan yang salah akan turut diberikan perhatian. Kajian ini menggunakan Inventori Kesalahan memahami tanda bahasa dalam bacaan untuk mengumpul data. Kesalahan memahami tanda bahasa yang dilakukan, markah terkumpul untuk pengulangan bacaan dan soalan-soalan kefahaman direkodkan dengan Microsoft Excel sebelum ditukar kepada kadar peratusan. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan jenis kesalahan yang paling kerap ialah meninggalkan bacaan sesuatu, diikuti dengan menggantikan bacaan dengan bacaan lain, mengulangi bacaan seterusnya menggunakan intonasi dan memasukkan sesuatu dalam bacaan.  Kajian juga mendapati kebanyakan pembaca banyak bergantung kepada tanda dan isyarat daripada bentuk tulisan dan amat kurang dalam menggunkan tanda atau isyarat daripada tatabahasa. Mereka agak sederhana dalam memanfaatkan tanda dan isyarat semantik. Kajian kuantitatif menunjukkan walaupun jumlah kesalahan bacaan disebabkan oleh salah memahami isyarat dan tanda ciri ciri tulisan, tatabahasa dan makna berkurangan, namun markah pemahaman tidak pula secara otomatiknya bertambah baik. Ia juga menunjukkan tanda atau isyarat yang lemah daripada ciri-ciri bahasa tidak dapat difahami dalam konteks sebenar sesuatu ayat. Turut disimpulkan ialah kelemahan para pelajar sendiri dalam aspek tatabahsa dan perbendaharaan kata.   Kata kunci: Konsep bacaan – Bacaan Lantang – Peringkat Makna – Peringkat Tatabahasa -  Peringkat Morfologi.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Hezao Ke ◽  
Acrisio Pires

This paper argues that inalienable relational nouns in Mandarin Chinese, specifically kinship nouns (e.g. father, sister) and body-part nouns (e.g. head, face), have an implicit reflexive argument. Based on  a syntactic comparison between kinship nouns, body-part nouns, local- and long-distance bound reflexives, we argue that the implicit reflexive arguments of kinship nouns and body-part nouns differ from each other: The implicit argument of kinship nouns must be locally bound, whereas that of body-part nouns can either be locally bound or long-distance bound. Therefore, we conclude that these two types of implicit arguments in Mandarin Chinese correspond to local- long-distance bound reflexives, respectively. Finally, we relate this difference to binding theory concerning local and long-distance anaphors.


2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-798 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gerber ◽  
Joyce Chai

Nominal predicates often carry implicit arguments. Recent work on semantic role labeling has focused on identifying arguments within the local context of a predicate; implicit arguments, however, have not been systematically examined. To address this limitation, we have manually annotated a corpus of implicit arguments for ten predicates from NomBank. Through analysis of this corpus, we find that implicit arguments add 71% to the argument structures that are present in NomBank. Using the corpus, we train a discriminative model that is able to identify implicit arguments with an F1 score of 50%, significantly outperforming an informed baseline model. This article describes our investigation, explores a wide variety of features important for the task, and discusses future directions for work on implicit argument identification.


1981 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Driver ◽  
J. Elkins

A sample of 101 Year 8 and Year 9 boys of Australian and Italian descent was divided into quartile groups according to silent reading comprehension scores. The students' oral reading was recorded on reel-to-reel tape and the resulting miscues categorized using Goodman and Burke's criteria. Accuracy and self-correction rates were also analysed along with real-word and non-word corrections. In addition a comparison of educational and occupational attainments of the mothers and fathers of both Australian and Italian populations was made. All groups used semantic and syntactic cues quite well on easy passages, but as text difficulty increased, more use was made of the graphophonic cueing system, with the higher ability groups retaining the semantic and syntactic cueing systems longer. When oral reading accuracy was examined at the four comprehension levels, the lowest level Italian group read more accurately than the equivalent Australian students.


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