Automatically Representing TExt Meaning via an Interlingua-based System (ARTEMIS). A further step towards the computational representation of RRG

Within the framework of FUNK Lab – a virtual laboratory for natural language processing inspired on a functionally-oriented linguistic theory like Role and Reference Grammar-, a number of computational resources have been built dealing with different aspects of language and with an application in different scientific domains, i.e. terminology, lexicography, sentiment analysis, document classification, text analysis, data mining etc. One of these resources is ARTEMIS (Automatically Representing TExt Meaning via an Interlingua-Based System), which departs from the pioneering work of Periñán-Pascual (2013) and Periñán-Pascual & Arcas (2014). This computational tool is a proof of concept prototype which allows the automatic generation of a conceptual logical structure (CLS) (cf. Mairal-Usón, Periñán-Pascual and Pérez 2012; Van Valin and Mairal-Usón 2014), that is, a fully specified semantic representation of an input text on the basis of a reduced sample of sentences. The primary aim of this paper is to develop the syntactic rules that form part of the computational grammar for the representation of simple clauses in English. More specifically, this work focuses on the format of those syntactic rules that account for the upper levels of the RRG Layered Structure of the Clause (LSC), that is, the core (and the level-1 construction associated with it), the clause and the sentence (Van Valin 2005). In essence, this analysis, together with that in Cortés-Rodríguez and Mairal-Usón (2016), offers an almost complete description of the computational grammar behind the LSC for simple clauses.

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Designing the Lexical Rules for the Parsing of ASD-STE100 Function Words in ARTEMIS from a Role and Reference Grammar Perspective

Journal of English Studies ◽

10.18172/jes.3935 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 17 ◽

pp. 149

Author(s):

María del Carmen Fumero-Pérez ◽

Ana Díaz-Galán

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Language Processing ◽

Semantic Representation ◽

Technical Documentation ◽

Simple Sentence ◽

Function Words ◽

Role And Reference Grammar ◽

Reference Grammar ◽

Lexical Rules ◽

Controlled Language

ARTEMIS (Automatically Representing Text Meaning via an Interlingua-based System), is a natural language processing device, whose ultimate aim is to be able to understand natural language fragments and arrive at their syntactic and semantic representation. Linguistically, this parser is founded on two solid linguistic theories: the Lexical Constructional Model and Role and Reference Grammar. Although the rich semantic representations and the multilingual character of Role and Reference Grammar make it suitable for natural language understanding tasks, some changes to the model have proved necessary in order to adapt it to the functioning of the ARTEMIS parser. This paper will deal with one of the major modifications that Role and Reference Grammar had to undergo in this process of adaptation, namely, the substitution of the operator projection for feature-based structures, and how this will influence the description of function words in ARTEMIS, since they are strongly responsible for the encoding of the grammatical information which in Role and Reference Grammar is included in the operators. Currently, ARTEMIS is being implemented for the controlled natural language ASD-STE100, the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe Simplified Technical English, which is an international specification for the preparation of technical documentation in a controlled language. This controlled language is used in the belief that its simplified nature makes it a good corpus to carry out a preliminary testing of the adequacy of the parser. In this line, the aim of this work is to create a catalogue of function words in ARTEMIS for ASD-STE100, and to design the lexical rules necessary to parse the simple sentence and the referential phrase in this controlled language.

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Discrete Entailment-Based Linking and -EE Nouns in English

Research in Language ◽

10.2478/v10015-007-0002-6 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 51-79

Author(s):

Luis González

Keyword(s):

Semantic Analysis ◽

Logical Structure ◽

Direct Object ◽

Natural Class ◽

Object A ◽

Role And Reference Grammar ◽

Indirect Object ◽

Its Analysis ◽

Reference Grammar ◽

Prepositional Object

Barker (1998) argues that since the referent of an -ee noun can be an indirect object, a direct object, a prepositional object, or a subject, -ee nouns cannot be described as a syntactic natural class. Portero Muñoz (2003) concurs and offers a semantic analysis based on Logical Structure (LS) in the framework of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG). This article proposes that RRG’s macroroles (Actor and Undergoer) can be derived with two entailments and without any need for LS. Its analysis improves Portero Muñoz’s, presenting additional evidence that subjects that allow -ee noun formation are Undergoers. It also explains why most -ee nouns are direct objects in spite of the fact that the suffi Xoriginated as a referent for indirect objects. Finally, it offers an explanation for nouns like amputee, pluckee, twistee, benefactee, malefactee, biographee, catapultee, razee, standee, attendee.

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Lexical templates within a functional cognitive theory of meaning

Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics ◽

10.1075/arcl.5.07mai ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 5 ◽

pp. 137-172 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Ricardo Mairal-Usón ◽

Pamela Faber

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Theory ◽

Logical Structure ◽

Meaning Construction ◽

Internal Variables ◽

World Knowledge ◽

Role And Reference Grammar ◽

Reference Grammar ◽

External Variables ◽

High Level ◽

The Relationship

Within the context of the Lexical Constructional Model, which provides a comprehensive account of the relationship between syntax and all facets on meaning construction, this paper is concerned with one of the major representational modules of the model, viz. a lexical template. It is claimed that a lexical template consists of a semantic specification plus a logical structure. The logical structure formalism is constructed on the basis of Aktionsart distinctions proposed in Role and Reference Grammar (Van Valin & Lapolla, 1997; Van Valin, 2005). Aktionsart regularities are captured by the external variables of the template, specified in Roman characters, and by a set of high-level elements of structure that function as semantic primitives. Lexical templates also contain internal variables, marked with Arabic numerals, and formally expressed in terms of a catalogue of lexical functions. These variables capture world-knowledge elements that relate in a way specific to the predicate defined by the lexical template. In order to test the viability of lexical templates, a detailed analysis of a set of verbs within the lexical domain of cognition is included.

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Constructional meaning representation within a knowledge engineering framework

Review of Cognitive Linguistics ◽

10.1075/rcl.13.1.01mai ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 1-27

Author(s):

Ricardo Mairal-Usón

Keyword(s):

Natural Language ◽

Language Processing ◽

Conceptual Knowledge ◽

Knowledge Engineering ◽

Meaning Construction ◽

Engineering Project ◽

Language Understanding ◽

Role And Reference Grammar ◽

Reference Grammar ◽

Meaning Representation

FunGramKB is a multipurpose lexico-conceptual knowledge base for natural language processing systems, and more particularly, for natural language understanding. The linguistic layer of this knowledge-engineering project is grounded in compatible aspects of two linguistic accounts, namely, Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) and the Lexical Constructional Model (LCM). RRG, although originally a lexicalist approach, has recently incorporated constructional configurations into its descriptive and explanatory apparatus. The LCM has sought to understand from its inception the factors that constrain lexical-constructional integration. Within this theoretical context, this paper discusses the format of lexical entries, highly inspired in RRG proposals, and of constructional schemata, which are organized according to the descriptive levels supplied by the LCM. Both lexical and constructional structure is represented by means of Attribute Value Matrices (AVMs). Thus, the lexical and grammatical levels of FunGramKB are the focus of our attention here. Additionally, the need for a conceptualist approach to meaning construction is highlighted throughout our discussion.

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VERBAL CLITICS IN ROLE AND REFERENCE GRAMMAR

Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews ◽

10.18510/hssr.2021.9254 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 581-597

Author(s):

Ghani Rahman ◽

Abdul Hamid ◽

Laraib Rahat ◽

Arshad Ali Khan ◽

Abid Karam

Keyword(s):

Projection Operator ◽

Logical Structure ◽

Lexical Representation ◽

Role And Reference Grammar ◽

Reference Framework ◽

Reference Grammar ◽

Focus Structure ◽

Activation Level ◽

Relational Aspect ◽

Dative Arguments

Purpose of the study: The present study analyses the interplay of semantics, syntax and pragmatics in Pashto clauses containing verbal clitics (VC) in the light of the Role and Reference framework. It particularly focuses on the relational aspect of the clause. The lexical representation of the predicating elements is presented. Methodology: The four projections of a Pashto clause i.e., constituent projection, operator projection, logical structure projection and focus structure projection are analyzed in the Role and Reference Grammar theoretical framework. Main Findings: The findings of the study show that VCs are different from both agreement markers and pronouns with some shared properties. A linking algorithm is proposed for Pashto from semantics to syntax and syntax-to-semantics based on the activation level of the referents. Applications of this study: The study analyses the discourse pragmatic conditions responsible for the occurrence of VCs in Pashto clause terms of role and reference grammar. The novelty of this study: The study has novelty in the sense that it describes the structure of the Pashto clause from a discourse pragmatic perspective which has never been investigated in previous studies. The study shows the movement is triggered by both actor (in present) and undergoer (in past) along with syntactic neutralization. The VCs are different from both agreement markers and pronouns with some shared properties identifying dative arguments like arguments and causing doubling like agreement markers and so, are linked to an ‘agreement index’ node.

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Aspectual features in Role and Reference Grammar

Revista Española de Lingüística Aplicada/Spanish Journal of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.1075/resla.27.1.02cor ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 23-53 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Francisco J. Cortés Rodriguez

Keyword(s):

Semantic Representation ◽

Functional Model ◽

Morphological Aspect ◽

Functional Projection ◽

Role And Reference Grammar ◽

The Core ◽

Reference Grammar ◽

Event Structures

The kernel of the semantic representation of a predicate in Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) is based on its characterization in terms of an Aktionsart typology based on Vendler’s (1957) classes plus some additional elements from Smith (1997) and Dowty (1979). This means that event structures are mainly considered a lexical phenomenon pertaining to predicates, and only occasionally higher predicational structures are considered in event construction. Even though this approach is adequate to a great extent, there are still some problems in the approach taken in RRG. The most significant drawback is that non-lexical aspects appear intermingled with predicate-only features, which leads to misinterpretations and misclassifications of predicates. Consequently, it sees more sensible to bring a functional model of grammar like RRG to a compromise position and, thus, consider in what ways different units identified as belonging to the different layers in RRG’s syntactic projections ‘conspire’ in the final aspectual characterization of events. In this line, this paper will propose a classification of aspectual features in terms of the levels found in the functional projection of the clause as devised in RRG, namely the Predicate Level (the domain of Aktionsart typology), the Nucleus (where morphological aspect has scope) and the Core (the locus for what will be described as ‘aspectuality’ features).

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Enhancing a Role and Reference Grammar approach to English motion constructions in a Natural Language Processing environment

Círculo de lingüística aplicada a la comunicación ◽

10.5209/clac.56322 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 70 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Rocío Jiménez-Briones ◽

Alba Luzondo-Oyón

Keyword(s):

Natural Language Processing ◽

Natural Language ◽

Language Processing ◽

Role And Reference Grammar ◽

Reference Grammar ◽

Motion Constructions

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A Frame-Based Analysis of Verbal Particles in Hungarian

Language, Cognition, and Mind - Concepts, Frames and Cascades in Semantics, Cognition and Ontology ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-50200-3_11 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 219-237

Author(s):

Kata Balogh ◽

Rainer Osswald

Keyword(s):

Formal Model ◽

Semantic Representation ◽

Formal Representation ◽

Frame Semantics ◽

Change Analysis ◽

Semantic Composition ◽

Role And Reference Grammar ◽

Reference Grammar ◽

Boundary Setting

AbstractThe verbal particle in Hungarian raises a number of intriguing issues for any theory of the syntax-semantics interface. In this article, we aim at a formal account of the semantic contribution of various verbal particles in Hungarian and we show how the semantic representation of the clause can be compositionally derived. We will concentrate on the four frequent particles meg-, le-, el- and fel-. Our approach makes use of a formalized version of Role and Reference Grammar and the framework of decompositional frame semantics. In particular, we give a formal representation of the boundary-setting function of the verbal particle in terms of decompositional frames which builds on a scalar change analysis. We furthermore analyze the interaction of the particle with resultative adjectives and provide a formal model of how their syntactic representations drive their frame-semantic composition.

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The interrelation of semantic structure and syntactic variation in Old English verb classes: catalogue of syntactico-semantic constructions

Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses ◽

10.14198/raei.2005.18.05 ◽

2005 ◽

pp. 111 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marta González Orta

Keyword(s):

Old English ◽

Semantic Representation ◽

Semantic Structure ◽

Syntactic Variation ◽

Verb Classes ◽

Lexical Representations ◽

Role And Reference Grammar ◽

Reference Grammar ◽

Lexical Rules ◽

Core Meaning

The aim of this paper is to motivate the syntactic and morphological behaviour of the Old English verbs which share the core meaning of 'to remember', 'to emit a smell', 'to produce a sound' and 'to speak' from their semantic structure. Firstly, as a result of the analysis of these verb subclasses, I will propose a subclass-based lexical template for each lexical subclass. Within the Lexical Grammar Model, lexical templates are conceived as lexical representations where meaning description is encapsulated and interacts with the syntactic behaviour of lexical units. In order to construct a lexical template, Role and Reference Grammar logical structures will be complemented by a semantic decomposition which will define different lexical (sub-)classes. Secondly, the Lexical Template Modelling Process will stipulate the linking between the syntactic and semantic representation of these verbs. This process will establish the lexical rules that account for the mapping between the different semantic constructions and the syntactic structures and alternations in which these verbs participate and the lexical templates codified by these verb subclasses. As a result, a catalogue of the syntactico-semantic constructions exhibited by these Old English verbal predicates will be provided.

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The lexical representation of English verbs of action. Complex predicates and structures

Revista de Lingüística y Lenguas Aplicadas ◽

10.4995/rlyla.2019.11080 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

pp. 131

Author(s):

Ana Elvira Ojanguren López

Keyword(s):

Logical Structure ◽

Point Of View ◽

Lexical Representation ◽

Complex Predicates ◽

Role And Reference Grammar ◽

Reference Grammar ◽

Canonical Representations ◽

Syntactic Function ◽

Logical Structures ◽

Theoretical Side

This article aims at proposing a lexical representation for a set of English verbs of action. The analysis is carried out on the grounds of Role and Reference Grammar (RRG) and includes aspects like Aktionsart type, macrorole and syntactic function assignment, linking, as well as nexus and juncture. Against this background, the meaning components of the verbs in question are analysed, in such a way that a logical structure based on a lexical representation is defined for each verbal class. Conclusions fall on both the descriptive and the theoretical side. From the descriptive point of view, Fail and Try verbs constitute a unified verbal class as regards their meaning components and grammatical behaviour and, thus, they are represented by means of a unified logical structure. Conversely, Prevent verbs and Forbid verbs require different logical structures that account for their divergent grammatical behaviour, corresponding to the Causative Activity and Causative Achievement Aktionsart types respectively. On the theoretical side, the logical structures of End verbs, Fail verbs, Try verbs and Prevent verbs stick to the canonical representations of RRG, while those of Hinder verbs and Refrain verbs require complex predicates and complex logical structures which allow to incorporate extra meaning components and to combine different Aktionsart types.

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