A Logic-based Approach for Recognizing Textual Entailment Supported by Ontological Background Knowledge

We present the architecture and the evaluation of a new system for recognizing textual entailment (RTE). In RTE we want to identify automatically the type of a logical relation between two input texts. In particular, we are interested in proving the existence of an entailment between them. We conceive our system as a modular environment allowing for a high-coverage syntactic and semantic text analysis combined with logical inference. For the syntactic and semantic analysis we combine a deep semantic analysis with a shallow one supported by statistical models in order to increase the quality and the accuracy of results. For RTE we use logical inference of first-order employing model-theoretic techniques and automated reasoning tools. The inference is supported with problem-relevant background knowledge extracted automatically and on demand from external sources like, e.g., WordNet, YAGO, and OpenCyc, or other, more experimental sources with, e.g., manually defined presupposition resolutions, or with axiomatized general and common sense knowledge. The results show that fine-grained and consistent knowledge coming from diverse sources is a necessary condition determining the correctness and traceability of results.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figure

Event ordering through temporal expression resolution

In this paper a multilingual method for event ordering based on temporal expression resolution is presented. This method has been implemented through the TERSEO system which consists of three main units: temporal expression recognizing, resolution of the coreference introduced by these expressions, and event ordering. By means of this system, chronological information related to events can be extracted from documental databases. This information is automatically added to the documental database in order to allow its use by question answering systems in those cases referring to temporality. The system has been evaluated obtaining results of 91 % precision and 71 % recall. For this, a blind evaluation process has been developed guaranteing a reliable annotation process that was measured through the kappa factor.This paper has been supported by the Spanish government, projects FIT-150500-2002-244 and FIT-150500-2002-416

Proposals for upgrading the lexicographical treatment of prepositions in bilingual dictionaries for business translation

[Resumen] En este artículo partimos de la idea de que solo la existencia de una base lexicográfica adecuada puede ayudarnos a diseñar diccionarios de negocios capaces de ayudar a traducir textos comerciales. El tratamiento gramatical es un buen ejemplo de las diferentes posibilidades con las que cuenta el lexicógrafo. Si, como se propone en este artículo, el lexicógrafo utiliza un enfoque funcional, el tratamiento de los datos gramaticales debe basarse en el uso sistemático de dos estructuras lexicográficas: textos intermedios y sistema de referencias entre los textos intermedios y las entradas. Ilustramos nuestra propuesta partiendo del estudio del tratamiento de las preposiciones en dos diccionarios comerciales bilingües y bidireccionales (Inglés-Español) que creemos que no ofrecen un tratamiento lexicográfico adecuado de las preposicionesMinisterio de Ciencia e Innovación; FFI2008-01703Junta de Castilla y León; VA039A0

The translatability of metaphor in LSP: application of a decision-making model

The pragmatic approach to translation implies the consideration of translation as a useful test case for understanding the role of language in social life. Under this view this article analyses the decision-making stage translators go through in the course of formulating a TT. Hence this article contributes both to enhance the status of translation theory and to explain some of the decisions taken by the Spanish translators of three English Manuals of Economics. In short, we have argued that the use of a 'maximax' strategy for translating English metaphors as Spanish similarity-creating metaphors can be attributed to subjective factors, especially to the translators' cognitive system, their knowledge bases, the task specification, and the text type specific problem space. As a result, we have also claimed that proposals for translating microtextual problems —for example, metaphors — can benefit from the study of the above-mentioned subjective factors since they allow or inhibit the translators' choices in the decision-making stage of the translation process

The translatability of metaphor in LSP: application of a decision-making model

The pragmatic approach to translation implies the consideration of translation as a useful test case for understanding the role of language in social life. Under this view this article analyses the decision-making stage translators go through in the course of formulating a TT. Hence this article contributes both to enhance the status of translation theory and to explain some of the decisions taken by the Spanish translators of three English Manuals of Economics. In short, we have argued that the use of a 'maximax' strategy for translating English metaphors as Spanish similarity-creating metaphors can be attributed to subjective factors, especially to the translators' cognitive system, their knowledge bases, the task specification, and the text type specific problem space. As a result, we have also claimed that proposals for translating microtextual problems —for example, metaphors — can benefit from the study of the above-mentioned subjective factors since they allow or inhibit the translators' choices in the decision-making stage of the translation process

Theticity

The subject matter of this chapter is the semantic, syntactic and discoursepragmatic background as well as the cross-linguistic behavior of types of utterance exemplified by the following English sentences […]: (1) My NECK hurts. […] (2) The PHONE's ringing. [...] Sentences such as […] are usually held to stand in opposition to sentences with a topical subject. The difference is said to be formally marked, for example, by VS order vs. topical SV order (as in Albanian po bie telefoni 'the PHONE is ringing' vs. telefoni po bie 'the PHONE is RINGING'), or by accent on the subject only vs. accent on both the subject and the verb (as in the English translations). The term theticity will be used in the following to label the specific phenomenological domain to which the sentences in (1) and (2) belong. It has long been commonplace that these and similar expressions occur at particular points in the discourse where "a new situation is presented as a whole". We will try to depict and classify the various discourse situations in which these expressions have been found in the different languages, and we will try to trace out areas of cross-linguistic comparability. Finally, we will raise the question whether or not there is a common denominator which would justify a unified treatment of all these expressions in functional/semantic terms

Directional adposition use in English, Swedish and Finnish

Directional adpositions such as to the left of describe where a Figure is in relation to a Ground. English and Swedish directional adpositions refer to the location of a Figure in relation to a Ground, whether both are static or in motion. In contrast, the Finnish directional adpositions edellä (in front of) and jäljessä (behind) solely describe the location of a moving Figure in relation to a moving Ground (Nikanne, 2003). When using directional adpositions, a frame of reference must be assumed for interpreting the meaning of directional adpositions. For example, the meaning of to the left of in English can be based on a relative (speaker or listener based) reference frame or an intrinsic (object based) reference frame (Levinson, 1996). When a Figure and a Ground are both in motion, it is possible for a Figure to be described as being behind or in front of the Ground, even if neither have intrinsic features. As shown by Walker (in preparation), there are good reasons to assume that in the latter case a motion based reference frame is involved. This means that if Finnish speakers would use edellä (in front of) and jäljessä (behind) more frequently in situations where both the Figure and Ground are in motion, a difference in reference frame use between Finnish on one hand and English and Swedish on the other could be expected. We asked native English, Swedish and Finnish speakers’ to select adpositions from a language specific list to describe the location of a Figure relative to a Ground when both were shown to be moving on a computer screen. We were interested in any differences between Finnish, English and Swedish speakers. All languages showed a predominant use of directional spatial adpositions referring to the lexical concepts TO THE LEFT OF, TO THE RIGHT OF, ABOVE and BELOW. There were no differences between the languages in directional adpositions use or reference frame use, including reference frame use based on motion. We conclude that despite differences in the grammars of the languages involved, and potential differences in reference frame system use, the three languages investigated encode Figure location in relation to Ground location in a similar way when both are in motion. Levinson, S. C. (1996). Frames of reference and Molyneux’s question: Crosslingiuistic evidence. In P. Bloom, M.A. Peterson, L. Nadel & M.F. Garrett (Eds.) Language and Space (pp.109-170). Massachusetts: MIT Press. Nikanne, U. (2003). How Finnish postpositions see the axis system. In E. van der Zee & J. Slack (Eds.), Representing direction in language and space. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Walker, C. (in preparation). Motion encoding in language, the use of spatial locatives in a motion context. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Lincoln, Lincoln. United Kingdo

Presupposition, perceptional relativity and translation theory

The intertwining of assertions and presuppositions in utterances affects the way a text is perceived in the source language (SL) and the target language (TL). Presuppositions can be thought of as shared assumptions that form the background of the asserted meaning. To translate presuppositions as assertions, or vice versa, can distort the thematic meaning of the SL text and produce a text with a different information structure. Since a good translation is not simply concerned with transferring the propositional content of the SL text, but also its other semantic and pragmatic components, including thematic meaning, a special attention should be accorded to the translation of presupposition. This article examines the intrinsic relation between presupposition and thematic meaning, why the concept is relevant to translation theory, and how presupposition can affect the structure and understanding of discourse. Unshared presuppositions are major obstacles in translation, as cultural concepts may be conveyed through expressions that yield presuppositions. To attain an optimal proximity to the SL text, presupposition needs to be singled out as a distinct aspect of meaning, and distinctions need to be made between definite and indefinite meaning, topic and comment, topic and focus, presupposition and entailment, and presupposition and implicature