Automatic case acquisition from texts for process-oriented case-based reasoning

This paper introduces a method for the automatic acquisition of a rich case representation from free text for process-oriented case-based reasoning. Case engineering is among the most complicated and costly tasks in implementing a case-based reasoning system. This is especially so for process-oriented case-based reasoning, where more expressive case representations are generally used and, in our opinion, actually required for satisfactory case adaptation. In this context, the ability to acquire cases automatically from procedural texts is a major step forward in order to reason on processes. We therefore detail a methodology that makes case acquisition from processes described as free text possible, with special attention given to assembly instruction texts. This methodology extends the techniques we used to extract actions from cooking recipes. We argue that techniques taken from natural language processing are required for this task, and that they give satisfactory results. An evaluation based on our implemented prototype extracting workflows from recipe texts is provided.Comment: Sous presse, publication pr\'evue en 201

Probabilistic Approach to Epistemic Modals in the Framework of Dynamic Semantics

In dynamic semantics meaning of a statement is not equated with its truth conditions but with its context change potential. It has also been claimed that dynamic framework can automatically account for certain paradoxes that involve epistemic modals, such as the following one: it seems odd and incoherent to claim: (1) “It is raining and it might not rain”, whereas claiming (2) “It might not rain and it is raining” does not seem equally odd (Yalcin, 2007). Nevertheless, it seems that it cannot capture the fact that statement (2) seems odd as well, even though not as odd as the statement (1) (Gauker, 2007). I will argue that certain probabilistic extensions to the dynamic model can account for this subtlety of our linguistic intuitions and represent if not an improved than at least an alternative framework for capturing the way contexts are updated and beliefs revised with uncertain information.Numer został przygotowany przy wsparciu Ministerstwa Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego

Pronouns and mentions

A paraître dans un volume intitulé : "Comparing anaphors", Lita Lunquist et Iørn Korzen, éditeurs. CoppenhagenResearch of the last decades in semantics have tried to establish, for some restricted pronominal paradigms, that pronouns have a core meaning. Evans (1980) claims that there are few (somewhat) related models for pronouns, and Kamp (1981) implements a formalism with a unified meaning for pronouns In this paper, I will focus on French “personal” pronouns il, elle, le, lui, en, y , , and I will discuss some data difficult to accommodate in the classical Evans/Kamp models :a) Some varieties of pay-check sentences ; b) anaphora by pronouns to parts of idioms; c) revision sentences discussed by Strawson (1952). I will argue that this bunch of cases points to a unified theory of pronouns seen as “echos of mentions”, a mention being a discourse event involving the use of a linguistic expression of a certain kind. I try to make explicit what is metaphorically meant by the term “echo” in the above formulation

Exploiting Deep Semantics and Compositionality of Natural Language for Human-Robot-Interaction

We develop a natural language interface for human robot interaction that implements reasoning about deep semantics in natural language. To realize the required deep analysis, we employ methods from cognitive linguistics, namely the modular and compositional framework of Embodied Construction Grammar (ECG) [Feldman, 2009]. Using ECG, robots are able to solve fine-grained reference resolution problems and other issues related to deep semantics and compositionality of natural language. This also includes verbal interaction with humans to clarify commands and queries that are too ambiguous to be executed safely. We implement our NLU framework as a ROS package and present proof-of-concept scenarios with different robots, as well as a survey on the state of the art

The ALLIGATOR Theorem Prover for Dependent Type Systems: Description and Proof Sample

This paper introduces the Alligator theorem prover for Dependent Type Systems (DTS). We start with highlighting a number of properties of DTS that make them specifically suited for computational semantics. We then briefly introduce dts and our implementation. The paper concludes with an example of a DTS proof that illustrates the suitability of DTS for modelling anaphora resolution

Extracting fictional truth from unreliable sources

A fictional text is commonly viewed as constituting an invitation to play a certain game of make-believe, with the individual sentences written by the author providing the propositions we are to imagine and/or accept as true within the fiction. However, we can’t always take the text at face value. What narratologists call ‘unreliable narrators’ may present a confused or misleading picture of the fictional world. Meanwhile there has been a debate in philosophy about so-called ‘imaginative resistance’ in which we are inclined to resist imagining (or even accepting as true in the fiction) what’s explicitly stated in the text. But if we can’t take the text’s word for it, how do we determine what’s true in a fiction? We propose an account of fiction interpretation in a dynamic setting (a version of DRT with a mechanism for opening, updating, and closing temporary ‘workspaces’) and combine this framework with belief revision logic. With these tools in hand we turn to modelling imaginative resistance and unreliable narrators

An Incremental Model of Anaphora and Reference Resolution Based on Resource Situations

Notwithstanding conclusive psychological and corpus evidence that at least some aspects of anaphoric and referential interpretation take place incrementally, and the existence of some computational models of incremental reference resolution, many aspects of the linguistics of incremental reference interpretation still have to be better understood. We propose a model of incremental reference interpretation based on Loebner’s theory of definiteness and on the theory of anaphoric accessibility via resource situations developed in Situation Semantics, and show how this model can account for a variety of psychological results about incremental reference interpretation

Representing discourse in context

This article gives a survey of Discourse Representation Theory (DRT), including recent developments, and with an emphasis on logical issues. Discourse representation structures are defined, and various prespectives on their static and dynamic meaning are discussed. This discussion leads to the study of the process of merging representation structures, a process which can be viewed as a strategy for memory management. Next, a toy example fragment of English is presented, with a compositional DRT semantics. The final sections are devoted to the treatment of quantification and of tense and aspect