Selective Sampling for Example-based Word Sense Disambiguation

This paper proposes an efficient example sampling method for example-based word sense disambiguation systems. To construct a database of practical size, a considerable overhead for manual sense disambiguation (overhead for supervision) is required. In addition, the time complexity of searching a large-sized database poses a considerable problem (overhead for search). To counter these problems, our method selectively samples a smaller-sized effective subset from a given example set for use in word sense disambiguation. Our method is characterized by the reliance on the notion of training utility: the degree to which each example is informative for future example sampling when used for the training of the system. The system progressively collects examples by selecting those with greatest utility. The paper reports the effectiveness of our method through experiments on about one thousand sentences. Compared to experiments with other example sampling methods, our method reduced both the overhead for supervision and the overhead for search, without the degeneration of the performance of the system.Comment: 25 pages, 14 Postscript figure

Combined optimization of feature selection and algorithm parameters in machine learning of language

Comparative machine learning experiments have become an important methodology in empirical approaches to natural language processing (i) to investigate which machine learning algorithms have the 'right bias' to solve specific natural language processing tasks, and (ii) to investigate which sources of information add to accuracy in a learning approach. Using automatic word sense disambiguation as an example task, we show that with the methodology currently used in comparative machine learning experiments, the results may often not be reliable because of the role of and interaction between feature selection and algorithm parameter optimization. We propose genetic algorithms as a practical approach to achieve both higher accuracy within a single approach, and more reliable comparisons

The interaction of knowledge sources in word sense disambiguation

Word sense disambiguation (WSD) is a computational linguistics task likely to benefit from the tradition of combining different knowledge sources in artificial in telligence research. An important step in the exploration of this hypothesis is to determine which linguistic knowledge sources are most useful and whether their combination leads to improved results. We present a sense tagger which uses several knowledge sources. Tested accuracy exceeds 94% on our evaluation corpus.Our system attempts to disambiguate all content words in running text rather than limiting itself to treating a restricted vocabulary of words. It is argued that this approach is more likely to assist the creation of practical systems

A Cross-domain and Cross-language Knowledge-based Representation of Text and its Meaning

Tesis por compendioNatural Language Processing (NLP) is a field of computer science, artificial intelligence, and computational linguistics concerned with the interactions between computers and human languages. One of its most challenging aspects involves enabling computers to derive meaning from human natural language. To do so, several meaning or context representations have been proposed with competitive performance. However, these representations still have room for improvement when working in a cross-domain or cross-language scenario. In this thesis we study the use of knowledge graphs as a cross-domain and cross-language representation of text and its meaning. A knowledge graph is a graph that expands and relates the original concepts belonging to a set of words. We obtain its characteristics using a wide-coverage multilingual semantic network as knowledge base. This allows to have a language coverage of hundreds of languages and millions human-general and -specific concepts. As starting point of our research we employ knowledge graph-based features - along with other traditional ones and meta-learning - for the NLP task of single- and cross-domain polarity classification. The analysis and conclusions of that work provide evidence that knowledge graphs capture meaning in a domain-independent way. The next part of our research takes advantage of the multilingual semantic network and focuses on cross-language Information Retrieval (IR) tasks. First, we propose a fully knowledge graph-based model of similarity analysis for cross-language plagiarism detection. Next, we improve that model to cover out-of-vocabulary words and verbal tenses and apply it to cross-language document retrieval, categorisation, and plagiarism detection. Finally, we study the use of knowledge graphs for the NLP tasks of community questions answering, native language identification, and language variety identification. The contributions of this thesis manifest the potential of knowledge graphs as a cross-domain and cross-language representation of text and its meaning for NLP and IR tasks. These contributions have been published in several international conferences and journals.El Procesamiento del Lenguaje Natural (PLN) es un campo de la informática, la inteligencia artificial y la lingüística computacional centrado en las interacciones entre las máquinas y el lenguaje de los humanos. Uno de sus mayores desafíos implica capacitar a las máquinas para inferir el significado del lenguaje natural humano. Con este propósito, diversas representaciones del significado y el contexto han sido propuestas obteniendo un rendimiento competitivo. Sin embargo, estas representaciones todavía tienen un margen de mejora en escenarios transdominios y translingües. En esta tesis estudiamos el uso de grafos de conocimiento como una representación transdominio y translingüe del texto y su significado. Un grafo de conocimiento es un grafo que expande y relaciona los conceptos originales pertenecientes a un conjunto de palabras. Sus propiedades se consiguen gracias al uso como base de conocimiento de una red semántica multilingüe de amplia cobertura. Esto permite tener una cobertura de cientos de lenguajes y millones de conceptos generales y específicos del ser humano. Como punto de partida de nuestra investigación empleamos características basadas en grafos de conocimiento - junto con otras tradicionales y meta-aprendizaje - para la tarea de PLN de clasificación de la polaridad mono- y transdominio. El análisis y conclusiones de ese trabajo muestra evidencias de que los grafos de conocimiento capturan el significado de una forma independiente del dominio. La siguiente parte de nuestra investigación aprovecha la capacidad de la red semántica multilingüe y se centra en tareas de Recuperación de Información (RI). Primero proponemos un modelo de análisis de similitud completamente basado en grafos de conocimiento para detección de plagio translingüe. A continuación, mejoramos ese modelo para cubrir palabras fuera de vocabulario y tiempos verbales, y lo aplicamos a las tareas translingües de recuperación de documentos, clasificación, y detección de plagio. Por último, estudiamos el uso de grafos de conocimiento para las tareas de PLN de respuesta de preguntas en comunidades, identificación del lenguaje nativo, y identificación de la variedad del lenguaje. Las contribuciones de esta tesis ponen de manifiesto el potencial de los grafos de conocimiento como representación transdominio y translingüe del texto y su significado en tareas de PLN y RI. Estas contribuciones han sido publicadas en diversas revistas y conferencias internacionales.El Processament del Llenguatge Natural (PLN) és un camp de la informàtica, la intel·ligència artificial i la lingüística computacional centrat en les interaccions entre les màquines i el llenguatge dels humans. Un dels seus majors reptes implica capacitar les màquines per inferir el significat del llenguatge natural humà. Amb aquest propòsit, diverses representacions del significat i el context han estat proposades obtenint un rendiment competitiu. No obstant això, aquestes representacions encara tenen un marge de millora en escenaris trans-dominis i trans-llenguatges. En aquesta tesi estudiem l'ús de grafs de coneixement com una representació trans-domini i trans-llenguatge del text i el seu significat. Un graf de coneixement és un graf que expandeix i relaciona els conceptes originals pertanyents a un conjunt de paraules. Les seves propietats s'aconsegueixen gràcies a l'ús com a base de coneixement d'una xarxa semàntica multilingüe d'àmplia cobertura. Això permet tenir una cobertura de centenars de llenguatges i milions de conceptes generals i específics de l'ésser humà. Com a punt de partida de la nostra investigació emprem característiques basades en grafs de coneixement - juntament amb altres tradicionals i meta-aprenentatge - per a la tasca de PLN de classificació de la polaritat mono- i trans-domini. L'anàlisi i conclusions d'aquest treball mostra evidències que els grafs de coneixement capturen el significat d'una forma independent del domini. La següent part de la nostra investigació aprofita la capacitat\hyphenation{ca-pa-ci-tat} de la xarxa semàntica multilingüe i se centra en tasques de recuperació d'informació (RI). Primer proposem un model d'anàlisi de similitud completament basat en grafs de coneixement per a detecció de plagi trans-llenguatge. A continuació, vam millorar aquest model per cobrir paraules fora de vocabulari i temps verbals, i ho apliquem a les tasques trans-llenguatges de recuperació de documents, classificació, i detecció de plagi. Finalment, estudiem l'ús de grafs de coneixement per a les tasques de PLN de resposta de preguntes en comunitats, identificació del llenguatge natiu, i identificació de la varietat del llenguatge. Les contribucions d'aquesta tesi posen de manifest el potencial dels grafs de coneixement com a representació trans-domini i trans-llenguatge del text i el seu significat en tasques de PLN i RI. Aquestes contribucions han estat publicades en diverses revistes i conferències internacionals.Franco Salvador, M. (2017). A Cross-domain and Cross-language Knowledge-based Representation of Text and its Meaning [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/84285TESISCompendi

A Survey on Semantic Processing Techniques

Semantic processing is a fundamental research domain in computational linguistics. In the era of powerful pre-trained language models and large language models, the advancement of research in this domain appears to be decelerating. However, the study of semantics is multi-dimensional in linguistics. The research depth and breadth of computational semantic processing can be largely improved with new technologies. In this survey, we analyzed five semantic processing tasks, e.g., word sense disambiguation, anaphora resolution, named entity recognition, concept extraction, and subjectivity detection. We study relevant theoretical research in these fields, advanced methods, and downstream applications. We connect the surveyed tasks with downstream applications because this may inspire future scholars to fuse these low-level semantic processing tasks with high-level natural language processing tasks. The review of theoretical research may also inspire new tasks and technologies in the semantic processing domain. Finally, we compare the different semantic processing techniques and summarize their technical trends, application trends, and future directions.Comment: Published at Information Fusion, Volume 101, 2024, 101988, ISSN 1566-2535. The equal contribution mark is missed in the published version due to the publication policies. Please contact Prof. Erik Cambria for detail

Cross-domain polarity classification using a knowledge-enhanced meta-classifier

Current approaches to single and cross-domain polarity classification usually use bag of words, n-grams or lexical resource-based classifiers. In this paper, we propose the use of meta-learning to combine and enrich those approaches by adding also other knowledge-based features. In addition to the aforementioned classical approaches, our system uses the BabelNet multilingual semantic network to generate features derived from word sense disambiguation and vocabulary expansion. Experimental results show state-of-the-art performance on single and cross-domain polarity classification. Contrary to other approaches, ours is generic. These results were obtained without any domain adaptation technique. Moreover, the use of meta-learning allows our approach to obtain the most stable results across domains. Finally, our empirical analysis provides interesting insights on the use of semantic network-based features.European Comission WIQ-EI IRSES (No. 269180)Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2012-38603-C02-01Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2012-38536-C03-02Junta de Andalucía P11-TIC-7684 M