Mixing representation levels: The hybrid approach to automatic text generation

Natural language generation systems (NLG) map non-linguistic representations into strings of words through a number of steps using intermediate representations of various levels of abstraction. Template based systems, by contrast, tend to use only one representation level, i.e. fixed strings, which are combined, possibly in a sophisticated way, to generate the final text. In some circumstances, it may be profitable to combine NLG and template based techniques. The issue of combining generation techniques can be seen in more abstract terms as the issue of mixing levels of representation of different degrees of linguistic abstraction. This paper aims at defining a reference architecture for systems using mixed representations. We argue that mixed representations can be used without abandoning a linguistically grounded approach to language generation.Comment: 6 page

Any and eventualities

The fact that any has both a Free Choice and a Polarity Sensitive profile has been the source of many controversies.In this paper, we have proposed that the different uses of any are manifestations of the general constraint NI. All the cases we have reviewed concern the wayin which any links individuation and eventualities. As noted in [11], the French item le moindre, whose scalar origin is clear, has a very similar distribution.Future work will have to say whether scalarity plays a central role for any, as advocated in [5], and, more generally, for items which have both a PS and a FCsensitivity

An additive and a scalar particle: the case of the Italian ‘neppure' and its French counterparts

In this paper we argue that the NC item 'neppure' in Italian has two interpretations - additive and scalar - and that these two interpretations correspond to two different ways of closing a set: intensional (by fixing the endpoint) and extensional (by enumerating the members)

When widening is too narrow

International audienceCurrent proposals that characterise the widening effect of F(ree) C(hoice) I(tems) as an implicature all require additional stipulations and leave a number of observations unexplained. We propose instead that free choiceness results from ensuring that every member of the restriction is equivalent to every other member with respect to the scope. Whereas this general profile is subject to lexical variations within and across languages, it accounts for the family resemblance of FC

Ontologies temporelles et sémantique de la temporalité

Nous rappelons brièvement les ontologies temporelles et aspectuelles proposéees dans la littérature pour représenter les informations temporelles. Il apparait que l'évenance n'aurait pas d'existence ontologique directe. Cependant, elle est pertinence car c'est sur elle que sont construites les notions d'aspect et de temps. Après avoir montré le rôle important de la notion de changement, qui permet de distinguer les états du reste des évenances et celui de télicité, nous associons à ces deux notions celle de bornes et l'intérêt de la théorie des S-langages pour la représentation de l'aspect et du temps en linguistique

Free choiceness as non-locality specification

In this talk we propose to consider free-choiceness as a constraint which can be satisfied in several different way

Some features of the part-of relation with respect to verbal predication

The first part is an historical review of the "part-of" relations. In the second part, properties linked to this relation in mathematics, information systems and linguistics are treated. In part III deals with the part-of relation and the verbal predication.Nous commençons par une présentation historique des définitions de la relation "partie de", puis nous en explorons les principales propriétés en mathématiques, sciences de l'information et linguistiques Enfin, nous montrons comment elle est omniprésente dans le domaine de la prédication verbale

'Différent' vs 'autre' et l'opposition réciproque vs comparatif

This paper tests on French Beck's (2000) analysis of plural and quantified NP dependent readings of 'different' in English. According to her, 'different' works as a relational adjective when it depends on a plural NP, and as a comparison operator when it depends on a universally quantified NP. Beck treats as evidence in favour of her thesis the fact that German uses two distinct 'different' ('verschieden' and 'ander') to produce the range of possible readings of 'different' in English. The authors show, however, that the opposition between 'différent' and 'autre' in French does not locate the border of lexical differentiation there where it is found in German and where Beck sets the functional split. Furthermore, a close scrutiny of the English data exposes inconsistencies in her analysis of 'different' as a comparison operator. In sum, a contrastive study of the three languages does not provide evidence for a clear-cut opposition between different uses of 'different'. On the contrary, the situation depicted is better described as a gradient divided up in different ways by the various languages when realised as lexical items

Evidentiality and determination

This paper investigates the semantic properties of the French determiner quelque. It is shown that quelque conveys inferential evidentiality, that is, it selects interpretations in which the speaker infers the proposition conveyed by the sentence that hosts the determiner. This accounts for several other properties, for instance the fact that quelque is anti-specific and does not combine freely with negation. A notable consequence of the analysis is that the free choice and positive polarity behaviour of quelque are reduced to its basic semantics