Classifying Classification

AbstractDifferent types of linguistic classification, ranging from simple inheritance hierarchies to systemic networks, are classified algebraically and order-theoretically. To this end, classifications are reformulated as observational theories. Classifications that do not involve disjunction correspond to Horn theories, whose generic universe ordered by specialization is known to be a Scott domain. Several subtypes of Horn theories, corresponding to simple inheritance with exclusions, are classified with respect to their domains. Systemic classification is shown to have a flat domain. In particular, every finite systemic classification can be translated into a Horn theory. The infinite case turns out to be more subtle since non-equivalent observational theories may induce isomorphic specialization orders

Combining Contexts in Lexicon Learning for Semantic Parsing

Proceedings of the 16th Nordic Conference of Computational Linguistics NODALIDA-2007. Editors: Joakim Nivre, Heiki-Jaan Kaalep, Kadri Muischnek and Mare Koit. University of Tartu, Tartu, 2007. ISBN 978-9985-4-0513-0 (online) ISBN 978-9985-4-0514-7 (CD-ROM) pp. 175-182

Quantification in Frame Semantics with Binders and Nominals of Hybrid Logic

International audienceThis paper aims at integrating logical operators into frame-based semantics. Frames are semantic graphs that allow to capture lexical meaning in a fine-grained way but that do not come with a natural way to integrate logical operators such as quantifiers. The approach we propose starts from the observation that modal logic is a powerful tool for describing relational structures, hence frames. We use its hybrid logic extension in order to incorporate quantification and thereby allow for inference and reasoning. We integrate our approach to a type theoretic compositional semantics, formulated within Abstract Categorial Grammars. We also show how the key ingredients of hybrid logic, nominals and binders, can be used to model semantic coercion, such as the one induced by the begin predicate. In order to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed syntax-semantics interface, all the examples can be run and tested with the Abstract Categorial Grammar development toolkit

Progression and Iteration in Event Semantics — An LTAG Analysis Using Hybrid Logic and Frame Semantics

Colloque de Syntaxe et Sémantique à Paris (CSSP 2015)International audienceIn this paper, we propose to use Hybrid Logic (HL) as a means to combine frame-based lexical semantics with quantification. We integrate this into an LTAG syntax-semantics interface and show that this architecture allows a fine-grained description of event structures by quantifying for instance over subevents. As a case study we provide an analysis of iteration and progression in combination with for-adverbials. With the HL approach and with standard techniques of underspecification we can account for the behaviour of these adverbials without the assumption of an additional iteration operator on events. This is due to the fact that frame semantics allows to express general constraints on event types that require an event to be an iteration in certain contexts

For-Adverbials and Aspectual Interpretation: An LTAG Analysis Using Hybrid Logic and Frame Semantics

International audienceIn this paper, we propose to use Hybrid Logic (HL) as a means to combine frame-based lexical semantics with quantification. We integrate this into a syntax-semantics interface using LTAG (Lexicalized Tree Adjoining Grammar) and show that this architecture allows a fine-grained description of event structures by quantifying, for instance, over subevents. As a case study, we provide an analysis of for-adverbials and the aspectual interpretations they induce. The basic idea is that for-adverbials introduce a universal quantification over subevents that are characterized by the predication contributed by the verb. Depending on whether these subevents are bounded or not, the resulting overall event is then an iteration or a progression. We show that by combining the HL approach with standard techniques of underspecification and by using HL to formulate general constraints on event frames, we can account for the aspectual coercion triggered by these adverbials. Furthermore, by pairing this with syntactic building blocks in LTAG, we provide a working syntax-semantics interface for these phenomena