Semantic Relations of Structure

Abstract

This chapter continues the description of DBS constructs.

Exercises

Section 23.1

• 1. Give an example of an elementary and a phrasal noun, adj, and verb.

• 2. Name the clausal relations of natural language.

• 3. Why are the clausal relations opaque?

• 4. Explain the relation between the sentential subject and the matrix verb in 23.1.3. Describe the relevant attributes and values.

• 5. Define a corresponding proplet set for a sentential object construction.

• 6. Define a corresponding proplet set for a sentential adverb construction.

Section 23.2

• 1. Compare a classic network database and a word bank.

• 2. What is the primary key for storage and retrieval in a word bank?

• 3. What is the difference between an owner proplet and a member proplet?

• 4. What is the storage location for a new proplet?

• 5. Explain the core and the continuation attributes in a proplet.

• 6. Why are the proplets of a proposition stored in different token lines?

• 7. How does a content navigation use the retrieval mechanism of the word bank?

Section 23.3

• 1. Explain how the semantic relations subject-predicate, object-predicate, adnominal-noun, adverbial-verb, and conjunct-conjunct are represented in an SRG.

• 2. Compare an SRG and a corresponding signature.

• 3. How are coreferential pronouns represented in a signature?

• 4. Are NAGs defined for the speak mode or for the hear mode?

• 5. Explain surface realizations in which a surface requires more than one traversal step and in which one traversal step realizes more than one surface.

• 6. How are paratactic and hypotactic constructions represented in an SRG?

• 7. Explain why systems based on the principle of possible substitution cannot define relations between content words directly.

Section 23.4

• 1. Explain the two reasons why a propositional content may have alternative surfaces.

• 2. In what sense is a mapping between alternative surfaces and a propositional content in the same language analogous to a mapping between a given content and equivalent surfaces in different languages?

• 3. Describe the tasks of the mapping between a content and a surface in the speak and in the hear mode.

• 4. What are the respective advantages and disadvantages of postulating a universal representation of a propositional content, within a language and across languages.

• 5. What relations allow the construction of contents which are unlimited in size?

Section 23.5

• 1. Describe the ten Slim states of cognition.

• 2. What are the three possible activation points of a Slim machine?

• 3. Compare the Slim states of language-based and context-based cognition.

• 4. Compare the Slim states of immediate and mediated reference.

• 5. How do the speak and the hear mode differ in a Slim machine?

• 6. Why is immediate reference a special case of mediated reference?