Skip to main content

Challenges in the Computational Implementation of Montagovian Lexical Semantics

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
New Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence (JSAI-isAI 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 10247))

Included in the following conference series:

Abstract

We present and discuss a general-purpose implementation of the process of lexical semantics analysis theorised in the Montagovian Generative Lexicon \(\varLambda TY_n\) (hereafter MGL). The prototype software itself constitutes a proof of concept of the MGL theory. The implementation process, as well as the data structures and algorithms, also provide valuable results as to the expressive power required by MGL. While the implementation of terms and types for the purpose of meaning assembly assumed by MGL is in itself straightforward, some lexical phenomena require additional mechanisms in order to process the logical representation in order to take into account implicit common-sense world knowledge. We therefore also present a minimal architecture for knowledge representation, and how it can be applied to different phenomena. The implementation illustrates the validity of the theory, but MGL requires a stronger corpus of types and terms in order to be thoroughly tested.

Many thanks to the organisers, reviewers, speakers and participants of the LENLS 13 Workshop, in the proceedings of which the first version of this publication appeared as [20]. Thanks also to the director and adjunct directors of the LaBRI for supporting this research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Asher, N.: Lexical Meaning in Context: A Web of Words. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2011)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Asher, N., Pustejovsky, J.: Word meaning and commonsense metaphysics. Semantics Archive, August 2005

    Google Scholar 

  3. Bekki, D.: Dependent type semantics: an introduction. In: Christoff, Z., Galeazzi, P., Gierasimczuk, N., Marcoci, A., Smet, S. (eds.) Logic and Interactive RAtionality (LIRa) Yearbook 2012, vol. 1, pp. 277–300. University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Bekki, D., Asher, N.: Logical polysemy and subtyping. In: Motomura, Y., Butler, A., Bekki, D. (eds.) JSAI-isAI 2012. LNCS, vol. 7856, pp. 17–24. Springer, Heidelberg (2013). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-39931-2_2

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Bierwisch, M.: Wördliche Bedeutung - eine pragmatische Gretchenfrag. In: Grewendorf, G. (ed.) Sprechakttheorie und Semantik, pp. 119–148. Surkamp, Frankfurt (1979)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Bosch, P.: The bermuda triangle: natural language semantics between linguistics, knowledge representation, and knowledge processing. In: Herzog, O., Rollinger, C.-R. (eds.) Text Understanding in LILOG. LNCS, vol. 546, pp. 241–258. Springer, Heidelberg (1991). doi:10.1007/3-540-54594-8_64. http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=647415.725191

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Breitholtz, E.: Are widows always wicked? Learning concepts through enthymematic reasoning. In: Cooper, R., Retoré, C. (eds.) ESSLLI Proceedings of the TYTLES Workshop on TYpe Theory and LExical Semantics, Barcelona, August 2015

    Google Scholar 

  8. Chatzikyriakidis, S., Luo, Z.: Natural language inference in Coq. J. Log. Lang. Inf. 23(4), 441–480 (2014). http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10849-014-9208-x

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. Cooper, R.: Copredication, dynamic generalized quantification and lexical innovation by coercion. In: Fourth International Workshop on Generative Approaches to the Lexicon (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Cruse, D.A.: Lexical Semantics. Cambridge University Press, New York (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Fodor, J.A., Lepore, E.: The emptiness of the lexicon: reflections on James Pustejovsky’s the generative lexicon. Linguist. Inq. 29(2), 269–288 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Im, S., Lee, C.: A developed analysis of type coercion based on type theory and conventionality. In: Cooper, R., Retoré, C. (eds.) ESSLLI Proceedings of the TYTLES Workshop on TYpe Theory and LExical Semantics, Barcelona, August 2015

    Google Scholar 

  13. Jacquey, E.: Ambiguïtés lexicales et traitement automatique des langues: modélisation de la polysémie logique et application aux déverbaux d’action ambigus en français. Ph.D. thesis, Université de Nancy 2 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Kinoshita, E., Mineshima, K., Bekki, D.: An analysis of selectional restrictions with Dependent Type Semantics. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Logic and Engineering of Natural Language Semantics (LENLS 2013), pp. 100–113, November 2016

    Google Scholar 

  15. Link, G.: The logical analysis of plurals and mass terms: a lattice-theoretic approach. In: Portner, P., Partee, B.H. (eds.) Formal Semantics - The Essential Readings, pp. 127–147. Blackwell, Oxford (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Luo, Z.: Contextual analysis of word meanings in type-theoretical semantics. In: Pogodalla, S., Prost, J.-P. (eds.) LACL 2011. LNCS, vol. 6736, pp. 159–174. Springer, Heidelberg (2011). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-22221-4_11

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  17. Luo, Z.: Common nouns as types. In: Béchet, D., Dikovsky, A. (eds.) LACL 2012. LNCS, vol. 7351, pp. 173–185. Springer, Heidelberg (2012). doi:10.1007/978-3-642-31262-5_12

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  18. Mery, B.: Modélisation de la Sémantique Lexicale dans le cadre de la Théorie des Types. Ph.D. thesis, Université de Bordeaux, July 2011

    Google Scholar 

  19. Mery, B.: Lexical semantics with linear types. In: NLCS 2015, The Third Workshop on Natural Language and Computer Science, Kyoto, Japan, July 2015

    Google Scholar 

  20. Mery, B.: Lessons from a prototype implementation of Montagovian lexical semantics. In: Proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Logic and Engineering of Natural Language Semantics (LENLS 2013), pp. 73–85, November 2016

    Google Scholar 

  21. Mery, B., Moot, R., Retoré, C.: Computing the semantics of plurals and massive entities using many-sorted types. In: Murata, T., Mineshima, K., Bekki, D. (eds.) JSAI-isAI 2014. LNCS, vol. 9067, pp. 144–159. Springer, Heidelberg (2015). doi:10.1007/978-3-662-48119-6_11

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  22. Mery, B., Moot, R., Retoré, C.: Typed Hilbert operators for the lexical semantics of singular and plural determiner phrases. In: Epsilon 2015 - Hilbert’s Epsilon and Tau in Logic, Informatics and Linguistics, Montpellier, France, June 2015

    Google Scholar 

  23. Mery, B., Retoré, C.: Are books events? Ontological inclusions as coercive sub-typing, lexical transfers as entailment. In: LENLS 2012, jSAI 2015, Kanagawa, Japan, November 2015

    Google Scholar 

  24. Mery, B., Retoré, C.: Classifiers, sorts, and base types in the Montagovian generative lexicon and related type theoretical frameworks for lexical compositional semantics. In: Chatzikyriakidis, S., Luo, Z. (eds.) Modern Perspectives in Type-Theoretical Semantics. SLP, vol. 98, pp. 163–188. Springer, Cham (2017). doi:10.1007/978-3-319-50422-3_7

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  25. Moot, R.: Wide-coverage French syntax and semantics using Grail. In: Proceedings of Traitement Automatique des Langues Naturelles (TALN), Montreal (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Moot, R., Prévot, L., Retoré, C.: A discursive analysis of itineraries in an historical and regional corpus of travels. In: Constraints in discourse. http://passage.inria.fr/cid2011/doku.php. Ayay-roches-rouges, France, September 2011. http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00607691/en/

  27. Moravcsik, J.M.: How do words get their meanings? J. Philos. 78(1), 5–24 (1982)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Muskens, R.: Meaning and partiality. In: Cooper, R., de Rijke, M. (eds.) Studies in Logic, Langage and Information. CSLI, Stanford (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Pustejovsky, J.: The Generative Lexicon. MIT Press, Cambridge (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Real-Coelho, L.M., Retoré, C.: A generative Montagovian lexicon for polysemous deverbal nouns. In: 4th World Congress and School on Universal Logic - Workshop on Logic and Linguistics, Rio de Janeiro (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Retoré, C.: Sémantique des déterminants dans un cadre richement typé (2013). CoRR abs/1302.1422. http://arxiv.org/abs/1302.1422

  32. Retoré, C.: The Montagovian generative lexicon lambda Ty\(_{n}\): a type theoretical framework for natural language semantics. In: Matthes, R., Schubert, A. (eds.) 19th International Conference on Types for Proofs and Programs (TYPES 2013). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), vol. 26, pp. 202–229. Schloss Dagstuhl-Leibniz-Zentrum fuer Informatik, Dagstuhl, Germany (2014). http://drops.dagstuhl.de/opus/volltexte/2014/4633

  33. Russell, B.: On denoting. Mind 14(56), 479–493 (1905). http://www.jstor.org/stable/2248381

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bruno Mery .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this paper

Cite this paper

Mery, B. (2017). Challenges in the Computational Implementation of Montagovian Lexical Semantics. In: Kurahashi, S., Ohta, Y., Arai, S., Satoh, K., Bekki, D. (eds) New Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence. JSAI-isAI 2016. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10247. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61572-1_7

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61572-1_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-61571-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-61572-1

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics