Abstract
In this project, we investigate the generation of wordplay that can serve as playful “explanations” for given names. We present a working system (part of work in progress), which segments and/or manipulates input names. The system does so by decomposing them into sequences (or phrases) composed of at least two words and/or transforming them into other words. Experiments reveal that the output stimulates human users into completing explanations creatively, even without sophisticated derivational grammar. This research applies to two languages: Hebrew and English. The applied transformations are: addition of a letter, deletion of a letter and replacement of a similar letter. Experiments performed in these languages show that in Hebrew the input and output are perceived to be reasonably associated; whereas, the English output, if perceived to be acceptable rather than absurd, is accepted as a humorous pun.
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HaCohen-Kerner, Y., Cohen, D.N., Nissan, E. (2013). Experiments in Producing Playful “Explanations” for Given Names (Anthroponyms) in Hebrew and English. In: Métais, E., Meziane, F., Saraee, M., Sugumaran, V., Vadera, S. (eds) Natural Language Processing and Information Systems. NLDB 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7934. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38824-8_32
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38824-8_32
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