Knowledge Representation and the Semantics of Natural Language

✍ Scribed by Hermann Helbig

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 655
• Series: Cognitive Technologies
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The book presents an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge representation and the treatment of semantic phenomena of natural language, which is positioned between artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, and cognitive psychology. The proposed method is based on Multilayered Extended Semantic Networks (MultiNets), which can be used for theoretical investigations into the semantics of natural language, for cognitive modeling, for describing lexical entries in a computational lexicon, and for natural language processing (NLP). Part I deals with fundamental problems of semantic knowledge representation and semantic interpretation of natural language phenomena. Part II provides a systematic description of the representational means of MultiNet, one of the most comprehensive and thoroughly specified collections of relations and functions used in real NLP applications. MultiNet is embedded into a system of software tools comprising a workbench for the knowledge engineer, a semantic interpreter translating natural language expressions into formal meaning structures, and a workbench for the computer lexicographer. The book has been used for courses in artificial intelligence at several universities and is one of the cornerstones for teaching computational linguistics in a virtual electronic laboratory.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover......Page 1
Cognitive Technologies......Page 2
Knowledge
Representation and
the Semantics of
Natural Language......Page 4
ISBN-13 9783540244615......Page 5
Preface......Page 6
Contents......Page 12
Part I. Knowledge Representation with MultiNet......Page 21
1
Introduction......Page 23
2
Historical Roots......Page 35
3
Basic Concepts......Page 39
4
Semantic Characterization of Objects......Page 65
5
Semantic Characterization of
Situations......Page 104
6
The Comparison of Entities......Page 131
7
The Spatio-temporal Characterization
of Entities......Page 149
8
Modality and Negation......Page 181
9
Quantification and Pluralities......Page 215
10
The Role of Layer Information in
Semantic Representations......Page 236
11
Relations Between Situations......Page 249
12
Lexicon and Knowledge
Representation......Page 294
13
Question Answering and Inferences......Page 319
14
Software Tools for the Knowledge
Engineer and Sample Applications......Page 345
15
Comparison Between MultiNet and
Other Semantic Formalisms or
Knowledge Representation Paradigms......Page 371
Part II. The Representational Means of MultiNet......Page 406
16
Overview and Representational
Principles......Page 407
17
Means for Expressing Classification
and Stratification......Page 420
18
Relational and Functional Means of
Representation......Page 450
Appendix A
Table of Abbreviations......Page 603
Appendix B
Overview of the Representational
Means......Page 605
Appendix C
Semantic Templates as a Mnemonic
Base for the Meaning of Relations......Page 611
Appendix D
Characterization of Arcs with Regard
to Their Knowledge Type......Page 614
Appendix E
Classes of Typical Axioms......Page 618
Bibliography......Page 626
List of Figures......Page 638
Index......Page 646