‫معالجة اللغات الطبيعية‬

(١١) ‫محاضرة‬ ‫رابعة حاسب‬

‫ أحمد الحربى‬/‫دكتور‬

Word Sense Ambiguity

I walked to the bank.

The water looked inviting.

I needed to deposit a check.

He did not want to run again.

His ankle was still sore.

He was tired of politics.

She asked to borrow my pen.

Her pen had run out of ink.

She needed a cage for her rabbits.

What constitutes a distinct word sense?

Random House College Dictionary has 93 definitions of the verb “take”!

1. to get into ones hands by voluntary action

“to take a book from the table”

2. to get into ones hands by force

“to take a bone from a dog”

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3. to catch
“to take a deer during hunting season”

9. to receive, react, or respond

“she took the news hard”

More meanings of “take”

20. to end a life

“he took his own life”

21. to subtract or deduct

“if you take 3 from 5, that leaves 2”

23. to convey or transport

“we took the kids for a ride”

29. to succeed in getting over, through, or around something

“he took the corner at top speed”

30. to come upon suddenly

“to take someone by surprise”

38. to proceed to occupy

“to take a seat”

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 Not including larger expressions

- take after
- take down
- take back
- take on
- take it out on
- take off
- take over
- take to
- take up
- take up with

Role Relationships

John broke the window with the hammer.

The hammer broke the window.
The window broke.

Rover smelled.
Elvis smelled Rover.

I ate the spaghetti with a fork.

I ate the spaghetti with a friend.
I ate the spaghetti with a tomato sauce.
I ate the spaghetti with a glee.

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 Thematic Roles

- Idea: words often play the same semantic roles in different syntactic positions.

- represents abstract relationships common to many words.

- although researchers argue over the number of thematic roles, most

people agree that there is a relatively small set.

- related to case grammars and case roles (Fillmore).

Common Thematic Roles

John broke the window with the hammer.

Æ John is the actor (agent role)

Æ The window is the object (theme role)
Æ The hammer is the instrument (instrument role)

The hammer broke the window.

Æ The hammer is the instrument (instrument role)

Æ The window is the object (theme role)

The window broke.

Æ The window is the object (theme role)

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 The agent role

- the agent is responsible for the action

- often (though not always) implies intentionality

Examples:

John intentionally broke the window.

The hammer intentionally broke the window.

The theme (object) role

- the object being acted upon, or the concept being changed.

- the object is usually the answer to the question “What Xed?” or “What was
Xed?”.

Examples:

Rover smelled.
John smelled Rover.

The instrument role

A tool, material, or force used to perform an action.

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Examples:

The hammer broke the window.

I ate spaghetti with a fork.
I saw Elvis with binoculars.

He used a telescope to see Elvis.

John broke the door down with his weight.

Possession roles

Represents a change in possession from one owner to another.

Examples:

John gave Rover to Mary.

Mary was given Rover from John.
Mary was given Rover by John.

John fills the FROM-POSS role (also called the possessor).

Mary fills the TO-POSS role (also called the recipient).

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 Location and path roles

Location roles represent a change of location.

I went to Greenland. (TO-LOC role or Destination)

I went from Boston to Graceland. (FROM-LOC role or Source)
Graceland is in the United States. (AT-LOC role)

Path roles represent a trajectory or path.

I walked down the street. (PATH-LOC)

Rover swam across the river. (PATH-LOC)

Time and value roles

I woke up at seven o’clock. (AT-TIME role)

The seminar runs from 11:00 to 12:30. (FROM-TIME role and
TO-TIME role)

He drove down the freeway at 80 mph. (AT-VALUE role)

When he saw the cop, he slowed down to 65 mph. (TO-VALUE role)

When he passed the cop, he accelerated from 65 mph back to 80

mph. (FROM-VALUE role and TO-VALUE role)

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 Other roles

The beneficiary role

“John gave Rover a bath for Mary.”

The co-agent role

“John washed Rover with Mary.”

The co-theme role

“John washed Fido with Rover.”

The experiencer role

“John believes that Rover is smelly.”
(“Rover is smelly” is the theme.)

Top-down Expectations

Roles that are strongly associated with a word.

Examples:

Give: expectations for agent, object, and recipient.

Put: expectations for agent, object, and location.
Run: expectations for agent, path or location.
Kill: expectations for agent, object, and instrument.
Die: expectations for object.

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 Bottom-up Expectations

Roles that can be associated with many different words and are typically not
required.

For example, most times and locations:

John saw Mary in Boston.

John died in Boston.
John washed Rover in Boston.

John saw Mary at noon.

John died at noon.
John washed Rover at noon.

Case Frames

Top-down expectations are often implement as case frames.

GAVE

Agent = subject
Object = direct object
Recipient = indirect object
John gave Mary a book.
GAVE

Agent = ‘John’
Object = ‘a book’

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 Recipient = ‘Mary’

Attaching bottom-up roles

Bottom-up roles are attached dynamically as they are identified.

GAVE

Agent = subject
Object = direct object
Recipient = indirect object

John gave Mary a book this afternoon.

GAVE

Agent = ‘John’
Object = ‘a book’
Recipient = ‘Mary’
Time = ‘this afternoon’

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