Antecedent (grammar)

About: Antecedent (grammar) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1392 publications have been published within this topic receiving 41824 citations.

A Knowledge-Based and Sublanguage-Oriented Model for Anaphora Resolution

Abstract: The paper discusses a new knowledge-based and sublanguage-oriented model for anaphora resolution, which integrates syntactic, semantic, discourse, domain and heuristical knowledge for the sublanguage of computer science. Special attention is paid to a new approach for tracking the center of a discourse segment, which plays an important role in proposing the most likely antecedent to the anaphor in case of ambiguity. INTRODUCTION Anaphora resolution is a complicated problem in computational linguistics. Considerable research has been done by computational linguists ([Carbonell & Brown 88], [Dahl & Ball 90], [Frederking & Gehrke 87], [Hayes 81], [Hobbs 78], [Ingria & Stallard 89], [Rich & LuperFoy 88], [Robert 89]), but no complete theory has emerged which offers a resolution procedure with success guaranteed. All approaches developed even if we restrict our attention to pronominal anaphora, which we will do throughout this paper from purely syntactic ones to highly semantic and pragmatic ones, only provide a partial treatment of the problem. Given the complexity of the problem, we think that to secure a comparatively successful handling of anaphora resolution one should adhere to the following principles: 1) restriction to a domain (sublanguage) rather than focus on a particular natural language as a whole; 2) maximal use of linguistic information integrating it into a uniform architecture by means of partial theories. Some more recent treatments of anaphora ([Carbonell & Brown 88], [Rich & LuperFoy 88]) do express the idea of "multi-level approach", or "distributed architecture", but their ideas a) do not seem to capture enough discourse and heuristical knowledge and b) do not concentrate on and investigate a concrete domain, and thus risk being too general. We have tried nevertheless to incorporate some of their ideas into our own proposals. THE ANAPHORA RESOLUTION MODEL Our anaphora resolution model integrates modules containing different types of knowledge syntactic, semantic, domain, discourse, heuristical and common sense/world knowledge. All the modules share a common representation of the current discourse. The syntactic module, for example, knows that the anaphor and antecedent must agree in number, gender and person. It checks if the c-command constraints hold and establishes disjoint reference. In cases of syntactic parallelism, it prefers the noun phrase with the same syntactic role as the anaphor, as the most probable antecedent. It knows when cataphora is possible and can indicate syntactically topicalized noun phrases, which are more likely to be antecedents than non-topicalized ones. The semantic module checks for semantic consistency between the anaphor and the possible antecedent. It filters out semantically incompatible candidates following the

The Interjection הֵא in Biblical and Inscriptional Texts

Abstract: Genesis 20,5 is a perplexing verse when one tries to understand the logic behind the Masoretic pointing: “Did he not say to me, ‘She (הוא) is my sister.’ And she (היא) also she (הוא) said, ‘He is my brother.’ In purity of heart and innocent hands I did this.”This translation is how the verse is universally understood. According to the Masoretic pointing, the two third feminine singular pronouns are referring to the same antecedent, but when the reader notices the different orthographic forms (היא vs. הוא), the Masoretic pointing (and understanding of the text) seems forced and in need of reconsideration. This article will show that the second third feminine singular pronoun in the text should be understood instead as the interjection הא and then discuss the results of this reading.

Potential for Learning as An Antecedent Variable in Pascual-Leone's Theory of Constructive Operators

Abstract: A major contribution of Pascual-Leone's Theory of Constructive Operators is the postulation of antecedent variables, that can be measured independently and provide a set of underlying constructs to explain and predict changes in cognitive development and academic performance (Pascual-Leone, 1987) Brainerd (1978) considered the postulation of such antecedent variables essential for ddferentiating between descriptive and explanatory theories Niaz (1990, 1994) presented empirical evidence to confirm that the following variables of M-power, Field factor, and Mobhty-Fixity Dimension, based on the Theory of Constructive Operators can be considered as antecedent variables The objective of this note is to review research which provides empirical evidence for yet another antecedent variable, viz, potential for learnmg (L-power) in the Theory of Constructive Operators The importance for cognitive theories of studying both developmental and learning factors has been recognized (Miller, Pascual-Leone, Campbell, & Juckes, 1989) In this theory potential for learning refers to the subjects' ab~lity to learn, which leads to the development of new problem-solving strategies based on prior knowledge and intratask experience A repeated testing with the Figural Intersection Test can provide 'I the equivalent of what may be called 'L-power' or 'learning-to-learn' abilityv (Mder, et al, 1989, p 310) The Figural Intersection Test (Pascual-Leone & Burtis, 1974) is a group-administered paper-andpencil test designed to measure M-power, ie, abihty to process information The rationale for selecting a version for repeated testing is based on the assumption that students are expected to learn new executive strategies on every trial and to improve their scores Niaz and Caraucan (in press) showed that success on repeated testing

Differences between grammatical gender and semantic gender in pronominal antecedent retrieval in Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract: Coreference is a syntactic dependency in which pronouns are bound to previous referents in discourse. Granted that antecedents of anaphors must be retrieved from memory in coreference, the aim of this research is to provide more information on how pronominal antecedents are retrieved, and more precisely to clarify the role of gender cues in pronominal antecedent retrieval when gender morphology is overt. Since Portuguese is a language with visible morphology, speakers of this language are used to rely on agreement cues to process language. The results of two eye-tracking experiments conducted with native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese demonstrated that both binding structural constraints and gender morphological cues are equally important in antecedent retrieval in memory throughout processing. In addition, the results indicated that semantic gender seemed to weigh more in memory than grammatical gender since structurally unacceptable candidates carrying semantic gender caused more interference effects than grammatical gender.

Phonological, morphosyntactic and semantic properties of es

Abstract: The contribution deals with the German multifunctional item es and its suppletive forms dessen , dem and da ( r ) . Their phonological, morphosyntactic and semantic lexical properties are considered and represented in corresponding lexical entries. The focus of attention is on the interrelation of the anaphoric and cataphoric functions of es and its role in sentence embedding. As far as possible, a unified syntactic and semantic analysis is given. As for the pro-form and the correlate es , I follow the differentiation of two matrix-predicate classes made by Sudhoff (2003) and try to add necessary distinctions and semantic considerations. For some types of matrix-predicates lexical representations are proposed. It is assumed that the correlate has an obligatory propositional argument, while the pro-forms es , dessen , dem , and da(r) occur separately or are accompanied by an apposition. The extraposition of the propositional argument of the correlate takes place for phonological and/or computational reasons and is not visible, semantically. In contrast, explicative constituents of pronouns and pro-forms can be base-generated right-dislocated to the matrix-sentence and are semantically correlated with their antecedent. The same seems true for cleft-constructions. It is discussed what it means to supply embedded clauses with nominal character. In this connection, a comparison is made between DPs with a pronominal head and DPs with a determiner and a lexical head with regard to their role in the embedding of clauses.