Al,
A link to that paper [1] is:
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.105.3751&rep=r…
.
Best regards,
Adam
From: Grounder UK<mailto:grounderuk@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 26, 2020 12:39 PM
To:
abstract-wikipedia@lists.wikimedia.org<mailto:abstract-wikipedia@lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: [Abstract-wikipedia] Abstract-Wikipedia Digest, Vol 1, Issue 90
Nice one, Adam!
I'm liking the constraints paradigm because it follows the real-world domain,
conceived of as an inverse pyramid:
Not all claims are expressed in a Wikipedia, and of those
Not all claims are codified in Wikidata, and of those
Not all claims are "salient", given our topic of interest, and of
those,
Not all claims are yet expressible as natural language output, and of
those,
Not all claims are expressible in the target language, and of
those,
Natural language generation filters apply for sense,
volume...
Funnelled into rendering:
"I sat at my desk, stared into
the garden and thought '42 will do' .
I typed it out. End of story." Douglas Adams
(Q42)
Do you have a link for that OU paper [1]?
Best regards,
Al.
On Sunday, 26 July 2020,
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Today's Topics:
1. Re: Conjugation and Declension Functions (Adam Sobieski)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 2020 15:38:35 +0000
From: Adam Sobieski
<adamsobieski@hotmail.com<mailto:adamsobieski@hotmail.com>>
To: "General public mailing list for the discussion of Abstract
Wikipedia (aka Wikilambda)"
<abstract-wikipedia@lists.wikimedia.org<mailto:abstract-wikipedia@lists.wikimedia.org>>
Subject: Re: [Abstract-wikipedia] Conjugation and Declension Functions
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We could also view the matter as being one of specifying a set of constraints [1][2] with
which to describe a desired sentence.
That is, the syntactic sugar:
(1) hit<voice::active, tense::past, aspect::perfective, mood::indicative>(context, [
{role: ‘agent’, value: Bobby}, {role: ‘patient’, value: ball}, {role: ‘instrument’, value:
bat} ]);
could be viewed as indicating a number of simultaneous constraints with regard to a
desired sentence. With an expression tree model, we could form expressions for a
constraint-based system while making use of objects in scope.
1. constraints.add(expr.equals(expr.symbol(‘verb’),
expr.constant(getVerb(‘https://example.com/verb#hit’))));
The generic arguments “<voice::active, tense::past, aspect::perfective,
mood::indicative>” could translate or map to:
1. constraints.add(expr.equals(expr.symbol(‘voice’), expr.constant(‘active’)));
2. constraints.add(expr.equals(expr.symbol(‘tense’), expr.constant(‘past’)));
3. constraints.add(expr.equals(expr.symbol(‘aspect’), expr.constant(‘perfective’)));
4. constraints.add(expr.equals(expr.symbol(‘mood’), expr.constant(‘indicative’)));
Next, to the array of role-adorned nouns, “[ {role: ‘agent’, value: Bobby}, {role:
‘patient’, value: ball}, {role: ‘instrument’, value: bat} ]”:
1. constraints.add(expr.equals(expr.property(e0, ‘role’), expr.constant(‘agent’)));
2. constraints.add(expr.equals(expr.property(e0, ‘value’), expr.constant(Bobby)));
1. constraints.add(expr.equals(expr.property(e1, ‘role’), expr.constant(‘patient’)));
2. constraints.add(expr.equals(expr.property(e1, ‘value’), expr.constant(ball)));
1. constraints.add(expr.equals(expr.property(e2, ‘role’),
expr.constant(‘instrument’)));
2. constraints.add(expr.equals(expr.property(e2, ‘value’), expr.constant(ball)));
1. constraints.add(expr.holds(‘occursInSentenceBefore’, Bobby, ball));
2. constraints.add(expr.holds(‘occursInSentenceBefore’, ball, bat));
There exists mappings from the information in the generic function invocation (1) to
rough-draft pseudocode for describing a set of constraints ((a) – (m)).
We could also add scalars as arguments when adding constraints to a set. For instance, we
could add scalar arguments to (l) and (m):
constraints.add(expr.holds(‘occursInSentenceBefore’, Bobby, ball), 0.5);
constraints.add(expr.holds(‘occursInSentenceBefore’, ball, bat), 0.5);
Constraint-based approaches are both expressive and extensible. With a set of weighted
constraints describing a desired output sentence, we could then invoke a sentence
realizer:
realizeSentence(constraints) --> “Bobby hit the ball with the bat”
Best regards,
Adam
[1] Piwek, Paul, and Kees Van Deemter. Constraint-based natural language generation: A
survey. Technical Report 2006/03, Computing Department, The Open University, 2006.
[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constraint_programming
From: Adam
Sobieski<mailto:adamsobieski@hotmail.com<mailto:adamsobieski@hotmail.com>>
Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2020 1:43 PM
To: General public mailing list for the discussion of Abstract Wikipedia (aka
Wikilambda)<mailto:abstract-wikipedia@lists.wikimedia.org<mailto:abstract-wikipedia@lists.wikimedia.org>>
Subject: RE: Conjugation and Declension Functions
Thank you all for the comments and feedback thus far.
I would like to indicate that we could also utilize the expressiveness of
JavaScript/TypeScript for array literals with object literal elements. In this alternative
approach, arguments could be placed into an array of objects which each attach a thematic
role to an argument. “Bobby”, “ball” and “bat” could be objects of type Noun, and we could
pass to a function an array literal of object literals to get at the desired concepts of:
(1) sequence, (2) roles, (3) values. That is rather the matter: attaching thematic roles
to elements of a sequence of arguments.
To the example pseudocode:
Noun Bobby;
Noun ball;
Noun bat;
hit<voice::active, tense::past, aspect::perfective, mood::indicative>(context, [
{role: ‘agent’, value: Bobby}, {role: ‘patient’, value: ball}, {role: ‘instrument’, value:
bat} ]) --> “Bobby hit the ball with the bat”
hit<voice::active, tense::past, aspect::perfective, mood::indicative>(context, [
{role: ‘agent’, value: Bobby}, {role: ‘instrument’, value: bat}, {role: ‘patient’, value:
ball} ]) --> “Bobby, with the bat, hit the ball”
hit<voice::active, tense::past, aspect::perfective, mood::indicative>(context, [
{role: ‘instrument’, value: bat}, {role: ‘agent’, value: Bobby}, {role: ‘patient’, value:
ball} ]) --> “With the bat, Bobby hit the ball”
or, if the grammatical arguments (voice, tense, aspect, mood) are properties of the
context object:
hit(context, [ {role: ‘agent’, value: Bobby}, {role: ‘patient’, value: ball}, {role:
‘instrument’, value: bat} ]) --> “Bobby hit the ball with the bat”
hit(context, [ {role: ‘agent’, value: Bobby}, {role: ‘instrument’, value: bat}, {role:
‘patient’, value: ball} ]) --> “Bobby, with the bat, hit the ball”
hit(context, [ {role: ‘instrument’, value: bat}, {role: ‘agent’, value: Bobby}, {role:
‘patient’, value: ball} ]) --> “With the bat, Bobby hit the ball”
A downside would be that the function signatures would resemble:
hit<…>(Context, Array)
or
hit<…>(Context, Array<RoleNounPair>)
An upside would be expressiveness with which to indicate desired output paraphrases.
These topics are discussed in Building Natural Language Generation Systems by Reiter and
Dale [1], in chapter 6 on Surface Realization, in section 6.8 on Bidirectional Grammars,
pages 194 – 195, where the authors indicate that while “a parser might produce the same
logical form for the following three sentences:
1. Mary gave John a ball.
2. Mary gave a ball to John.
3. John was given a ball by Mary.
“The input to a realizer, however, should explicitly provide a means of choosing among
these forms; the alternative is to choose at random.” (as noted, another alternative is to
select using a manual of style).
The authors also indicate that Winograd [2] provided a list of paraphrases for
consideration:
1. Jon bought a painting for Vina.
2. Jon bought Vina a painting.
3. Vina was bought a painting by Jon.
4. What Jon bought Vina was a painting.
5. What Vina was bought by Jon was a painting.
6. It was a painting that Jon bought for Vina.
7. It was Jon that bought Vina a painting.
8. It was Vina that Jon bought a painting for.
On the topic of “a” or “the”, definite or indefinite noun phrases, we can note a
discussion in Reiter and Dale [1], section 5.4.2, on page 145. That is another important
discussion topic.
In the set of approaches under discussion, by making use of grammatical arguments (e.g.
voice, tense, aspect, mood) and by placing thematic roles on elements of a sequence of
arguments, we have an expressiveness beyond that of predicate calculus with which to
distinguish paraphrases.
Best regards,
Adam
[1] Reiter, Ehud, and Robert Dale. Building natural language generation systems. Cambridge
university press, 2000.
[2] Winograd, Terry. "Language as a cognitive process." (1983).
From: Adam
Sobieski<mailto:adamsobieski@hotmail.com<mailto:adamsobieski@hotmail.com>>
Sent: Friday, July 24, 2020 7:07 PM
To: General public mailing list for the discussion of Abstract Wikipedia (aka
Wikilambda)<mailto:abstract-wikipedia@lists.wikimedia.org<mailto:abstract-wikipedia@lists.wikimedia.org>>
Subject: Re: [Abstract-wikipedia] Conjugation and Declension Functions
In addition to broaching the discovery, encoding and reuse of language-specific patterns,
which I view as a discussion topic when comparing and contrasting approaches (see: the DRY
principle [1] and the abstraction principle [2]), and indicating how conjugation and
declension functions would facilitate the discovery, encoding and reuse of these patterns,
I would like to share some topics which arose as I explored adding the thematic relation
[3] of instrument to the agent-patient pair.
When exploring how best to add the thematic relation of instrument to the agent-patient
pair (e.g. adding “using the bat” to “Bobby hit the ball”), I observed that, for the same
input grammatical arguments, there was a set of possible output paraphrases:
1. “Bobby hit the ball using the bat”
2. “Bobby, using the bat, hit the ball”
3. “Using the bat, Bobby hit the ball”
I wondered: how might we be able to generate each?
One possibility is indicated. There could be a type for each thematic relation [3]. Then,
using explicit type conversions to these types, we could have different functions for
different sequences of input arguments.
That is,
hit<voice::active, tense::past, aspect::perfective, mood::indicative>(context,
(Agent)Bobby, (Patient)ball, (Instrument)bat) --> “Bobby hit the ball using the bat”
hit<voice::active, tense::past, aspect::perfective, mood::indicative>(context,
(Agent)Bobby, (Instrument)bat, (Patient)ball) --> “Bobby, using the bat, hit the ball”
hit<voice::active, tense::past, aspect::perfective, mood::indicative>(context,
(Instrument)bat, (Agent)Bobby, (Patient)ball) --> “Using the bat, Bobby hit the ball”
or
hit<voice::active, tense::past, aspect::perfective, mood::indicative>(context, Bobby
as Agent, ball as Patient, bat as Instrument) --> “Bobby hit the ball using the bat”
hit<voice::active, tense::past, aspect::perfective, mood::indicative>(context, Bobby
as Agent, bat as Instrument, ball as Patient) --> “Bobby, using the bat, hit the ball”
hit<voice::active, tense::past, aspect::perfective, mood::indicative>(context, bat
as Instrument, Bobby as Agent, ball as Patient) --> “Using the bat, Bobby hit the
ball”
These functions could each wrap the use of patterns (as indicated in previous email) and
attempt to realize output sentences utilizing the arguments in the same sequence in which
they were provided. This would, however, mean that the callers of the functions would be
responsible for “shuffling” the input arguments to express the desired paraphrase ((1),
(2), (3)).
There are, of course, other approaches to consider and other possibilities to consider
with respect to addressing the matter of outputting the example paraphrases.
Any thoughts on these topics?
Best regards,
Adam
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_repeat_yourself
[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction_principle_(computer_programming)
[3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thematic_relation
P.S.: We could also put the grammatical arguments on the context object (context.voice,
context.tense, context.aspect, context.mood, et cetera) and then make use of generic
parameters for other uses.
From: Adam
Sobieski<mailto:adamsobieski@hotmail.com<mailto:adamsobieski@hotmail.com>>
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2020 7:38 PM
To: General public mailing list for the discussion of Abstract Wikipedia (aka
Wikilambda)<mailto:abstract-wikipedia@lists.wikimedia.org<mailto:abstract-wikipedia@lists.wikimedia.org>>
Subject: RE: Conjugation and Declension Functions
I had an idea about discovering, encoding and reusing patterns in languages that I would
like to share with the group.
The following is rough-draft pseudocode for a function with which to generate sentences
for the verb “to kick”. The function has generic parameters for voice and tense and
parameters for context, agent and patient.
Clause kick<V, T>(Context context, Noun agent, Noun patient)
{
switch(V)
{
case voice::active:
switch(T)
{
case tense::past:
case tense::present:
return join(" ", [
agent,
conjugate_en(“kick”, V, T, …),
“the”,
patient
]);
case tense::future:
return join(" ", [
agent,
“will”,
conjugate_en(“kick”, V, T, …),
“the”,
patient
]);
…
}
case voice::passive:
switch(T)
{
case tense::past:
return join(" ", [
“the”,
patient,
“was”,
conjugate_en(“kick”, V, T, …),
“by”
agent
]);
case tense::present:
return join(" ", [
“the”,
patient,
“is”,
“being”,
conjugate_en(“kick”, V, T, …),
“by”
agent
]);
…
}
}
}
and
kick<voice::active, tense::past>(context, Bobby, ball) returns “Bobby kicked the
ball”.
In English, most combinations of tense, aspect, mood and voice are expressed
periphrastically, using constructions with auxiliary verbs. After implementing a number of
these for similar verbs, per the above example, we would notice a pattern. That pattern
could be expressed as something resembling:
Clause pattern123<V, T>(Context context, Verb verb, Noun agent, Noun patient)
{
switch(V)
{
case voice::active:
switch(T)
{
case tense::past:
case tense::present:
return join(" ", [
agent,
conjugate_en(verb, V, T, …),
“the”,
patient
]);
case tense::future:
return join(" ", [
agent,
“will”,
conjugate_en(verb, V, T, …),
“the”,
patient
]);
…
}
case voice::passive:
switch(T)
{
case tense::past:
return join(" ", [
“the”,
patient,
“was”,
conjugate_en(verb, V, T, …),
“by”
agent
]);
case tense::present:
return join(" ", [
“the”,
patient,
“is”,
“being”,
conjugate_en(verb, V, T, …),
“by”
agent
]);
…
}
}
}
We could then simply express that the verb “to kick” is an instance of pattern pattern123
with something resembling:
Clause kick<V, T>(Context context, Noun agent, Noun patient)
{
pattern123<V, T>(context, new Verb(“kick”, …), agent, patient);
}
or
Clause kick<V, T>(Context context, Noun agent, Noun patient)
{
pattern123<V, T>(context, getVerb(“https://…#kick”), agent, patient);
}
and this pattern could be reused for a large number of verbs.
This use of patterns should extend to scenarios where there are more parameters for other
thematically-related nouns:
Clause kick<V, T>(Context context, Noun agent, Noun patient, Noun instrument)
{
pattern1234<V, T>(context, new Verb(“kick”, …), agent, patient, instrument);
}
For English, there might be more generic parameters than those for voice and tense; we
could add those for aspect and mood (e.g. pattern1234<V, T, A, M>(…)).
In conclusion, with generic programming and functions for conjugation and declension, we
have expressiveness with which to discover, encode and reuse language-specific patterns.
Best regards,
Adam Sobieski