Definite description processing in unrestricted text
Noun phrases with the definite article the, that we call DEFINITE DESCRIPTIONS, following (Russell, 1905), are one of the most common constructs in English, and have been extensively studied by linguists, philosophers, psychologists, and computational linguists. In this dissertation we present an implemented model of definite description processing that is based on extensive empirical studies of definite description use and whose performance can be quantitatively measured. In almost all approaches to discourse processing and discourse representation, definite descriptions have been regarded as anaphoric1; and the models of definite description processing proposed in the literature tend to emphasise the role of common-sense inference mechanisms. Recent work on discourse interpretation (Carletta, 1996; Carletta et al., 1997; Walker and Moore, 1997) has claimed that the judgements on which a theory is based should be shared by more than one subject. On the basis of previous linguistics and corpus linguistics work, we developed several annotation schemes and ran two experiments in which subjects were asked to annotate the uses of definite descriptions in newspaper articles. We compared their annotations and used
Vieira, Renata
definite description
Definite description processing in unrestricted text. Noun phrases with the definite article the, that we call DEFINITE DESCRIPTIONS, following (Russell, 1905), are one of the most common constructs in English, and have been extensively studied by linguists, philosophers, psychologists, and computational linguists. In this dissertation we present an implemented model of definite description processing that is based on extensive empirical studies of definite description use and whose performance can be quantitatively measured. In almost all approaches to discourse processing and discourse representation, definite descriptions have been regarded as anaphoric1; and the models of definite description processing proposed in the literature tend to emphasise the role of common-sense inference mechanisms. Recent work on discourse interpretation (Carletta, 1996; Carletta et al., 1997; Walker and Moore, 1997) has claimed that the judgements on which a theory is based should be shared by more than one subject. On the basis of previous linguistics and corpus linguistics work, we developed several annotation schemes and ran two experiments in which subjects were asked to annotate the uses of definite descriptions in newspaper articles. We compared their annotations and used
definite_description processing unrestricted text noun_phrase definite_article call definite descriptions follow russell common construct english extensively studied linguist philosopher psychologist computational linguist present implement model definite_description processing base_extensive empirical_study definite_description use whose performance quantitatively measure almost approach discourse process discourse_representation definite_description regard anaphoric model definite_description processing propose literature tend emphasise_role common_sense inference mechanism recent_work discourse interpretation moore claim judgement theory base_share subject basis previous linguistics corpus_linguistics work develop several annotation scheme run subject ask annotate definite_description newspaper_article compare annotation use