voula@utcsri.UUCP (Voula Vanneli) (03/19/85)
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
(_S_F = _S_a_n_d_f_o_r_d _F_l_e_m_i_n_g _B_u_i_l_d_i_n_g, _1_0 _K_i_n_g'_s _C_o_l_l_e_g_e _R_o_a_d)
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SEMINAR - Tuesday, March 26, 3 pm,
SF 1105
Professor Graeme Hirst
Dept. of Computer Science, University of Toronto
"Semantic Interpretation Against Ambiguity"
Abstract
A semantic interpreter must be able to provide feedback
to the parser to help it handle structural ambiguities. In
Absity, the semantic interpreter we describe, this is done
by the "Semantic Enquiry Desk", a process that answers the
parser's questions on semantic preferences. Disambiguation
of word senses and of case slots is done by a set of pro-
cedures, one per word or slot, each of which determines its
correct sense in cooperation with the others. A partially
disambiguiated procedure's remaining possibilities are
well-formed Frail objects that can be seen and used by other
processes, including the Semantic Enquiry Desk, just as a
person can see many of the details of a partly developed
"instant" photograph. It is from the fact that partial
results are always well-formed semantic objects that the
system gains much of its power. This, in turn, comes from
the strict correspondence between syntax and semantics in
Absity.