Hi
All,
In my view Formal Logic and formal (what you call
semantic) analysis (syntax parsing) of NLs, as that of the English language as
it is done now by ontologists and MT champions is a misleading practice, rather
than reliable scientific (sensible) endevaour with respect to creating any
imperoperability between ontology terms. The reasons are simple and easy to
identify as i am trying to illustrate below.
In using natural languages most communication actors
heavily realy on your knowledge of the environment, that is the meaning and the
context of the verbal input available only through staged in a number of layers,
including the text itself, various definitions, the knowledge of the participants, the time of reading,
etc.
They also rely on our basic attitude to seek sense and
correct whatever deficiencies need to becorrected to change a verbal input to
make sense. This stems from the confidence of normaly bred children in the adult
world and that life is something with a purpose. So any disambiguities like
this: ?see results of a search in calendar
view? would
be rephrased as 1) please check the calendar view to see the results of your
search or 2) check out the results
of a search performed in calendar view subject to the knowledge of the
recepient.
In MT and the software used by translator agencie where
TMs are produced by mechanically chunking texts taken from textual data bases
for instance, and decontextualizing them just as the headwords are in
dictionaries, nowadays you tend to get very funny fragments that make no senses
at all.
First, some of the languages are non indo-European, so
for those speakers any such decompositional exercise which produces "of the" in
a cell of a table is a nightmare, and whoever assembles them again will get
nonsense. Similar story concerns parameters. In a single sentence you may have
as many as three different parameters all marked as.% (like in %s on %s is %s) in that order. Now unless
you tag the parameters, you will suck there in translation or real semantic
interpretation. English speaking journalist take pleasure in creating paradox
sounding headers and titles, such as
About 235,000 Americans have their
portraits taken by professional
photographers every day.
We guarantee to
replace all defected parts.
Japanese Race Appears Reduced to Three.
He
likes to watch the sun go down on horseback.
Congress Votes for Running
Trains Over Union Workers.
City Gets $250,000 to Combat Drug Program.
Keep
Drinking Water From Sewage.
Doctors discovered his ankle had been fractured
in five places during
Surgery.
She was one of eight children born to
Walter and Irene Smith on
Feb.13, 1892.
The building is a home for
underprivileged children under
construction.
Food Stamp Recipients Turn to
Plastic.
Police Officers Complete Crime Course.
Lung Disorders
Meeting.
and the best f all of US
journalism
Florida Reporter Completes
Sentence.
And so on.
Such utterances illustrate that semantic analysis does
not work through syntax only, and the underlying FOL as used today is incorrect,
incomplete and inadequate, just as Formal Logic is for the semantic analysis of
natural languages. I do not doubt that it is a bitter tablet, but surely one day
you will have to swallow it.No to mention some other basic facts that the human
mind is interpreted to consist of reason, emotion and will, of which will is in
control and whatever reason or reasoning is to produce may be strongly
transformed by the impact of emotion.
Regards,
Frank