FrameNet ++
The Quest for the Right Description
of Semantics and Usage in the
Lexicon
OR
Things Are Always More
Complicated than You Think
Project Overview
• National Science Foundation funding
• Resources:
– British National Corpus, some other corpora
– Specialized software tools, largely home-grown
• Product:
– Frame-based descriptions of “words”
– Detailed, manually-applied semantic tagging of
naturally-occurring sentences
What’s it for?
• Natural language processing
– Word sense disambiguation
– Question answering
– Text understanding
• 2nd language learners
• Dictionary makers
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Our Description of Frames
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Simple text definition
Frame elements
Lexical units
Frame-to-frame relationships
Example 1: Color
• Question: What are the frame elements?
• Frame Net is data driven, so we look at the
data (i.e. real sentences) to find out…
(From BNC)
1. At once they were all around her , perching up on their hindlegs like
scrawny otters in <BLACK> leather and chrome earbands .
2. For the moment I am concentrating mostly on the fact that I am riding
under the Arctic sky , a very <BLACK> sky , heavily overcast , being
pulled across the ice by a team of dogs .
3. The stage goes pitch <BLACK> , The black resolves itself to moonlight ,
by which HAMLET approaches the sleeping ROS and GUIL .
4. His eyes seemed intensely <BLACK> , like space itself ; cold , vacant , all
trace of life and warmth gone from them .
5. ` Golly , they say it 's about eight feet tall , <BLACK> as pitch , covered in
scales , breathing brimstone and smashing in the top of the army tank . "
6. Our ceiling 's <BLACK> from frying chips .
7. All the walls were <BLACK> on the inside .
Resulting Definition
A Color serves as a landmark in color-space, either a
point-like landmark (e.g. burnt sienna ) or a
broader region (e.g. blue ). Especially when the
Color designates a broad region in color-space, it
may be defined with a specific Type , further
specified by comparison to the color of a
Comparand , modified by a Color_qualifier , or
evaluated with a Descriptor . All color words are
generally used to specify the color of some
(physical) Entity .
Example 2: Perception
• How many frames do we have?
• What are the frame elements?
Breaking Things
• How many frames are there?
• What are the frame elements?
BREAKING THINGS:
(Data from the BNC)
1. At least 40 people were killed in Bamako on 22 March after a student
demonstration was stopped by the security forces and rioting
<broke> out .
2. Then , the artistic aims of members of the group were quite varied , and
some personal animosities caused the alliance to <break> up .
3. Justin goes back to England for a while , and then , having <broken>
some
hearts , arrives in the Sudan to perform his own suicide .
4. Its withers will never win any of the races Ronnie had been telling
himself about , and he is reluctant to return from this long , defeated ,
dark-thoughted walk to <break> the bad news or his adventure to his
wife and daughters .
5. He has just <broken> one of his records deliberately and is on his knees
picking up the pieces as he talks to himself .
6. ... playing female parts at school -- until my voice <broke> .
7. Once the blockade of the river leading into the city was <broken> by
English ships , James and his besiegers lost heart and abandoned the
siege .
8. There can be no question that the bishops are not in any way aware of
this arrogation , as it is mediated in consciousness by their belief in ,
and conceptualization of , a static natural law which is accessible ,
even if with difficulty , to the conscience of everyman ; which same
natural law no one should be allowed to violate , even if in error ,
when that law , if <broken> , is seen to threaten the very moral fabric
of society .
9. They can make or <break> a chef .
10. It was the foreigner who <broke> the ice .
11. He inhaled sourly and <broke> into a glutinous cough .
12. She had <broken> her neck .
13. The young man had <broken> the spell .
14. Are you completely <broke> at the moment , or ...
15. Compassion 's an interesting word -- when you <break> it down it
literally means ` to suffer with " .
16. If such a risk is accepted , sooner or later the cable will
<break> at the wrong moment and an accident will occur .
17. But Woodstock and the sunshine hippies <broke> through
the clouds of small-town standards , and Jay scoured the
Oxfam shop for silk and satin and velvet .
18. Desiccated liver is approximately 80% protein and is
easily <broken>
down and absorbed by the stomach .
19. Mark Raggett , a businessman spearheading the effort ,
said : ` If I was to take some of these materials and
technologies back to the Soviet Union , I would probably
be <breaking> the law . "
20. When the ovens <broke> down it cost more than £1,200 a
week to buy in the necessary items
The End
Michael Ellsworth,
FrameNet lackey
ellswomj@socrates.berkeley.edu