Linguistic Frames v0 WORKING DRAFT
1 Introduction
BPP11 Project 4 task 2 is developing fact extraction techniques to turn NL sentences,
such as the SYNCOIN corpus, into Controlled English (CE).
A key aspect of this work is the development of “linguistic frames” to specifying how
syntactic expressions in an NL (or CNL) may be structured and may be linked to the
ACM semantics. It is proposed that these frames be used for both the NL parsing and the
configuration of the extended CE parser.
The processing relies upon a set of models, as described in [1], and it is these models,
together with the linguistic frames, that embody our current theory of linguistic
processing.
[1] The CE linguistic models, Mott, D., November 2011, ITACS
https://www.usukitacs.com/node/1852
2 CE sentences to define the linguistic frames
The linguistic frames are written in CE sentences which gather together all of the
syntactic and semantic information and which is used to configure a revised version of
the CE parser; thus allowing the potential for human configuration of the syntax and
semantics of their desired dialect of CNL. One aim of the linguistic frames was to ensure
that the same parse trees were constructed for the CE parser as for the Stanford NL
parser, in keeping with our plan to use standard English grammar structures to parse the
CNL. However we have added an "annotation" capability to allow the syntax trees to be
provided with further structural information, enhancing the understandability of the
phrase structures.
The following structures are contained in the linguistic frame:





the name of the structure being defined
the syntactic sequence of words and phrases
the semantic statements that link items in the syntactic sequence with entities in
the ACM
examples
annotations (that are added to the parse tree)
The set of possible sentences that may be used to express the semantics include:
TBD
D Mott (IBM), S. Poteet, (Boeing)
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Linguistic Frames v0 WORKING DRAFT
3 Sample Linguistic Frames
The following frames have been defined to represent the basic syntactic structures in the
current CE specification, as exemplified by “there is a person named Joe”, “the person
Joe is married to the person Jane”, “the person John has the person Fred as brother”. In
addition a simple extension to allow predicated adjectives is provided (“the person john is
tall”) .
These are experimental and under development.
--===================== START ==========================================
there is a linguistic frame named start that
defines the root ROOT and
has the sequence ( the sentence phrase SENT_start )
as syntactic pattern and
has the statement that
( the root ROOT expresses the same as the sentence phrase SENT_start )
as semantic statement
.
--===================== SENTENCE =====================================
there is a linguistic frame named s1 that
defines the sentence phrase SENT_s1 and
has the sequence ( the noun phrase SUBJ_s1 , and the verb phrase COMP_s1 )
as syntactic pattern and
has the statement that
( the noun phrase SUBJ_s1 is predicated on the thing TSUBJ_s1 ) and
( the verb phrase COMP_s1 is predicated on the thing TCOMP_s1 ) and
( the thing TSUBJ_s1 is the same as the thing TCOMP_s1 )
as semantic statement
.
--===================== VERB PHRASE =====================================
there is a linguistic frame named vp0 that
defines the verb phrase VP_vp0 and
has 'is the dog Fido' as example and
has copula as annotation and
has the sequence ( the copula VB_vp0 , and the noun phrase OBJ_vp0 )
D Mott (IBM), S. Poteet, (Boeing)
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Linguistic Frames v0 WORKING DRAFT
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the noun phrase OBJ_vp0 is predicated on the thing TOBJ_vp0 ) and
( the thing X is the same as the thing TOBJ_vp0 )
as semantic statement
.
there is a linguistic frame named vp0a that
defines the verb phrase VP_vp0a and
has 'is red' as example and
has adj as annotation and
has the sequence ( the copula VB_vp0a , and the adjective ADJ_vp0a )
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the adjective ADJ_vp0a expresses the entity concept EC_vp0a ) and
( the thing X is categorised as the entity concept EC_vp0a )
as semantic statement
.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------there is a linguistic frame named vp1 that
defines the verb phrase VP_vp1 and
has 'hits the dog' as example and
has complement as annotation and
has the sequence ( the present third singular verb VB_vp1 , and the noun phrase
OBJ_vp1 )
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the verb VB_vp1 expresses the relation concept RC_vp1 ) and
( the noun phrase OBJ_vp1 is predicated on the thing TOBJ_vp1 ) and
( the thing TOBJ_vp1 is categorised as the entity concept EC_vp1 ) and
( the relation concept RC_vp1 has the entity concept EC_vp1 as range ) and
( there is a situation named SVP1 that
is categorised as the concept RC_vp1 and
has the thing X as agent role and
has the thing TOBJ_vp1 as patient role )
as semantic statement
D Mott (IBM), S. Poteet, (Boeing)
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Linguistic Frames v0 WORKING DRAFT
.
------------------------------------------------------------------------there is a linguistic frame named vp2 that
defines the non finite verb phrase VP_vp2 and
has 'named John' as example and
has namingpastpart as annotation and
has the sequence ( the naming past participle VBN_vp2 , and the noun phrase
NAME_vp2 )
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the noun phrase NAME_vp2 is predicated on the thing TNAME_vp2 ) and
( the thing X is the same as the thing TNAME_vp2 )
as semantic statement
.
------------------------------------------------------------------------there is a linguistic frame named vp3 that
defines the verb phrase VP_vp3 and
has 'has the person John as father' as example and
has possession as annotation and
has the sequence ( the possession verb HAS_vp3 , the noun phrase NP_vp3 , and the as
prepositional phrase PP_vp3 )
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the noun phrase NP_vp3 is predicated on the thing TNP_vp3 ) and
( the prepositional phrase PP_vp3 is predicated on the attribute concept AC_vp3 ) and
( there is a possession named S_vp3 that
is categorised as the attribute concept AC_vp3 and
has the thing X as agent role and
has the thing TNP_vp3 as patient role )
as semantic statement
.
--===================== NOUN PHRASE =====================================
D Mott (IBM), S. Poteet, (Boeing)
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there is a linguistic frame named np1 that
defines the noun phrase NP_np1 and
has 'the person PAULA' as example and
has the sequence ( the determiner DET_np1 , the noun COMMON_np1 , and the
proper noun NAME_np1 )
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the noun COMMON_np1 expresses the entity concept EC_np1 ) and
( the thing X is categorised as the concept EC_np1 and
is the same as the proper noun NAME_np1 ) and
( the noun phrase NP_np1 stands for the thing X )
as semantic statement
.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------there is a linguistic frame named np2 that
defines the noun phrase NP_np2 and
has 'there' as example and
has the sequence ( the existential EX_np2 )
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the thing X is an individual )
as semantic statement
.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------there is a linguistic frame named np3 that
defines the noun phrase NP_np3 and
has 'a person' as example and
has the sequence ( the determiner DET_np3 , and the noun COMMON_np3 )
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the noun COMMON_np3 expresses the entity concept EC_np3 ) and
( the thing X is categorised as the concept EC_np3 ) and
( the noun phrase NP_np3 stands for the thing X )
as semantic statement
.
D Mott (IBM), S. Poteet, (Boeing)
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Linguistic Frames v0 WORKING DRAFT
------------------------------------------------------------------------there is a linguistic frame named np4 that
defines the noun phrase NP_np4 and
has 'a person named Joe' as example and
has 'postmod' as annotation and
has the sequence ( the noun phrase HEAD_np4 , and the non finite verb phrase
POSTMOD_np4 )
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the noun phrase HEAD_np4 is predicated on the thing THEAD_np4 ) and
( the non finite verb phrase POSTMOD_np4 is predicated on the thing
TPOSTMOD_np4 ) and
( the thing X is the same as the thing THEAD_np4 ) and
( the thing X is the same as the thing TPOSTMOD_np4 )
as semantic statement
.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------there is a linguistic frame named np5 that
defines the noun phrase NP_np5 and
has 'Joe' as example and
has the sequence ( the proper noun NAME_np5 )
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the thing X is the same as the proper noun NAME_np5 )
as semantic statement
.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------there is a linguistic frame named np6 that
defines the noun phrase NP_np6 and
has 'she' as example and
has the sequence ( the personal pronoun P_np6 )
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the thing X is an individual )
as semantic statement
.
D Mott (IBM), S. Poteet, (Boeing)
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Linguistic Frames v0 WORKING DRAFT
--===================== PREP PHRASE =====================================
there is a linguistic frame named pp1 that
defines the as prepositional phrase PP_pp1 and
has 'as father' as example and
has the sequence ( the as preposition AS_pp1 , and the noun N_pp1 )
as syntactic pattern and
is predicated on the thing X and
has the statement that
( the noun N_pp1 expresses the attribute concept X )
as semantic statement
.
D Mott (IBM), S. Poteet, (Boeing)
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