Computational Linguistics Colloquium

Thursday, 27 June, 16:15, Seminar Room, Building 17

Towards compatible semantics for deep and shallow processing

Parsers that use `deep' linguistic processing, based on frameworks such as HPSG, fail to be robust enough to deal with many practical applications. Shallower processing techniques can be more robust, but have considerable limitations when it comes to building semantic representations. I will discuss some applications where it appears useful to combine deep and shallow processing techniques and will argue that relatively tight integration may be required. A promising approach to the problem of interfacing deep and shallow processing is to develop a notion of semantic representation where shallower processors can output structures which are strictly underspecified with respect to the deeper processor output. I will illustrate this idea with some informal examples and then go on to describe initial work on developing Robust Minimal Recursion Semantics (RMRS), a variant of Minimal Recursion Semantics which allows radical underspecification of semantic structures. I will discuss some preliminary experiments on constructing RMRSs from the output of a moderately shallow processor, the RADISP system (Briscoe and Carroll, 2002).

If you would like to meet with the speaker, please contact Katrin Erk.