Category Archives: Communication
26 Jun The Semantic Web and Model Owls
Standards protect us and constrain us — not like a straight-jacket protects us from ourselves, but more like a governor on the motor protects us from going crazy. Standards organizations such as the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) are there to coordinate between stakeholders to develop a common way of structuring things. The Object Management Group (OMG) is a […]
07 Jun Finding a Tree in the Forest
Complex Search Finding the information you need can be a problem, particularly when you have to look through tons (or terabytes) of data. I recall when geocaching first became popular. The idea that a technology could create a model for an entertaining activity that connects people in unusual ways is quite diverting. Will it still be popular […]
20 May Cybernetic Modeling for Smarty-Pants
Introduction Model railroads come in several scales: O, HO and N gauge enable hobbyists to model real-world objects in miniature using successively smaller standards. In N gauge it is possible to build an entire city in the basement. A good model photographed with still or motion pictures may be so realistic that viewers believe they are looking […]
19 May Deixis and Context
Deixis, is a common type of ambiguity that is mediated at the level of context. When deixis occurs in written language, you can normally resolve questions about the identity of the person(s) referenced in the ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘they’ pronoun. In speaking, you sometimes have to ask the person who said it. 3-DG places context in […]
16 May Discourse Pragmatics
Pragmatics Context data is critical for disambiguation of words that have many possible meanings. These meanings are almost always mediated by context, therefore understanding context must precede disambiguation. For instance, when standing in a ring appears in the context of a boxing match, ring refers to a physical object with corners. The same phrase, in […]
15 May Analyzing Semantics
Semantics The stratum of semantics is usually associated with meaning. Throughout the 1980s, when I was in college, semantics was viewed as more and more important in text-understanding systems. One aspect of semantics that has received a great deal of attention is thematic or case roles, which can be very useful in defining the roles of words or […]
14 May Analyzing Syntax
Analyzing Syntax Syntactic analysis requires some access to morphological features or characteristics of the words in the sentence being analyzed. Tense, gender and number must be accessible in order to establish agreement. There is clearly some interdependency between morphology and syntax. Morphological phenomena can change categories and roles of words. Roles and categories are the essential components of […]
13 May Patterns at the Boundaries
Morphological Patterns As we have shown in prior posts, we mentally process patterns both at a physical level between neurons and in brain layers, and at a cognitive level in recognition and reasoning. 3-DG uses attributes, patterns and constraints for morphological analysis, as well as analysis at other levels and between other strata. The 3-DG lexicon is organized […]
10 May Word Structure Analysis
Analyzing Morphology In many natural languages, gender or case has a profound affect on morphology – so much so that students have to memorize conjugation tables. It’s really easy to teach computers about conjugation tables and they remember very well. If it were not so, it may be difficult to keep their attention long enough […]
09 May Stratum Morphology
Morphology Morphology is about what happens to words to change their structure, impacting their meaning and usage. In English, we add -s or -es at the end of words to make them plural (guy –> guys, time –> times). Japanese, on the other hand, uses reduplication (hito –>hitobito, toki –> tokidoki) to make words plural. Adding to words, affixation, has three […]