Refining Temporal Reference in Event Structures

Empirical Issues in Syntax and Semantics, 2004

In this paper, we sketch a new approach to the problem of the temporal interpretation of nominal predicates. The approach differs from previous analyses (eg, Enç (1986), Musan (1999), Tonhauser (2002)) in that it is grounded in a different ontology, namely one that regards individuals as spatiotemporal entities (aka 'spatio-temporal worms')(Heller (1990), Sider (1997), inter alia): roughly, the idea is that individuals have temporal parts (or stages)—and are indeed like events, for that matter—in the same way they have spatial parts. As we ...

Computational Linguistics, 1988

Two weeks later, Bonadea had already been his lover for a fortnight."-Robert Musil, Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften. A semantics of temporal categories in language and a theory of their use in defining the temporal relations between events both require a more complex structure on the domain underlying the meaning representations than is commonly assumed. This paper proposes an ontology based on such notions as causation and consequence, rather than on purely temporal primitives. A central notion in the ontology is that of an elementary event-complex called a "nucleus." A nucleus can be thought of as an association of a goal event, or "culmination," with a "preparatory process" by which it is accomplished, and a "consequent state," which ensues. Natural-language categories like aspects, futurates, adverbials, and when-clauses are argued to change the temporal/aspectual category of propositions under the control of such a nucleic knowledge representation structure. The same concept of a nucleus plays a central role in a theory of temporal reference, and of the semantics of tense, which we follow McCawley, Partee, and Isard in regarding as an anaphoric category. We claim that any manageable formalism for naturallanguage temporal descriptions will have to embody such an ontology, as will any usable temporal database for knowledge about events which is to be interrogated using natural language. To map the temporal relations expressed in these examples onto linear time, and to try to express the semantics of when in terms of points or intervals (possibly associated with events), would appear to imply either that when is multiply ambiguous, allowing these points or intervals to be temporally related in at least three different ways, or that the relation expressed

Semantics and contextual expression, 1989

Proceedings of AAAI Spring Symposium on …, 2003

In this paper we discuss the relationship between TimeML, a rich specification language for event and temporal expressions in text, and the interpretation of these expressions in a temporal semantics. Specifically, we propose to demonstrate how a TimeML markup of text is ...

Proceedings of the 25th annual meeting on Association for Computational Linguistics -, 1987

A semantics of linguistic categories like tense, aspect, and certain temporal adverbials, and a theory of their use in defining the temporal relations of events, both require a more complex structure on the domain underlying the meaning representations than is commonly assumed. The paper proposes an ontology based on such notions as causation and consequence, rather than on purely temporal primitives. We claim that any manageable logic or other formal system for natural language temporal descriptions will have to embody such an ontology, as will any usable temporal database for knowledge about events which is to be interrogated using natural language.

This work has been developed with the motivation of defining a formalism (OntoTimeFL) for annotating complex events in natural language texts and applying to the items annotated several types of axioms and rules for temporal reasoning. In part, OntoTimeFL is a conceptualization of TimeML formalism, where the basic concepts of annotation by an ontological form have been represented. In addition, OntoTimeFL introduces new constructs for the annotation that mainly concern three complex events: narrative, intentional, and causal. OntoTimeFL entities have been defined as classes of a formal ontology; a methodological choice for facilitating automatic annotation processes to reuse existing axiomatics in the research of temporal reasoning, and facilitate the creation of new ones (some proposals in this paper).

Language Resources and …, 2005

Abstract. In this paper, we discuss the role that temporal information plays in natural language text, specifically in the context of question answering systems. We define a descriptive framework with which we can examine the temporally sensitive aspects of natural language queries. ...

Artificial Intelligence, 2004

We give a formal semantics for a highly expressive language for representing temporal relationships and events. This language, which we call Versatile Event Logic (VEL), provides a general temporal ontology and semantics encompassing many other representations. The system incorporates a number of features that have not been widely employed in AI formalisms. It has the ability to describe alternative histories using a modal operator. It provides a semantics for individuals that explicitly models their identity through time and across alternative possible histories; and enables one to distinguish between necessary and extensional identity of individuals. In virtue of its treatment of individuals and count nouns, the formalism offers a solution to certain puzzles of identity, which arise when individuals are described in different ways. We propose that VEL can be used as a foundational interlingua for comparing and interfacing different AI languages and illustrate this by considering how Situation Calculus and Event Calculus can be represented within VEL.

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

Temporal expressions-references to points in time or periods of time-are widespread in text, and their proper interpretation is essential for any natural language processing task that requires the extraction of temporal information. Work on the interpretation of temporal expressions in text has generally been pursued in one of two paradigms: the formal semantics approach, where an attempt is made to provide a well-grounded theoretical basis for the interpretation of these expressions, and the more pragmatically-focused approach represented by the development of the TIMEX2 standard, with its origins in work in information extraction. The former emphasises formal elegance and consistency; the latter emphasises broad coverage for practical applications. In this paper, we report on the development of a framework that attempts to integrate insights from both perspectives, with the aim of achieving broad coverage of the domain in a well-grounded manner from a formal perspective. We focus in particular on the development of a compact notation for representing the semantics of underspecified temporal expressions that enables the component-level evaluation of systems.

Encyclopedia of Language & Linguistics, 2006

Semantic theories employing quantification of hidden variables ranging over events have been applied to a wide variety of linguistic problems, including the semantics of adverbial adjuncts, perception reports, thematic relations, nominalization, and Aktionsart. Event-based semantic theories differ in their