Un systeme inferentiel oriente objet pour des applications en langues naturelles

• Authors: Alain Berrendonner;Mounia Fredj;Flavio Oquendo;Jacques Rouault
• Venue: COLING '92 Proceedings of the 14th conference on Computational linguistics - Volume 2
• Year: 1992

Up to now, there is still no specific model for solving the problem of natural language representation and reasoning. In this paper, we propose an object oriented formalism for supporting knowledge representation, extraction and exploitation in the context of natural language processing.In the natural language analysis, this system is situated after the morpho-syntax and the linguistic semantics. It represents two classes of concepts: objects of discourse and action schemata, the former resulting from nominal syntagms and the latter from the 'processes'. We are concerned here just by the representation of objects.In the natural language discourse, manipulated objects are complex objects and the reasoning is by nature first inferential and then deductive. To take into account this kind of reasoning we need a suitable representation: a model of inferential objects.The theoretical foundations of the proposed model are Lesniewski's logical systems: the Calculus of Names and the Mereology. The former is based on a primitive functor called "epsilon" interpreted as is-a, the latter is based on a part-of relation which is called the "ingredience". The whole system is supported by these two primitives and theirs derived functions.The concepts of our model result from a collaboration between linguists and computer scientists. The main concepts are the intensional and extensional universes, notions and types.The possible inferential reasoning can be of different types: it can concern the status, the denominations, the structures or the "fonctifs" of the objects.