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From: "Timaporn" <tc35@buffalo.edu>
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Subject: Re: MOD-HEAD CASE FRAME
Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 00:52:19 -0400
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Xref: acsu.buffalo.edu sunyab.cse.740:113

So it means that if I want to represent
"toy gun" =  (build head toy mod gun)?

Another question, I try to put this representation in my demo
but I got the error message "SNePS ERROR: mod is not a relation
Occurred in module relation set evaluatior in function rseval"
What should I do? Do I have to run any commands or represent some relations
first?

Thanks,
Timaporn

"William J. Rapaport" <rapaport@cse.buffalo.edu> wrote in message
news:c5pr1a$ll4$1@prometheus.acsu.buffalo.edu...
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Subject: MOD-HEAD CASE FRAME
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Several of you have asked for the syntax and semantics of the mod-head
> case frame.
>
> There isn't any official one, and we have been using it in a rather
> informal way.  Making it precise would probably be the topic of a
> full-blown master's-level project.
>
> The general idea is to use it to represent compound linguistic
> constructions that are ambiguous in nature.  Compare, for a moment,
> the infamous object-rel-possessor case frame that many of you have come
> to know and "love" :-).  The idea behind that one is that the
> possessive construction in English (as in:  Bill's book, her hat,
> etc.) is a single, compound linguistic construction that is
> variously used to express ownership, part-whole, kinship, and many
> other relations.  Since a parser wouldn't necessarily have the
> information necessary to interpret each such occurrence correctly,
> we handle them by representing that single English construction with
> a single case frame, leaving to background knowledge any rules that
> are needed for the full semantic interpretation.
>
> There are other such compound constructions. The most obvious is the
> adjective-noun noun phrase:  red hat, small elephant, toy gun.  Each
> of these should be represented as a structured individual in SNePS,
> but each has a very different semantics:  a red hat is both a hat
> and red; but a small elephant is an elephant, yet not small
> (although it *is* small for an elephant); and a toy gun is a toy,
> but not a gun.  Instead of SNePS having to know ahead of time how to
> represent each such expression, we can use the mod-head case frame
> as a "neutral" representation, leaving to background knowledge the
> task of deciding what kind of Adj+N  construction it is.
>
> We also tend to use the mod-head construction for other situations;
> perhaps we shouldn't.
>
> So, here's a first attempt at a case frame (I'll ask Stu if he has a
> better idea):
>
> [[(build mod x head y)]] = a structured individual consisting of an
> individual [[y]] modified by [[x]].
>
> That's pretty vague, but then the mod-head case frame is, too.


