Ontology, Types and Semantics

Walid S. Saba

2006

Abstract

In this paper we argue that many problems in the semantics of natural language are due to a large gap between semantics (which is an attempt at understanding what we say in language about the world) and the way the world is. This seemingly monumental effort can be grossly simplified if one assumes, as Hobbs (1985) correctly observed some time ago, a theory of the world that reflects the way we talk about it. We demonstrate here that assuming such a strongly-typed ontology of commonsense knowledge reduces certain problems to near triviality.

References

  1. Barwise, J. (1989), The Situation in Logic, CSLI Publications, Stanford.
  2. Cochiarella, N. B. (2001), Logic and Ontology, Axiomathes, 12, pp. 117-150.
  3. Cresswell, M. J. (1973), Logics and Languages, Methuen & Co., London.
  4. Fodor, J. & Lepore, E. (1996), The pet fish and the red herring: why concepts aren't prototypes, Cognition 58, pp. 243-276
  5. Hobbs, J. (1985), Ontological Promiscuity, In Proc. of ACL-85, pp. 61--69, Chicago, Illinois, 1985. ACL.
  6. Kamp, H. & B. Partee. 1995. Prototype theory and Compositionality, Cognition, 57, pp. 129-191.
  7. Lenat, D. B. and Guha, R.V. (1990), Building Large Knowledge-Based Systems: Representation & Inference in the CYC Project. Addison-Wesley.
  8. , Montreal, Canada. Montague, R. (1960), On the Nature of Certain Philosophical Entities, The Monist, 53, pp. 159-194
  9. Montague, R. (1974), In Formal Philosophy: Selected Papers of Richard Montague, R. Thomasson (Ed.), Yale University Press.
  10. Pustejovsky, J. (2001), Type Construction and the Logic of Concepts, In P. Bouillon and F. Busa (Eds.), The Syntax of Word Meanings, Cambridge University Press.
  11. Saba, W. S. (2006), Language, Logic & Ontology - Uncovering the Structure of Commonsense Knowledge, accepted in International Journal of Human-Computer Studies - IJHCS (to appear).
  12. Sowa, J. F. (1995). Knowledge Representation: Logical, Philosophical, and Computational Foundations. Boston, MA: PWS Publishing.
  13. Weiskopf, D. A. (forthcoming), Compound Nominals, Context & Compositionality, Synthese, to appear.
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

S. Saba W. (2006). Ontology, Types and Semantics . In Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Natural Language Understanding and Cognitive Science - Volume 1: NLUCS, (ICEIS 2006) ISBN 978-972-8865-50-4, pages 17-26. DOI: 10.5220/0002472300170026


in Bibtex Style

@conference{nlucs06,
author={Walid S. Saba},
title={Ontology, Types and Semantics},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Natural Language Understanding and Cognitive Science - Volume 1: NLUCS, (ICEIS 2006)},
year={2006},
pages={17-26},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0002472300170026},
isbn={978-972-8865-50-4},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Natural Language Understanding and Cognitive Science - Volume 1: NLUCS, (ICEIS 2006)
TI - Ontology, Types and Semantics
SN - 978-972-8865-50-4
AU - S. Saba W.
PY - 2006
SP - 17
EP - 26
DO - 10.5220/0002472300170026