{ "paper_id": "T75-2008", "header": { "generated_with": "S2ORC 1.0.0", "date_generated": "2023-01-19T07:43:23.486979Z" }, "title": "The Primitive ACTs of Conceptual Dependency", "authors": [ { "first": "Roger", "middle": [ "C" ], "last": "Schank", "suffix": "", "affiliation": { "laboratory": "", "institution": "Yale University New Haven CT", "location": {} }, "email": "" } ], "year": "", "venue": null, "identifiers": {}, "abstract": "", "pdf_parse": { "paper_id": "T75-2008", "_pdf_hash": "", "abstract": [], "body_text": [ { "text": "Rather, words are broken down into their conceptual parts and then placed in a meaning representation with respect to their conceptual role rather than the syntactic role that was chosen for them as a result of some, perhaps random, lexical choices.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "For example, the word \"danger\" has a nominal form, a verbal form (endanger), an adjectival form (dangerous), and an adverbial form (dangerously).", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "The meaning of the concept underlying \"danger\" is the same no matter what lexical form is selected to realize that concept. Basically, \"danger\" means that something can possibly happen that will result in a negative effect 34 in somebody's physical state.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "\"Danger\" is represented conceptually as a conceptualization linked to a state description.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "Certain elements of the conceptualization are unknown, but can be filled in by the words surrounding \"danger'. The state description is partially known. It says that somebody's physical state may be negatively changed.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "So we see that \"endanger\" is no more an action than it is an actor. Rather, \"endanger\" refers to a partial conceptual structure.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "The word \"endanger\" also sets up an expectation that the syntactic subject of that verb will contain the item that will help fill in the missing action that was \"dangerous'. The conceptual representation of \"The bee's endangered Bill\" says that \"the bees may do an action (possibly \"sting') which will cause Bill to become hurt.\"", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "We said before that words do not appear in conceptualizations.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "Following that point of view it is obvious that \"sting\" cannot really satisfy our needs here. The idea of \"sting\" is correct, but it must be broken down into its component parts.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "We define an action as something an actor can do to an object.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "We define an actor as an animate object, and an object as any concrete physical object. \"Sting\" still works under these constraints, but couldn't we just have well used the word \"bite'? Although these two words are slightly different in their strict interpretations, to the average user, these words are synonyms.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "We EXPEL To push something out of the body.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "We have listed above only one sense of each verb that we have chosen to describe. The power of the primitive ACTs is that they can point up similarities between words {such as the use of ATRANS for \"give', \"take', and \"buy\" while also highlighting their differences.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "In addition they serve as a vehicle for disambiguating ambiguous words.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "Thus, \"smoke\" as in \"the barn is smoking-would not have INGEST in it but would use a state description involving \"smoke\" and \"heat'.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "Similarly, \"take\" as in \"take an aspirin\" would be INGEST rather than ATRANS. A program that makes these disambiguations and assigns the correct conceptual structure to an input sentence was written by Riesbeck (1974) .", "cite_spans": [ { "start": 202, "end": 217, "text": "Riesbeck (1974)", "ref_id": null } ], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "The program uses knowledge about how words fit together in English and some general knowledge about the physical world to make its distinctions. Upon encountering \"take\" for example, the program asks if there is an object around which is medication.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "It also must find out if the sentential object is really \" an action, as in \"take a beating.\" If it is we have neither ATRANS or INGEST but a causal structure.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "This series of tests helps to determine the correct conceptual sense for a word. The differences with respect to inference are:", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "MBUILD We can infer that the facts were there to make the decision and question the applicability of those facts. PLAN We can infer that the steps to a goal were thought about before an ACT was taken.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "We MBUILD goals.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "We PLAN ways to get those goals to become reality.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "The idea of primitive ACTs has met with a general agreement that such a thing is in principle reasonable on the one hand, and a general uneasiness with the set that Conceptual Dependency proposes on the other. Do we really need such a small set? Must we break down all words into these primitives each and every time? How do you arrive at the correct set? What about words like \"drive\" or \"dance\" or \"hunt'?", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "The answer to these questions is not simple.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "We never sought to create an extremely small set.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "We just happended on that set in the course of attempting to find out what the entities such as \"understand3\" and \"believe1\" that we were creating were. The set that we came up with has so far been adequate to handle a myriad of domains that we have tried.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "We expect that over time a different set than we are currently using will emerge.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "However, our expectation is that the order of magnitude is correct. It should be possible to handle most worlds with a very small set. I I I I I I ! I I I I I I ! I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I The question of whether we must break down everything we see in terms of primitive ACTs seems to be the one that excites the most controversy.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [ { "start": 135, "end": 244, "text": "I I I I I I ! I I I I I I ! I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I", "ref_id": null } ], "eq_spans": [], "section": "", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "Wouldn't it be simpler to use English words where we can and break down into primitives only when we have to? Yes, it would be simpler to do that if we had a data base that had in it \"John drives a red car\" and we were asked \"Who drives a red car?\" Researchers who work with highly restricted data bases probably have no need for primitive ACTs. But real understanding systems must be capable of handling qustions such as \"Who was that I saw moving down the street on those fancy wheels??\" or even just These action sequences can be handled using the primitive ACTs.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "I I", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "The problem is in describing just what \"drive\" does mean.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "I I", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "The answer is that it has a basic primitive associated with it (PTRANS by PROPEL here) but", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "I I", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "it also has what we now (see Schank and Abelson [1975] ) call a script. This script carries along with it all the mundane information that is known about \"drive'.", "cite_spans": [ { "start": 29, "end": 54, "text": "Schank and Abelson [1975]", "ref_id": null } ], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "I I", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "In creating the primitive ACTs we made no claim that these were the last primitive entities that we would be creating.", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "I I", "sec_num": null }, { "text": "We are now working on a set of primitives plans and planboxes (described by me in another paper in this volume). ", "cite_spans": [], "ref_spans": [], "eq_spans": [], "section": "I I", "sec_num": null } ], "back_matter": [], "bib_entries": {}, "ref_entries": {} } }