Transformation-Based Interpretation of Implicit Parallel Structures: Reconstructing the Meaning of "vice versa" and Similar Linguistic Operators

Abstract: Successful participation in dialogue as well as understanding written text requires, among others, interpretation of specifications implicitly conveyed through parallel structures. While those whose reconstruction requires insertion of a missing element, such as gapping and ellipsis, have been addressed to a certain extent by computational approaches, there is virtually no work addressing parallel structures headed by vice versa-like operators, whose reconstruction requires transformation. In this paper, we address the meaning reconstruction of such constructs by an informed reasoning process. The applied techniques include building deep semantic representations, application of categories of patterns underlying a formal reconstruction, and using pragmatically-motivated and empirically justified preferences. We present an evaluation of our algorithm conducted on a uniform collection of texts containing the phrases in question.
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