LINGUIST List 15.1972

Thu Jul 1 2004

Diss: Comp Ling/Ling Theories: Schalley: 'The...'

Editor for this issue: Takako Matsui <takolinguistlist.org>

Directory

  • andrea.schalley, The Unified Eventity Representation (UER)...

    Message 1: The Unified Eventity Representation (UER)...

     Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 02:40:34 -0400 (EDT)
    From: andrea.schalley <andrea.schalleyune.edu.au>
    Subject: The Unified Eventity Representation (UER)...


    Institution: University of Munich Program: Institute of Theoretical Linguistics Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2003

    Author: Andrea C Schalley

    Dissertation Title: The Unified Eventity Representation (UER): A UML-Based Representational Framework for Verbal Semantics

    Linguistic Field: Computational Linguistics, Linguistic Theories, Semantics, Cognitive Science

    Dissertation Director 1: Dietmar Zaefferer Dissertation Director 2: Leila Behrens

    Dissertation Abstract: To date, rigorous approaches to the representation of verbal semantics and lexical semantics in general have not put much effort into achieving cognitive adequacy for their frameworks. This dissertation set out to take a major step in this direction. A representational framework for verbal semantics is developed that is formal and intuitive at the same time. This is tantamount to proposing a framework that is computer processable on the one hand, and whose representations reflect the wealth and flexibility of natural language in an intuitively plausible way and in accordance with our current knowledge about natural language on the other hand.

    A new decompositional framework for the modeling of verbal semantics is proposed, the Unified Eventity Representation (UER). The development of the framework is based on results from theoretical and typological linguistics, psychology, and computer science. In particular, the UER framework adapts and adopts the current lingua franca for the design of object-oriented systems in computer science, the Unified Modeling Language (UML). Different from other formal approaches to lexical semantics, it is neither logical nor functional in nature, but uses a third paradigm reflected in programming languages: Object-orientation is introduced as a new paradigm to linguistic semantics, and thus a completely new way to a formal treatment of verbal semantics is opened up.