Processing Topicalization Patterns
Topicalization has traditionally been analyzed in terms of a special topicalization construction, or through movement. This demonstration shows that such an analysis is not necessary: the same constructions that are able to process utterances with canonical word order, are also able to handle so-called topicalization. The only difference is that the subject and the topic of the utterance do not coincide.
Parsing "the woman saw the man"
Found a solution
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| application process | |
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Meaning:
((discourse-topic ?entity-2) (determined ?entity-2 ?set-5) (frame ?ev-5 [act]) (actor ?ev-5 ?entity-2) (undergoer ?ev-5 ?entity-3) (determined ?entity-3 ?set-6) (man ?set-6 ?context-6) (woman ?set-5 ?context-5) (deictic-perspective ?ev-5 ?entity-2) (assert ?ev-5))
Parsing "the man the woman saw"
Found a solution
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| application process | |
| applied constructions | |
| resulting structure | |
Meaning:
((discourse-topic ?entity-2) (determined ?entity-2 ?set-5) (frame ?ev-5 [act]) (actor ?ev-5 ?entity-14) (undergoer ?ev-5 ?entity-2) (man ?set-5 ?context-5) (woman ?set-26 ?context-23) (determined ?entity-14 ?set-26) (deictic-perspective ?ev-5 ?entity-14) (assert ?ev-5))
Producing
((assert ev-1) (discourse-topic the-woman) (deictic-perspective ev-1 the-woman) (determined the-woman women) (woman women context) (see ev-1) (seer ev-1 the-woman) (seen ev-1 the-man) (determined the-man men) (man men context) (frame ev-1 [act]) (actor ev-1 the-woman) (undergoer ev-1 the-man))
Found a solution
| initial structure | |
| application process | |
| applied constructions | |
| resulting structure | |
Utterance: "the woman saw the man"
Producing
((assert ev-1) (discourse-topic the-man) (deictic-perspective ev-1 the-woman) (determined the-woman women) (woman women context) (see ev-1) (seer ev-1 the-woman) (seen ev-1 the-man) (determined the-man men) (man men context) (frame ev-1 [act]) (actor ev-1 the-woman) (undergoer ev-1 the-man))
Found a solution
| initial structure | |
| application process | |
| applied constructions | |
| resulting structure | |
Utterance: "the man the woman saw"