We focus our attention on the loss of precision induced by abstract domain operations. We introduce a new technique, hints, which allows us to systematically refine the operations defined over elements of an abstract domain. We formally define hints in the abstract interpretation theory, we prove their soundness, and we characterize two families of hints: syntactic and semantic. We give some ex...

In this paper we present some features of an architecture for the translation (Italian – Italian Sign Language) that performs syntactic analysis, semantic interpretation and generation. Such architecture relies on an ontology that has been used to encode the domain of weather forecasts as well as information on language as part of the world knowledge. We present some general issues of the ontol...

We propose a model of semantic interpretation of comparatives which is based on a mechanism for semantic copying. Besides common phrasal and clausal forms of comparatives, our model also incorporates the analysis of referential and textual phenomena that interact with the interpretation of comparatives, viz. metonymies and omitted complements. In order to allow for efficient processing, guidanc...

We adopt a theory of relativisation based on the idea that relatives, like wh-constructions in the analysis of Chomsky (1998), require two sorts of features to construct their LF-interpretation. We argue that it is the variable interpetability of these features that gives rise to different syntactic patterns. We use this theory to provide an explanation for some curious syntactic facts found in...

Research in language processing has established that semantic information can influence (a) online sentence interpretation when syntactic cues are indeterminate, and (b) offline judgments of syntactically unambiguous but semantically anomalous sentences. The question of whether semantic information can influence online sentence interpretation when semantic cues oppose unambiguous syntax remains...

Bilinguals demonstrate benefits on non-linguistic tasks requiring cognitive control-the regulation of mental activity to resolve information-conflict during processing. This "bilingual advantage" has been attributed to the consistent management of two languages, yet it remains unknown if these benefits extend to sentence processing. In monolinguals, cognitive control helps detect and revise mis...

This paper reports on an experimental study of the interpretation of pronouns in Chinese which provides additional support for the proposal in Yang et al. (1999, 2003) that the resolution of pronominal reference in Chinese is more influenced by syntactic information than often assumed in approaches to discourse anaphora in Chinese such as Li and Thompson (1979), Givon (1983), Chen (1986), Chris...

The linguistic analysis of spontaneous speech brings new challenging questions in the study of language. First, transcription and interpretation problems may arise from the presence of speech events such as hesitations, repetitions, false starts, corrections, etc. However, we can easily disregard these disfluencies as they clearly do not belong to the linguistic code. More serious linguistic in...

In this paper we present an ontology-based utterance interpretation in the context of intelligent assistance. Ontologies are used for syntactic and semantic interpretation and for task representation. This mechanism is embedded in a conversational interface applied to personal assistant agents. The main goal of this approach is to offer a system capable of performing tasks through an intuitive ...

This paper proposes an approach to the interpretation of copular sentences in English that analyses be as a one-place predicate with underspecified semantic content. The interpretation of a copula clause is determined through the interaction of syntactic and pragmatic processes and depends on the properties of expressions collocated with be and general contextual factors, both local and non-loc...