UNIT - III

Semantic Parsing
1. Introduction
2. Semantic Interpretation
1 Structural Ambiguity
2 Word Sense
3 Entity and Event Resolution
4 Predicate-Argument Structure
5 Meaning Representation
3 System Paradigms
4 Word Sense
1 Resource

2.System

s 3

Software
Semantic parsing is a technique in natural language processing (NLP)
that i n v o l v e s m a p p i n g n a t u r a l l a n g u a g e s e n t e n c e s i n t o
s t r u c t u r e d representations, such as logical forms or executable
code. The goal of semantic parsing is to enable computers to
understand the meaning of n a t u r a l l a n g u a g e s e n t e n c e s a n d
t o p e r f o r m t a s k s b a s e d o n t h a t understanding.

Here is an example of how semantic parsing works:

Input sentence: "What is the capital of France?"

Semantic representation: -("type": "query",

"target": "capital",

"entity": {"type": "location", "name": "France").).

In this example, the input sentence is a question that asks for the capital of
France. The semantic representation captures the meaning of the sentence
by identifying the type of the sentence (a query) and the target of the query
(the capital) and the entity to which the query applies (France). The
semantic representation can be used by a computer program to generate an
answer to the question or to perform other tasks based on the query.

Another example:

Input sentence: "Find me the cheapest flight from New York to San
Francisco next Monday."

Semantic representation:

{"type": "query",

"target": "flight",

"filters": [-("type": "location", "name": "New York"),

("type": "location", "name": "San Francisco"),

{"type": "date", "value": "next Monday").,

.ttype": "sort", "key": "price", "order": "asc").]).

In this example, the input sentence is a request to find the cheapest flight
from New York to San Francisco on the next Monday. The semantic
representation captures the meaning of the sentence by identifying the type
of the sentence (a query), the target of the query (a flight), and a set of
filters that narrow down the search to flights that depart from New York,
.arrive at San Francisco, depart on the next Monday, and are sorted by price
In ascending order. The semantic representation can be used by a computer
program to search for flights that match the criteria and to return the
cheapest option.

Semantic Interpretation
Semantic interpretation Is the process of assigning meaning to a piece of
language, such as a word, phrase, sentence, or text. It is a fundamental task
in natural language processing (NLP) and involves analyzing language in its
context to infer its intended meaning. The goal of semantic interpretation is
to enable computers to understand the meaning of natural language
and to
perform tasks based on that understanding.

Here are some examples of semantic interpretation:

1. Word Sense Disambiguation: In natural language, many words have

multiple meanings depending on their context. For example, the
word "bank" can refer to a financial institution or the edge of a
river. Semantic interpretation involves determining the correct
meaning of a word based on its context.
_This task is known as word sense disambiguation.
I
F2. Named Entity Recognition: Another task of semantic interpretation is
named entity recognition, which involves identifying and
classifying named entities such as people, organizations, and
locations in a piece of text. For example, in the sentence "Bill
Gates is the founder of Microsoft," semantic interpretation
would recognize "Bill Gates" as a person and "Microsoft" as an
orcianization.

3. Sentiment Analysis: Semantic interpretation can also be

used to perform sentiment analysis, which involves identifying
the sentiment or opinion expressed in a piece of text. For
example, in the sentence "I love this product," semantic
interpretation would recognize a positive sentiment.

4. Question Answering: Semantic Interpretation Is also used

in question answering, which involves answering a question
based on a given piece of text. Semantic interpretation helps to
identify the relevant information in the text that answers the
question.

1. Structural ambiguity can have a significant impact on

semantic interpretation because it can lead to multiple possible
interpretations of sentence, each with a different meaning.
Resolving structural ambiguity is therefore an important step in
semantic interpretation, as it helps to ensure that the correct
meaning of a sentence is understood.

This sentence is structurally ambiguous because it is unclear

whether the
man is old or the boat is old. Depending on how the sentence is
parsed, il can be interpreted in two different ways:
example of how structural ambiguity can impact semantic

interpretation: Sentence: "The old man the boat."

 1. The man Is old: In this interpretation, "the old man" is a noun
phrase that refers to an elderly man who is performing the action of
"the boat."
2. The boat is old: In this Interpretation, "the old" is an
adjective modifying "boat," and the sentence means that the boat
being referred to is old.

In this example, resolving the structural ambiguity is crucial for

semantic interpretation because it determines the identity of the
subject of the sentence and therefore the meaning of the sentence
as a whole.

Word sense is a crucial aspect of semantic interpretation

as it determines the meaning of a word in a given context. Words
often have multiple meanings or senses, and understanding which
sense of a word is being used in a particular context is essential
for accurate semantic interpretation.

Here is an example of word sense in semantic interpretation:

P
Sentence: "I saw a bat In the park."

The word "bat" has multiple senses, Including a flying mammal or a

piece of sports equipment. In this context, the word "bat" likely
refers to the animal sense, but without further context, It is not
entirely clear. If the sentence were "I hit the bat with a stick," the
sense of "bat" would be more apparent.

Another example is the word "bank," which can have multiple

meanings depending on the context. It can refer to a financial
Institution or the edge of a river. Consider the following sentences:

 "I need to go to the bank to withdraw some money."

 "The children played by the bank of the river."

tIn the first sentence, "bank" refers to a financial institution, while

in the :second sentence, it refers to the edge of a river.
Understanding the correct sense of "bank" in each context Is
essential for accurate semantic interpretation.

Entity and event resolution are important aspects of semantic

interpretation that involve identifying and extracting information
about entities (such as people, places, and organizations) and events
(such as actions, states, and processes) from text.
Here is an example of entity resolution in semantic Interpretation:
Sentence: "John Smith works at Google in New York City."

In this sentence, "John Smith" is an entity (a person), "Google" is an

entity an organization), and "New York City" is an entity (a
location). Entity resolution involves identifying and extracting these
entities from the text and linking them to their corresponding types
(e.g., person, organization, or location).

Event resolution involves identifying and extracting information about

events from text. For example:

Sentence: "The dog chased the cat up the tree."

In this sentence, the event is the action of the dog chasing the cat.
Event resolution involves identifying and extracting information
about the action, including the actors (the dog and the cat) and the
location (up the tree).

Entity and event resolution can be challenging in natural

l a n g u a g e processing because entities and events can be expressed
in many different ways and can be ambiguous. For example, in the
sentence "John Smith is the CEO of XYZ," it may be unclear whether
""X T' refers to an organization or a person. Resolving these
ambiguities requires a deep understanding of the context and the
syntax of the sentence, as well as knowledge about the world and
common sense reasoning.

3. Predicate argument structure is an important aspect of semantic

-

interpretation that involves identifying the relationships between

the main v e r b ( p r e d i c a t e ) a n d i t s a r g u m e n t s ( s u b j e c t s ,
o b j e c t s , a n d o t h e r complements). Understanding the predicate-
argument structure of a sentence is critical for accurate semantic
interpretation because it allows us to identify the roles and
relationships of the various elements in the sentence.

Here is an example of predicate-argument structure in

s e m a n t i c interpretation:

Sentence: "The cat chased the mouse."

In this sentence, the predicate is "chased," and its arguments are

"cat" (the subject) and "mouse" (the object). The predicate-argument
structure can be represented as follows:

Predicate: chased Subject: cat Object: mouse