[Attempto] ambiguous prefixes in APE

[Jean-Marc Vanel]

2010/6/25 Norbert E. Fuchs <fuchs at ifi.uzh.ch>

>
> On 24 Jun 2010, at 17:37, Jean-Marc Vanel wrote:
>
> > I'm running this, after installing the clex-6.5-090528.zip. By the
> > way, why isn't it part of the standard APE distribution ?
>
> Some users of APE may want to use their own lexicon instead of clex that is
> a relatively large download.
>

True, it's twice the size of the ape download. But it's small ( < 1Mb)
anyway, and small compared to the prerequisite SWI-Prolog, which weights 13
Mb. So I would suggest to include it in regular download.
And new users will be more comfortable to learn ACE with the full lexicon.

> ./ape.exe -guess -text 'Every material that contains some cement and
> > some n:aggregate is some concrete.' -solo drspp
> >
> > Here aggregate is considered as countable by APE. However, I intend
> > this WordNet synset :
> >
> > 2. aggregate -- (material such as sand or gravel used with cement and
> > water to make concrete, mortar, or plaster)
> >
> > I would like to say something like:
> > some m:aggregate
> > to flag a mass noun. But this does not work. Is there another way?
>
> Here the problem is that "aggregate" occurs in clex as countable noun.
> Perhaps prefixing it with "some n: " should allow users to redefine it as
> mass noun.

It does not work like that, but see below.


> I do not know whether the current situation should be called a feature or a
> bug. For a solution see below.
>
> Countable and mass nouns are distinguished by their determiners. You can
> write, for instance, "John has some water. Mary has a water." where both
> meanings are in clex. Thus a prefix "m" does not seem to be necessary.


I agree that  a prefix "m" should not be necessary, and indeed in complex
sentences like the definition  of "concrete" above it works: APE is able to
distinguish aggregate-as-mass and aggregate-as-countable.

However to make that work, one has to add the correct entry in lexicon/
clex_lexicon.pl :
noun_mass( aggregate, aggregate, neutr).
and not forget to re-run make_exe.sh .

Well, this is not quite true since the determiner "no" is ambiguous between
> countable and mass, for instance in "no water" that always get a countable
> interpretation.
>

The only solution I see here is to use explicit negation :
* It is not true that* John likes some water. John likes some whisky.

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Jean-Marc Vanel
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