Modelling spatial knowledge on a linguistic basis. Theory, prototype, integration
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: Modelling spatial knowledge on a linguistic basis. Theory, prototype, integration
zbMATH Open document ID: 0759.68083
author: Ewald Lang
author: Kai-Uwe Carstensen
author: Geoffrey Simmons
published in: Lecture Notes in Computer Science
publication date: 1993-01-23T00:00:00Z
review text: The book develops a theory about knowledge of spatial objects which integrates aspects from cognitive linguistics and artificial intelligence. Based on this theory, a prototype system, OSKAR, has been implemented in Prolog. First, the major elements of the linguistic theory of spatial knowledge and spatial reasoning are worked out in detail. The semantics of natural language object names and dimensional expressions is analyzed on the basis of \textit{Lang} and \textit{Bierwisch's} two-level model which relates the level of language-specific word meanings (semantic form expressed by grammatically coded dimension assignment parameters) to the level of language-independent conceptual knowledge (conceptual structure expressed in terms of object schemata). The linguistic analysis and formal account concentrates on a relevant subset of spatial expressions, viz. dimensional terms. Next, a detailed overview of the design and knowledge representation capacity of the OSKAR prototype system is given including fragments of Prolog code. OSKAR is capable of understanding, i.e. reasoning about German spatial expressions. In particular, it accounts for the dimensional designation of objects, categorization of spatial objects,and positional specification of objects. The final chapter sketches OSKAR's integration into the knowledge representation component of the LILOG natural language understanding system.
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 68T30
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 68-02
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 91F20
zbMATH DE Number: 108242
zbMATH Keywords: spatial representation
zbMATH Keywords: OSKAR
zbMATH Keywords: spatial knowledge
zbMATH Keywords: spatial reasoning
zbMATH Keywords: semantics of natural language
reviewed by: Udo Hahn
MaRDI profile type: Publication
DOI: 10.1007/BFB0020982
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 108242