Toward a Detailed Model of Processing for Language Describing the Physical World

Abstract

This paper explores the problem of ju1ging wheth~r or not an English sentence could correspom to a real 'llorld situation or event which is is literally, physically plausible, and the relate~ problem of representi~ the different possible physical situ~tions. The judgement of plausibility can be made at a high level by checkisemantic marker restrictions on verb case fra~e constituents. Often, however, plausibility judgement can only be based on the results of an attempt to construct (imagine) a scene that corresponds to the sentence, and which does not violate "ccmmon sense" (i.e. relevant physical laws and expected, stereotype1 behavior). Methods are presented for constructing representations for different scenes which could correspond to a sentence. These methods incorporate (1) "subscripts" (sequences of scenes which ccmprise an event, with attachepreconditions and postconditions) to express different verb senses, (2) object representations which express properties such as shape, size, weight 1 strength, and behavior t.nder ccmmon conditions; (~I physic.'ll laws, encoded as constraints on behavior; (4) representation of context; and (5) robot problem solving-like methods to fit all this material together.