A NOTATION FOR REPRESENTING CONCEPTUAL INFORMATION. AN APPLICATION TO SEAMANTICS AND MECHANICAL ENGLISH PARAPHRASING,

Abstract

This report describes a symbolic notation to be used for representing concept-like information. The notation is designed to permit representation, in a single homegeneous code, of an extremely broad range of conceptual information. The aim of the notation is to allow information to be stored and processed in a computer in a manner that is functionally equivalent, for at least some purpose, to the way humans store and process conceptual information. This would facilitate mechanical simulation of those functions people perform on the basis of their conceptual worlds. The concepts which the notation is presently used to represent are word meanings. Word meanings are concepts made up of extremely large and varied bodies of information, but much of the information comprising one such concept recurs in other work meanings. Thus, the notation is organized into a code such that what actually becomes stored in a computer memory is not a representation of each word itself but rather a non-redundant, grammar-like store and a processing routine, which together can generate a great many different pre-stored word meanings. These give a computer the capability of generating all or any part of the conceptual information making up the meaning of a word, as needed. (Author)

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 29, 1963
Accession Number
AD0425486

Entities

People

  • Ross Quillian

Organizations

  • System Development Corporation

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Computers
  • Notation
  • Simulations
  • Simulators

Readers

  • Computational Linguistics
  • Theoretical Analysis.