1. Introduction
Beth Levin's book lists 166 verbs in the category of communication verbs. This project involved encoding these verbs as knowledge base using the Knowledge Machine system. Instead of exhaustively defining all possible syntactical and semantic usage of the verbs, only the most fundamental properties were implemented to characterize these verbs. The aim was to come up with a highly object-oriented design that could be extended easily to cover finer properties of the verbs.
2. Approach
The basic idea was to try to divide the verb into categories that could be encoded separately. Verbs had to be divided into groups that have maximum common properties among each other and minimum overlapping properties with verbs of other categories. Once this was achieved, the common properties of all the verbs in a given group could then be defined in a parent class and the other properties specific to a verb or a sub-group can be defined in. This process could be repeated for any sub-group thus resulting in a hierarchical class tree. This ensures that an object-oriented representation of the classes is produced with maximum code reuse.
3. Verbs of Communication from Beth Levin's book
Message Transfer Verbs
ask, cite, demonstrate, dictate, explain, explicate, narrate, pose, preach, quote, read, recite, relay, show, teach, tell, write.
Manner of Speaking
babble, bark, brawl, bellow, bleat, boom, bray, burble, cackle, call, carol, chant, chatter, chirp, cluck, coo, croak, croon, crow, cry, drawl, drone, gabble, gibber, groan, growl, grumble, grunt, hiss, holler, hoot, howl, jabber, lilt, lisp, moan, mumble, murmur, mutter, purr, rage, rasp, roar, rumble, scream, screech, shout, shriek, sing, snap, snarl, snuffle, splutter, squall, squawk, squeak, squeal, stammer, stutter, thunder, tisk, trill, trumpet, twitter, wail, warble, wheeze, whimper, whine, whisper, whistle, whoop, yammer, yap, yell, yelp, yodel
Instruments of Communication
cable, e-mail, fax, modem, netmail, phone, radio, relay, satellite, semaphore, sign, signal, telephone, telecast, telegraph, telex, wire, wireless
Talk Verbs
speak, talk
Chitchat Verbs
argue, chat, chatter, chitchat, confer, converse, gab, gossip, rap, schmooze, yak
Say Verbs
announce, articulate, blab, blurt, claim, confess, confide, convey, declare, mention, note, observe, proclaim, propose, recount, reiterate, relate, remark, repeat, report, reveal, say, state, suggest
Complain Verbs
boast, brag, complain, crab, gripe, grouch, grouse, grumble, ketch, object
Advise Verbs
admonish, advise, alert, caution, counsel, instruct, warn
4. Source Code (Soft Copy)
Web: htpp://www.ece.utexas.edu/~gunjan/kr
Unix: Computer Science account: /u/gunjan/kr/*.km
5. Source Code Listing (by file)
5.1 communicate.km (communication base class)
;; COMMUNICATION VERBS BASE CLASS
(load-kb "time.km")
;; Only 4 main categories of Communication. Inheriting from one or
;; more of these allows the definition of most Beth Levin verbs
(Communicate has
(subclasses (LingualCom PhysicalCom SoundCom DataCom)))
(every Communicate has
;; checks if all dimensions of communications were valid
(allvalid ((if (((the valid of Self) includes (*Invalid)) = *Invalid)
then *Invalid
else *Valid)))
;; check if both source and listening-instruments are there
(information ((a Information)))
(duration ((a Period)))
(subevent ((a Transfer with
(agent ((the source of Self)))
(listener ((the medium of Self)))
(object ((the information of Self)))
(position (*First)))
(a Transfer with
(agent ((the medium of Self)))
(listener ((the listener of Self)))
(object ((the information of Self)))
(position (*Second))))))
;; these slots are defined for Communicate in the derived classes
(source-instrument has
(instance-of (a ComInstrument))
(domain (Communicate))
(range (Communicate))
(cardinality (1-to-N))
(inverse (source-instrument-of)))
(listening-instrument has
(instance-of (a ComInstrument))
(domain (Communicate))
(range (Communicate))
(cardinality (1-to-N))
(inverse (source-instrument-of)))
(medium has
(instance-of (a Slot))
(domain (Communicate))
(range (Communicate))
(cardinality (N-to-N))
(subslots (lang-medium phys-medium sound-medium data-medium))
(inverse (medium-of)))
(information has
(instance-of (a Slot))
(domain (Communicate))
(range (Communicate))
(cardinality (N-to-N))
(inverse (information-of)))
(bandwidth has
(instance-of (a Slot))
(domain (Communicate))
(range (Communicate))
(cardinality (N-to-1))
(inverse (information-of)))
(Information has
(superclasses (IntangibleThing))
(subclasses (Data Text Sound)))
;; bandwidth slot for Communicate, *High or *Low are the other two values
;; used for differentiating various types of communications from one another
(bandwidth has
(instance-of (a Slot))
(domain (Communicate))
(range (Communicate))
(cardinality (N-to-1))
(inverse (information-of)))
;; content slot for Information should be defined as *Low *Medium or *High
;; it is used for differentiating various types of communications
(content has
(instance-of (a Slot))
(domain (Information))
(range (Information))
(cardinality (N-to-1))
(inverse (information-of)))
;; Emotion generated in a Human listener - a very subjective but helpful
;; in distinguishing finer verbs. We specify the default "background"
;;emotion only. Instances can be specified with more emotion attributes.
;; For example verb write has default emotion of *Neutral but the
;; phrase "strongly written letter" or "love letter" can have other
;; values added to it.
(emotion has
(instance-of (a Slot))
(domain (Communicate))
(range (Communicate))
(cardinality (N-to-N)))
;; period of communication
(duration has
(instance-of (a Period))
(domain (Communicate))
(range (Communicate)))
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