UNL Specs - relations

Attributes are mainly for the purpose to describe the subjectivity information of sentences. They show what is said from the speaker’s point of view: how the speaker views what is said. This includes phenomena technically called “speech acts”, “propositional attitudes”, “truth values”, etc. Attributes are also used to express the range of concepts such as the concept indicate generic type of concept and so forth. This time, we newly introduce attributes to express logical expressions in order to strengthen the expressibility of the UNL.

Relations and UWs are used to describe the objectivity information of sentences. Attributes modify UWs or semantic networks (scope: compound concepts) to indicate subjectivity information such as about how the speaker views these states-of-affairs and his attitudes toward them and to indicate the property of the concepts.

3.1 Attributes describing logicality of UW

In UNL2005, we introduced new attributes to express logical expressions in order to strengthen the expressibility of the UNL although the role of those attribute can be expressed by using UWs as ordinal UNL expressions. In this section, we focus on describing attributes and relations for expressing logic.

@transitive	attached to an UW that has transitivity
	'@transitive’ can be attached to UW ‘ancestor(icl>kindred)’. Because if “A is ancestor of B” and “B is ancestor of C” are true, “A is ancestor of C” will be true.
@symmetric	attached to an UW that has symmetricity
	‘@symmetric’ can be attached to UW ‘partner(icl>....)’. Because if “A is a partner of B” is true, “B is a partner of A” will be true also.
@identifiable	attached to an UW that can identify the subject
	‘@identifiable’ can be attached to (compound) UW ‘national health insurance id’ as the content of the UW can identify the person who hold the ID.
@disjointed	attached to an UW or a group of UWs to show that all element concept do not hold common instance. All connected UWs do not share instances.
	‘@disjointed’ can be attached to a scope consists of “men and women” as these two element concepts do not share common instances.

3.2 Attributes describing times with respect to the speaker

Where does the speaker situate his description in time, taking his moment of speaking as a point of reference? A time before he spoke? After? At approximately the same time? This is the information that defines “narrative time” as past, present or future. These Attributes are attached to the main predicate.

Although in many languages this information is signaled by tense markings on verbs, the concept is not tense, but “time with respect to the speaker”. The clearest example is the simple present tense in English, which is not interpreted as the present time, but as “independently of specific times”.
Consider the example: The earth is round.
This sentence is true in the past, present and future, independently of the speaker’s time, so although the tense is “present” it is not interpreted as the present time.

3.3 Attributes describing speaker’s view on aspects of event

A speaker can emphasize or focus on part of an event or treat it as a whole unit. This is closely linked to how the speaker places the event in time. These Attributes are attached to the main predicate.
The speaker can focus on the beginning (@begin) of the event, looking forward to it (@begin.@soon), or backward to it (@begin.@just).
He can also focus on the end (@end) or completion (@complete) of the event, looking forward to it (@end.@soon or @complete.@soon), or backward to it (@end.@just or @complete.@just).
He can focus on the middle (@progress) or continuation (@continue) of the event.
The speaker can choose to focus on the lasting effects or final state of the event (@state) or on the event as a repeating unit (@repeat), experience (@experience) or custom (@custom).
He can also focus on the incompleteness or the fact that it has not yet happened, by using @yet.

@begin	beginning of an event or a state
	ex) It began to work again
@complete	finishing/completion of a (whole) event
	ex) I've looked through the script. look.@entry.@complete
@continue	continuation of an event
	ex) He went on talking. talk.@continue.@past
@custom	customary or repetitious action
	ex) I used to visit [I would often go] there when I was a boy. visit.@custom.@past
@end	end/termination of an event or a state
	ex) I have done it. do.@end.@present
@experience	experience
	ex) Have you ever visited Japan? visit.@experience.@interrogation ex) I have been there. visit.@exterience
@progress	an event is in progress
	ex) I am working now. work.@progress.@present
@repeat	repetition of an event
	ex) It is so windy that the tree branches are knocking against the roof. knock.@entry.@present.@repeat
@state	final state or the existence of the object on which an action has been taken
	ex) It is broken. break.@state

These attributes are used to modify the attributes above, to express a variety of aspects of natural languages.

@just	Expresses an event or a state that has just begun or ended/completed
	Ex) He has just come. come.@complete.@just
@soon	Expresses an event or a state that is about to begin or end/completed
	Ex) The train is about to leave. leave.@begin.@soon
@yet	Expresses an event or a state that has not yet started or ended/completed, together with @not
	Ex) I have not yet done it. do.@complete.@not.@yet

3.4 Attributes describing speaker’s view of reference to concepts

Whether an expression refers to a single individual, a small group or a whole set is often not clear. The expression “the lion” is not sufficiently explicit for us to know whether the speaker means “one particular lion” or “all lions”. Consider the following examples:
The lion is a feline mammal.
The lion is eating an antelope.
In the first example, it seems reasonable to suppose that the speaker understood “the lion” as “all lions”, whereas in the second example as “one particular lion”.
The following Attributes are used to make explicit what the speaker’s view of reference seems to be.

@generic	generic concept
	ex) The dog is a faithful animal.
@def	already referred
	ex) the book you lost
@indef	non-specific class
	ex) There is a book on the desk.
@not	complement set
	ex) Don’t be late!
@ordinal	ordinal number
	ex) the 2^nd door

3.5 Attributes describing speaker’s view of emphasis, focus and topic

The speaker can choose to focus or emphasize parts of a sentence to show how important he thinks they are in the situation described. This is often related to sentence structure. One UW marked with "@entry" is essential for each UNL expression or in a Compound UW.

@contrast	Contrasted UW
	For instance, “but” in the examples below is used to introduce a word or phrase that contrasts with what was said before. ex) It wasn’t the red one but the blue one. ex) He’s poor but happy
@emphasis	Emphasized UW
	ex) I do like it.
@entry	Entry or main UW of a sentence or a scope
	ex) He promised (entry of the sentence) that he would come (entry of the scope)
@qfocus	Focused UW of a question
	ex) Are you painting the bathroom blue? To this question, the answer will be “No, I’m painting the LIVING-ROOM blue”
@theme	Instantiates an object from a different class

@title	Title

@topic	Topic
	ex) He(@topic) was killed by her. ex) The girl(@topic) was given a doll. ex) This doll(@topic) was given to the girl.

3.6 Attributes describing speaker’s attitudes

The speaker can also express, directly or indirectly, what his attitudes or emotions are towards what is being said or whom it is being said to. This includes respect and politeness towards the listener and surprise toward what is being said.

@affirmative	Affirmation

@confirmation	Confirmation
	ex) You won't say that, will you? ex) It’s red, isn’t it? ex) Then you won't come, right?
@exclamation	Exclamation
	ex) kirei na! (“How beautiful (it is)!” in Japanese) ex) Oh, look out!
@humility	In a humility manner
	ex) That is quite impossible for the likes of me.@humility.
@imperative	Imperative
	ex) Get up! ex) You will please leave the room.
@interrogative	Interrogation
	ex) Who is it?
@invitation	Inducement
	ex) Will / Won’t you have some tea? ex) Let’s go, shall we?
@polite	polite way
	ex) Could you (please)... ex) If you could … I would …
@request	Request
	ex) Please don’t forget…
@respect	Respectful way
	ex) o taku (“(your) house” in Japanese) ex) Good morning, sir.
@vocative	Vocative
	ex) Boys, be ambitious!

3.7 Attributes describing speaker’s feelings and judgments

These attributes express the speaker’s feelings or how the speaker views or judges what is said.

This sort of subjective information is very much dependent on the type of language. It should be possible to express every kind of subjective information from all languages. Thus, the development of the attributes is open to the developers of each language, who can introduce a new attribute when no current attribute expresses its meaning. The new attribute must be also introduced in the same way.

@insistence	Strong determination to do something
	ex) He will do it, whatever you say.
@intention	Intention about something or to do something
	ex) He shall get this money. (Speaker’s intention) ex) We shall let you know our decision.
@want	Desire to do something
	ex) I want to go France.
@will	Determination to do something
	ex) I’ll write as soon as I can. ex) We won’t stay longer than two hours.

@need	Necessity to do something
	ex) You need to finish this work today. ex) I must be going now. ex) I always have to work hard.
@obligation	Obligation to do something according to (quasi-) law, contract, or …
	ex) The vendor shall maintain the equipment in good repair. ex) You must come by nine.
@obligation-not	Obligation not to do something, forbid to do something according to (quasi-) law, contract or …
	ex) Cars must not park in front of the entrance. ex) No smoking
@should	To do something as a matter of course
	ex) You should do as he says. ex) You ought to start at once.
@unavoidable	Unavoidable feeling of the speaker about doing something
	ex) I could not help speaking the truth.

@certain	Certainty that something is true or happens
	ex) If Peter had the money, he would have bought a car. ex) They should be home by now.
@inevitable	Logical inevitability that something is true or happens
	ex) All living things must die.
@may	Practical possibility that something is true or happens
	ex) It may be true. ex) It could be.
@possible	Logical possibility that something is true or happens
	ex) Anybody can make mistakes. ex) If Peter had the money, he would buy a car.
@probable	(Practical) probability that something is true or happens
	ex) That would be his mother. ex) He must be lying.
@rare	Rare logical possibility that something is true or happens
	ex) If such a thing should happen, what shall we do? ex) If I should fail, I will [would] try again.
@unreal	Unreality that something is true or happens
	ex) If we had enough money, we could buy a car. ex) If Peter had the money, he could buy a car.

@admire	Admiring feeling of the speaker about something

@blame	Blameful feeling of the speaker about something
	ex) A sailor, and afraid of the sea!
@contempt	Contemptuous feeling of the speaker about something
	ex) You never could do it *In Japanese the postpositional particles of “nado”, “nanka” or “nante” as in “kimi nado niha..” can be used to express the contemptuous feeling of the speaker about the target, mainly in a negative sentence
@regret	Regretful feeling of the speaker about something
	ex) It's a pity that he should miss such a golden opportunity.
@surprised	Surprised feeling of the speaker about something
	ex) (He has succeeded!) But that's great!
@troublesome	Troublesome feeling of the speaker about the occurrence of something
	ex) My house was [I had my house] broken into.@troublesome yesterday. *There is a troublesome feeling of the speaker when using a passive form of the verb in this case in Japanese.

3.8 Attributes for convention

Typical UNL structures can be expressed by attributes to avoid the complexity of enconverting and deconverting. What marks are used for enclosing a word or phrase can also be expressed by attributes. The attributes for indicating enclosure must be attached to the scope node of the enclosed phrase if it consists of a (set of) binary relation(s) of UNL.

@passive	passive form
@pl	more than one
@angle_bracket	< > are used
@brace	{ } are used
@double_parenthesis	(( )) are used
@double_quote	“ ” are used
@parenthesis	( ) are used
@single_quote	‘ ’ are used
@square_bracket	[ ] are used

@past	happened in the past
	ex) It was snowing yesterday
@present	happening at present
	ex) It is raining hard.
@future	will happen in future
	ex) He will arrive tomorrow

@get-benefit	Speaker’s feeling of receiving benefits through the fact or result of something (to be) done by somebody else
	ex) I'll have my secretary type the letter. *In Japanese the auxiliary verb of “~te morau” is used to express the getting benefits feeling. For instance it is frequently used in a sentence in the sense of “to have somebody do something” in Japanese.
@give-benefit	Speaker’s feeling of giving benefits by doing something for somebody else
	ex) Be kind to old people. *In Japanese the auxiliary verb of “~te ageru” is used to express the giving benefits feeling. For instance it is frequently used in a sentence in the sense of “Be kind to old people” in Japanese.

@conclusion	Logical conclusion due to a certain condition
	ex) He is her husband; she is his wife.
@consequence	Logical consequence
	ex) He was angry, wherefore I left him alone.

@consent	Consent feeling of the speaker about something

@dissent	Dissent feeling of the speaker about something
	ex) But that’s not true.
@grant	To give/get consent/permission to do something
	ex) Can I smoke in here? ex) You may borrow my car if you like.
@grant-not	Not to give consent to do something
	ex) You {mustn't/are not allowed to/may not} borrow my car.

@although	Something follows against [contrary to] or beyond expectation
	ex) Although he didn't speak, I felt a certain warmth in his manner.
@discontented	Discontented feeling of the speaker about something
	ex) (I'll tip you 10 pence.) But that's not enough!
@expectation	Expectation of something
	ex) Children ought to be able to read by the age of 7. ex) If you leave now, you should get there by five o'clock.
@wish	Wishful feeling, to wish something is true or has happened
	ex) If only I could remember his name! (~I do wish I could remember his name!) ex) You might have just let me know.

@ability	Ability, capability of doing something
	ex) The child can 't walk yet. ex) He can speak English but he can’t write it very well.

Chapter 3 Attributes