This chapter explains how the various meanings of natural languages
are treated in UNL.
6.1.1
Numbers
In
UNL, a number is expressed in Arabic Numerals. For example, “one
hundred and fifty” is expressed in UNL as “150”. This number, if
it expresses a quantity of a thing, is connected with the thing by
relation “qua” (see example1), if it expresses the order or
identifier of a thing, is connected with the thing by relation “mod”
(see example2).
Example1
English
: One hundred and fifty persons will participate the Symposium.
UNL
: agt ( participate.@entry.@future, person.@pl )
: qua ( person.@pl, 150 )
: obj ( participate.@entry.@future, symposium.@def )
Example2
English
: the year 2000.
UNL
: mod ( year.@def.@entry, 2000 )
6.1.2
Ordinals
As
explained in Chapter 2, an Ordinal Number is expressed by attaching the
attribute "@order" to Arabic Numerals. For example, the
UW of “second” will be 2.@order.
In
UNL, a date is expressed in the way of linking “mod ( day, Arabic
Numerals )”, “mod ( month, Arabic Numerals )” and “mod ( year,
Arabic Numerals )” by relation “tim”. Instead of “mod ( month,
Arabic Numerals )”, the name of the twelve months “January”,
“February”,…, and “December” is also allowed to use.
Example1
English
: UNL’99 Symposium is held in Nov. 18, 1999.
UNL1
: obj ( hold.@entry, symposium.@topic )
: tim ( hold.@entry, day )
: tim ( day, month )
: tim ( month, year )
: mod ( day, 18 )
: mod ( month, 11 )
: mod ( year, 1999 )
: mod ( symposium.@topic, “UNL’99” )
UNL2
: obj ( hold.@entry, symposium.@topic )
: tim ( hold.@entry, day )
: tim ( day, november )
: tim ( november, year )
: mod ( day, 18 )
: mod ( year, 1999 )
: mod ( symposium.@topic, “UNL’99” )
Example2
English
: UNL Project started in April of 1996,
UNL1
: obj ( start.@entry, project.@topic )
: tim ( start.@entry, month )
: tim ( month, year )
: mod ( month, 4 )
: mod ( year, 1996 )
: mod ( project.@topic, “UNL” )
UNL2
: obj ( start.@entry, project.@topic )
: tim ( start.@entry, april )
: tim ( april, year )
: mod ( year, 1996 )
: mod ( project.@topic, “UNL” )
Many
Asian Languages have Classifiers, for example, in Japanese “satsu”
and “hiki”,
in Chinese “ben”
and “wei”,
and etc. Basically, those classifiers are used for counting a countable
thing and do not appear in UNL expressions (see example 1). On the other
hand, for sentences like English “two coffees”, the measure UW
“unit” should be added in its UNL.
For
a common noun, its measure word (classifier) is not needed in UNL
expression.
Example1
Japanese:
Hon
Yissatsu
UNL
: qua ( book.@entry, 1 )
For
a material noun, its measure word is needed in UNL expression. When this
measure word is omitted from the original sentence, it is must be filled
up in UNL, in this case "unit" can be used instead of a
concrete unit if it is not clear. (see example 3)
Example2
English
: two sheets of paper
UNL
: qua ( paper.@entry, sheet )
: qua ( sheet, 2 )
Example3
English
: two coffees
UNL
: qua ( coffee.@entry, unit )
: qua ( unit, 2 )
6.3.3
For a noun used as a count word
Sometimes, a (concrete) noun can be used as a count word. For example,
in English the “box” in “a box of apples” and the “bottle”
in “two bottles of wine”, in Chinese the “che(car)” in “Yi
che lvke(a car of
passengers)” are used as count words. The UWs of such count words are
defined with attaching restriction “(icl>unit)”, as box(icl>unit),
bottle(icl>unit), car(icl>unit) and so on, which are
not possible to omit from UNL expressions.
For
your reference, as an example the UNL expression of such sentence is as
follows:
Example4
English
: a box of apples
UNL
: qua ( box(icl>unit), 1 )
: qua ( apple.@pl, box )
A
title like “6.4 Title” or “Chapter 2 UWs of UNL” is treated as
two sentences in UNL, they are “6.4” and “Title”, or “Chapter
2” and “UWs and UNL”. And for the second sentence of each title, @title
is necessary for its entry UW.
For
showing the relationship between the two sentences in a title, this time
the examples are showing in UNL document form as follows:
Example1
English
: 6.4 Title
UNL : [S:001]
: {org}
: 6.4
: {/org}
: {unl}
: [W]
: "6.4".@entry
: [/W]
: {/unl}
: [/S]
: [S:002]
: {org}
: Title
: {/org}
: {unl}
: [W]
: title.@entry.@title
: [/W]
: {/unl}
: [/S]
Example2
English : Chapter 2 UWs of UNL
UNL : [S:001]
: {org}
: Chapter 2
: {/org}
: {unl}
: mod ( chapter.@entry, 2 )
: {/unl}
: [/S]
: [S:002]
: {org}
: UWs of UNL
: {/org}
: {unl}
: mod ( UW.@entry.@title.@pl, UNL )
: {/unl}
: [/S]
Two
kind of UWs are prepared for prepositions "with"
and "without", one is defined by attaching restriction "(icl>have)",
the other one is defined by attaching "(icl>how)". The UWs
with restriction "(icl>have)" are used for connecting two
nominal concepts, and the UWs with restriction "(icl>how)" are
used for connecting a verbal and a nominal concepts. Below shows the
details.
with(icl>have)
Used
for pattern noun1 with noun2. Relations "obj" and
"aoj" are always used as "aoj(with(icl>have),noun1)"
and "obj(with(icl>have),noun2)".
"a vase
with handles"
aoj ( with(icl>have), vase.@indef )
obj ( with(icl>have), handle.@pl )
"a book
with a red cover"
"a woman with long hair"
with(icl>how)
**
In
many cases, with can be interpreted as "to use" as in
"I've done [finished] with this tool.", a partner as in
"discuss a problem with a person", a co-agent as in "live
with him" and so on. In each of the above cases the appropriate
relation or UW should be used. Besides these, "with(icl>how)" can be
used if no relation and UW available.
The
use of "with(icl>how)" is the same as for pattern verb with noun.
Relations "obj" and "man" are always used as "man(verb,with(icl>how))"
and "obj(with(icl>how),noun)".
"I've nothing to do
with that".
without(icl>have)
Used
for pattern noun1 without noun2. Relations "obj" and
"aoj" are always used as "aoj(without(icl>have),noun1)"
and "obj(without(icl>have),noun2)".
“A
rose without a thorn”
aoj ( without(icl>have), rose.@indef )
obj ( without(icl>have), thorn )
without(icl>how)
Used
for pattern verb without noun. Relations "man" and
"man" are always used as "man(verb,without(icl>how))"
and "obj(without(icl>how),noun)".
“He
did it without difficulty
man ( do.@past.@entry, without(icl>how) )
obj ( without(icl>how), difficulty )
“It's
impossible to live without food”
man ( impossible.@entry, without(icl>how) )
obj
( without(icl>how), food )