About Pronouns
2001/08/29, 2001/09/25,2002/11/12 revised
M. Zhu, H. Uchida, UNL Center
A)
Nominative [subjective] case
The
subjective cases of personal pronouns can be used as UWs. However, when the
referent for the pronoun is clear in a given sentence, the referent itself,
instead of the pronoun, should be used as an UW. It means that in a sentence like "Mary was angry and she was
also tired", one should represent
“aoj(tired,Mary)” instead of “aoj(tired, she)".
The personal pronouns of English “it” and “they”
can be used to refer to both, a thing and a person. Because of this, two kinds
of UWs “it(icl>person)” and “they(icl>person)”, and “it” and “they” are
prepared. The former pair is for conveying information about persons, whereas
the latter one is for conveying information about things.
In addition, since the UWs "it" and "they" are defined under the top category "thing"(see the Master UW Definitions of these two UWs below) directly, they can also be used to represent a person in the sense that the concept of "person" also belongs to "thing" through the sub-category "living thing". In this case, the relationships with other UWs defined at "thing" can be inherited, but the relationships especially defined at "person" or "living thing" won't be inherited. The UWs "it(icl>person)" and "they(icl>person)" provide the mean to express a "person" when it is clear.
I{(icl>person>living
thing)}
you{(icl>person>living
thing)}
he{(icl>person>living
thing)}
she{(icl>person>living
thing)}
we{(icl>person>living
thing)}
who{(icl>person>living
thing)}
it(icl>person{>living
thing})
they(icl>person{>living
thing})
it{(icl>thing)}
they{(icl>thing)}
you(icl>one
person)
you(icl>persons)
|
For convenience, an UW like “persons” is
defined for representing the meaning of “more than one person” as follows. Master
UW Definitions of “persons” persons{(icl>person>living thing)} From
the above Master UW Definitions the following KB entry is generated: icl(persons, persons(icl>living
thing))=1; |
I
you
he
she
we
who
it(icl>person)
they(icl>person)
it
they
you(icl>one
person)
you(icl>persons)
icl(I,person(icl>living
thing))=1;
icl(you,person(icl>living
thing))=1;
icl(he,person(icl>living
thing))=1;
icl(she,person(icl>living
thing))=1;
icl(we,person(icl>living
thing))=1;
icl(who,person(icl>living
thing))=1;
icl(it(icl>person),person(icl>living
thing))=1;
icl(they(icl>person),person(icl>living
thing))=1;
icl(it,thing)=1;
icl(they,thing)=1;
icl(you(icl>one
person), one person)=1;
icl(you(icl>persons),
persons)=1;
B)
Possessive (genitive) Case
The
possessive case of pronouns is not used as UWs; thus, the meaning for “my”, “your”,
“her”, “his”, “our”, “their”, “whose”, “its” and “one’s” is expressed by the
combination of the UW “I”, "you", “he”, “she”, “we”, “they” or “they(icl>person)”,
“who” and, “it” or “it(icl>person)”, and the relation “pos”. For instance: “my
book” would be represented as “pos(book,
I)”.
C)
Objective case
The objective case of pronouns is not used as UWs either.
The meaning for “me”, “you”, “her”, “him”, “us”, “them” or “whom” is expressed,
respectively, by the UW “I”, “he”, “she”, “we”, “they” or “they(icl>person)”,
or “who”. The relation they should take
will depend on the language and on their role. In English, for instance, the
relation between "give" and "me" in a sentence like
"She gave me the book" will be represented by
"gol(give,I)".
In a
linguistic sense, there is no difference between these pronouns and the other
possessives referred to above: they are both possessive and genitive. The
difference between them lies in the opposition between adjective pronouns (i.e,
standing for adjectives, as they are noun modifiers, such as my, your) and nominal
pronouns (i.e., standing for nouns: mine, his).
mine(icl>thing{,pos>I})
his(icl>thing{,pos>he})
hers(icl>thing{,pos>she})
ours(icl>thing{,pos>we}
yours(icl>thing{,pos>you})
theirs(icl>thing{,pos>they(icl>person)})
yours(icl>thing,pos>you(icl>one
person))
yours(icl>thing,pos>you(icl>persons))
mine(icl>thing)
his(icl>thing)
hers(icl>thing)
ours(icl>thing)
yours(icl>thing)
theirs(icl>thing)
yours(icl>thing,pos>you(icl>one
person))
yours(icl>thing,pos>you(icl>persons))
icl(mine(icl>thing),thing)
= 1;
pos(mine(icl>thing),I)
= 1;
icl(his(icl>thing),thing)
= 1;
pos(his(icl>thing),he)
= 1;
icl(hers(icl>thing),thing)
= 1;
pos(hers(icl>thing),she)
= 1;
icl(ours(icl>thing),thing)
= 1;
pos(ours(icl>thing),we)
= 1;
icl(yours(icl>thing),thing)
= 1;
pos(yours(icl>thing),you)
= 1;
icl(theirs(icl>thing),thing)
= 1;
pos(theirs(icl>thing),they(icl>person))
= 1;
;; the
following are from “yours(icl>thing,pos>you(icl>one person))”
icl(yours(icl>thing,pos>you(icl>one
person)),thing)=1;
pos(yours(icl>thing,pos>you(icl>one
person)),you(icl>one person))=1;
icl(you(icl>one
person),one person)=1;
;; the
following are from “yours(icl>thing,pos>you(icl>persons))”
icl(yours(icl>thing,pos>you(icl>persons)),
thing)=1;
pos(yours(icl>thing,pos>you(icl>persons)),you(icl>persons))=1;
icl(you(icl>persons),
persons)=1;
The following demonstrative pronouns can be used as UWs. However, for the same reason as with personal pronouns, if it is clear what is being indicated by them, the referent should be used in the UNL expression instead of the pronoun UW.
Although pronouns can take very different roles in a sentence, they should be represented as a single UW. For instance, the relation between “this” and “idea” in the sentence “this is a good idea” is “aoj”, whereas in the sentence “I don’t like this solution” it is “mod” in the opposite direction. The combination of “this” and “aoj” or “mod” makes it possible to choose the correct word and therefore there is no need to have two kinds of different UWs for these pronouns.
this
that
that(aoj<near)
that(aoj<far)
what
which
For “these” and “those”, representation can be this.@pl and that.@pl, respectively.
In many languages - as Portuguese, German, Italian, French, Spanish and Japanese - demonstrative pronouns are distinguished according to the speaker's and hearer's positions: it is possible then to have three demonstrative pronouns: a) near the speaker; b) near the hearer; c) far from both. It is just a matter of coincidence that, in English, b) and c) are the same.
For representing the meanings of b) and c), two UWs “that(aoj<near)” and “that(aoj<far)” are introduced.
this{(icl>thing)}
that{(icl>thing)}
that(aoj<near{(aoj>place),icl>thing})
that(aoj<far{(aoj>place),icl>thing})
what{(icl>thing)}
which{(icl>thing)}
icl(this, thing)=1;
icl(that, thing)=1;
icl(what, thing)=1;
icl(which, thing)=1;
;; the following are from “that(aoj<near{(aoj>place),icl>thing})”
aoj(near(aoj>place),that(aoj<near))=1;
aoj(near(>place),place(icl>thing))=1;
;; the following are from “that(aoj<far{(aoj>place),icl>thing})”
aoj(far(aoj>place),that(aoj<far))=1;
aoj(far(icl>place),place(icl>thing))=1;
Concerning “who” see “1. Personal Pronouns”
Concerning “what” and “which” see “3. Demonstrative Pronouns”
Relative pronouns such as “that”, “which”, “who” and “what” are not treated as UWs. They should be replaced by the referents in the UNL expressions.
Reflexive forms
of pronouns such as “myself”, “yourself”, “himself”, “herself”, “ourselves”, “themselves”,
“itself” and “oneself” are not considered as UWs. They should be replaced by the referents in the UNL expressions.
For instance, a sentence like "Mary killed herself" should be
represented as “agt(kill.@past.@entry,Mary)” and “obj(kill.@past.@entry,Mary)” but
not “agt(kill.@past.@entry,Mary)” and “obj(kill.@past.@entry,herself)”.
These words are also used to emphasize their
referents (the subject or object in a sentence). In this case, the attribute “@emphasis”
should be used. For instance, the English sentence “She told me the news herself” should be represented as “agt(tell.@past,she.@emphasis)”,
“gol(tell.@past,I)” and “obj(tell.@past,news.@def).
The indefinite pronouns such as "any", "some", "much", "many", "little", “a little”, "few", “a few”, "all", "several", "enough", "none", etc. can replace any thing in a certain context of sentence. Because of this, the UWs are placed under the top category of “thing”.
The following are the UWs, and the Master UW
Definitions are exactly the same:
all(icl>thing) ;; as in “10 cars raced and all crashed"
any(icl>thing) ;; as in “(We need some more paint;) there isn’t any left”
enough(icl>thing) ;; as in “Have you had enough?”
few(icl>thing) ;; as in “There are many published books but few are worth reading"
a few(icl>thing) ;; as in “Only a few remained"
little(icl>thing) ;; as in “She said little or nothing about her experience”
a little(icl>thing) ;; as in “Could you give me a little?”
a lot(icl>thing) ;; as in “There’s a lot/lots left”
many(icl>thing) ;; an in “We haven’t got many”
much(icl<thing) ;; as in “Much has been gained from our research”
plenty(icl>thing) ;; as in “We had plenty to talk about” or “plenty of money/time”
none{(icl>thing)} ;; as in “There were none present”
several(icl>thing) ;; as in “Several (of them) were absent”
some(icl>thing) ;; as in “Some say it's true, some not”
one(icl>thing) ;;
èMost of these words (except “none”) can also be used as determiners (a kind of adjectives only used before nouns). For the determiner use, the UWs are following:
all(mod<thing) ;; as in “All horses are animal”
any(mod<thing) ;; as in “I don’t eat any meat” or “take any book you like”
enough(mod<thing) ;; it means “sufficient”, as in “is there enough room for me?”
few(mod<thing) ;; as in “Few people know it”
a few(mod<thing) ;; as in “I need a few things from the store”
little(mod<thing) ;; as in “There was little doubt in my mind”
a little(mod<thing) ;; as in “a little milk/sugar/tea”
a lot of(<mod<thing) ;; as in “black coffee with a lot/lots of sugar”
many(mod<thing) ;; an in “Many people feel that the law should be changed”
much(mod<thing) ;; as in “I don’t have much money with me”
plenty(mod<thing) ;; it means “a lot of” as in “there’s plenty room for all of you”
several(mod<thing) ;; as in “Several books”
some(mod<thing) ;; it means “an amount of” or “a number of” as in “Some wine/books”
èSome of the above have also different uses. The following show some examples of the UWs and Master UW Definitions.
little(aoj>thing) ;; as in “a little bird” or “She's too little to go out alone”
many(icl>person) ;; it means “most people” as in “a government which improves conditions for the many”.
many(icl>thing) ;; as in “Many (of us) were tired” or “How many are there”
much(icl>how) ;; as in “Thank you very much for the flowers”
none(icl>how) ;; it means “not at all” or “not very” as in “She's none the happier for her wealth” or “I was none so pleased”
and so on.