representation of input text in a conversation

[Niels Taatgen]

Another question you must ask is whether representing the whole sentence is
the right way to model language processing. An alternative way to process a
sentence is to read in the words one by one, and gradually build an
interpretation. If I remember correctly, this is the way a Soar model
(NL-Soar) did this. So you might end up with a goal representation like:

(goal-five
    word how
    interpretation nil
    ... [probably some more slots])

Once you have some interpretation for how (don't ask me how), you can read in
the next word

(goal-five
    word are
    interpretation interpretation-of-how)

And so on. Once the whole sentence has been read, the interpretation slot
contains a representation of the whole sentence. If interpretation of the
sentence somehow goes wrong, because you chose the wrong interpretation for
an ambiguous word, you can always read the sentence again. Since the
orangutan probably cannot read, you'll have to repeat the sentence, or he'll
not understand you.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------
Niels Taatgen
Technische Cognitiewetenschap/Cognitive science & engineering
Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, 9712 TS Groningen, Netherlands
050-3636435 / +31503636435
niels at tcw2.ppsw.rug.nl  http://tcw2.ppsw.rug.nl/~niels
-------------------------------------------------------------