Computing Perspective in Dialogue - Computational Linguistics and Talking Robots - page 206

10.6.4 R EQUESTEE AS HEARER PARSING Pass the ashtray!

lexical
lookup

Pass the ashtray !

verb: pass
cat: n−s3' a' v

noun: n_1 noun: ashtray

cat: sn

pnc: !
cat: vimp' impv cat: np

sem: def
fnc:

sem: pres sem: sg prn:

arg: fnc:

prn: prn: prn:

syntactic−semantic parsing

verb: pass
cat: n−s3' a' v

noun: n_1

cat: np
sem: def
fnc:

1

sem: pres

arg:

prn: 671 prn:

verb: pass noun: n_1 noun: ashtray

cat: sn' vimp cat: np cat: sn

sem: sg

2

sem: pres sem: def

arg: # n_1
prn: 671

fnc: pass fnc:

prn: 671 prn:

verb: pass noun: ashtray pnc: !

cat: vimp cat: snp

sem: def sg
fnc: pass

cat: vimp' impv

3

sem: pres prn:

arg: # ashtray

prn: 671 prn: 671

result

verb: pass noun: ashtray

cat: impv cat: snp

sem: def sg
fnc: pass

sem: pres

arg: # ashtray

prn: 671 prn: 671

The lexical analysis of pass is that of the standard unmarked present tense
form of a verb. 15
The conversion of the lexical cat value n-s3'a'v to a' vimp is accom-
plished by the LA-hear rule which combines a sentence-initial finite verb with

15 The main sentential moods in natural language are the declarative, the interrogative, and the im-
perative. These sentential moods must be distinguished from the verbal moods, the indicative, the
subjunctive, and the imperative in grammars for English (Sect. 5.6). Thus the term “imperative” has
been used for both the sentential and the verbal moods.
In some languages the verbal moods are realized as special forms of the verbal morphology, with
dedicated uses in the associated sentential moods. Classical Latin, for example, has separate word
forms for the verb in the imperative mood, differentiated by whether the requestee is a singular indi-
vidual ( curre , run impv. sing.) or a plural group ( currete , run impv. pl.).
English, in contrast, uses the unmarked form of the verb's present tense for constructing the im-
perative as a sentential mood. Thus, just as there is no separate verbal form for the infinitive (Sect.
8.4), there is no separate verbal form for the imperative. Instead, the imperative as a sentential mood
is built as a special syntactic-semantic construction, characterized by word order, intonation or inter-
punctuation, and the absence of a subject, tense, and verbal mood.