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ing syntactic-semantic parsing in the hear mode (3.3.1). The continuation at-
tributes fnc (for functor) and mdr (for modifier) will characterize the relations
of the proplet to other proplets in terms of functor-argument, while pc and nc
(for previous and next conjunct) will characterize relations of coordination.
The value of the book-keeping attribute prn (for proposition number), finally,
will be a number common to all proplets belonging to the same elementary
proposition and also indicate the temporal order relative to other propositions.
3.2 Representing Content
One requirement on proplets as a data structure is that they must provide for
a simple representation of propositional content. This applies specifically to
the compositional semantics of functor-argument and coordination , intra- and
extrapropositionally. Consider the content of an intrapropositional functor-
argument, represented as a set of linked proplets:
3.2.1 F UNCTOR - ARGUMENT OF Julia knows John.
noun: Julia
fnc: know
prn: 625
verb: know
arg: Julia John
prn: 625
noun: John
fnc: know
prn: 625
The simplified proplets are held together by a common prn value (here 625 ).
The functor-argument is coded solely in terms of attribute values. For example,
the Julia and John proplets specify their functor as know , while the know
proplet specifies Julia and John as its arguments. 5
A content like 3.2.1 may be turned into a schema by replacing each occur-
rence of a constant with a variable (simultaneous substitution):
3.2.2 T URNING 3.2.1 INTO A SCHEMA
noun: α
fnc: β
prn: K
verb: β
arg: αγ
prn: K
noun: γ
fnc: β
prn: K
The schema 3.2.2 defines the same semantic relations between pattern proplets
as does the content 3.2.1 between content proplets . A schema matches the
content from which it has been derived as well as an open number of similar
contents. A DBS schema is not just a l'art pour l'art linguistic generalization,
but allows using detailed syntactic and semantic properties for efficient high-
resolution retrieval (Sect. 6.5). The matching between a schema and a content
is illustrated below using the schema 3.2.2 and the content 3.2.1:
5 When we refer to a proplet by its core value, we use italics, e.g., John , whereas for reference to an
attribute or a value within a proplet, we use helvetica, e.g., fnc or know .
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