(Re)construing Meaning in NLP
Sean Trott, Tiago Timponi Torrent, Nancy Chang, Nathan Schneider
TL;DR
This paper explores how different expressions in language reflect various conceptualizations of information, emphasizing the importance of construal in understanding meaning in NLP.
Contribution
It introduces the concept of construal in NLP, connecting cognitive semantics to language understanding and suggesting new directions for research.
Findings
Identifies key dimensions of construed meaning
Proposes how construal insights can improve NLP models
Bridges cognitive semantics with NLP applications
Abstract
Human speakers have an extensive toolkit of ways to express themselves. In this paper, we engage with an idea largely absent from discussions of meaning in natural language understanding--namely, that the way something is expressed reflects different ways of conceptualizing or construing the information being conveyed. We first define this phenomenon more precisely, drawing on considerable prior work in theoretical cognitive semantics and psycholinguistics. We then survey some dimensions of construed meaning and show how insights from construal could inform theoretical and practical work in NLP.
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.