• wiki
  • user-friendly collaborative environment for knowledge management
  • content typically unconstrained natural language (NL), therefore not easily automatically processable
  • powered by software, e.g. MediaWiki
  • e.g. Wikipedia
• semantic wiki (= wiki + formal semantics)
  • provides: richer query language, consistency checking (via automatic reasoning)
  • content typically NL + typed links (i.e. RDF triples)
  • software: Semantic Mediawiki, ...
• controlled natural language (CNL) based semantic wiki
  • semantic wiki using CNL for the content
  • formal languages hidden (=> can use more expressive formal languages)
  • software: AceWiki

• multiple languages
  • natural: English, German, ...
  • formal: first-order logic, OWL, ...
  • languages for content vs user interface
• CNL-based
  • backed by formal grammar(s)
  • formal languages are hidden
• semantic
  • content automatically kept in sync via precise translation
  • consistency checking, question answering, ... (depending on the domain)
• wiki
  • user-friendly
  • collaborative

• multilingual ontology editor
  • e.g. environment where users agree on the content and multilingual vocabulary of an OWL-style geography ontology
• tourist phrasebook
  • book structure (chapters and sections)
  • multilingual content presented in parallel
• catalog of museum objects (paintings, painters)
  • each object on its own wiki page
  • rich queries (e.g. "which Dutch painter painted which French painter?")
• SWIFTTT systems (see: David Karger's talk)

• subset of natural English
  • conjunction, disjunction, negation, if-then, ...
  • anaphoric references: pronouns, definite noun phrases, variables
  • quantifiers: every, no, at least 3, ...
  • content words: proper names, common nouns, verbs, adjectives, ...
• grammar is fixed, but users can change content words
• deterministic ambiguity handling
  • anaphora resolution (France borders Spain and it borders Portugal.)
  • quantifier scope (Every country borders a country.)
  • attachment (Every EU-country borders a country that is a EU-country and is a NATO-country.)
• well-defined translation to and from first-order logic, OWL, ...
• end-user documentation: construction and interpretation rules, as restrictions of English

Every country that does not border a sea is a landlocked-country.

SubClassOf(
   ObjectIntersectionOf(
      :country
      ObjectComplementOf(
         ObjectSomeValuesFrom(
            :border
            :sea
         )
      )
   )
   :landlocked-country
)

Which country is a landlocked-country?

ObjectIntersectionOf(
    :country
    :landlocked-country
)

• expressive semantic wiki system
• front-end language ACE; background reasoning language OWL
• monolingual, fixed grammar, no ambiguity handling

• framework for multilingual grammar engineering
  • functional programming language optimized to handle natural language
  • resource grammar library implementing common morphological and syntactic structures
  • mildly context sensitive
• grammar = language-neutral abstract syntax + multiple concrete syntaxes that implement the abstract functions and categories, specifying words, word order, agreement, etc.
  • border : Country -> Country -> Relation
  • English: border x y = x!Nom + "borders" + y!Nom
  • Estonian: border x y = x!Gen + "naaber on" + y!Nom
• translation = parse a string in language A to tree(s) + linearize these tree(s) as strings in language B
• parsing (translation, look-ahead, ...) based on Parallel Multiple Context-Free Grammars
• various tools + bindings to Python, Java, Javascript, Prolog, ...

• morphology and syntax for ~30 languages via language-neutral API
• developers do not need detailed knowledge of the languages that they want to support in their application

• integrate ACE with GF (ACE-in-GF)
  • implement a multilingual grammar of ACE in the GF framework
  • cover the languages supported by the GF resource grammar
  • not fine-tuned to any particular language (apart from ACE)
• integrate AceWiki with GF (AceWiki-GF)
  • implement connection to GF tools (GF Webservice / Cloud Service)
  • add support for the management of multilinguality, ambiguity, grammar

An ACE grammar implemented in GF adds multiple natural languages as front-ends to ACE. As a result, these languages can be mapped to and from various formal languages already supported by ACE.

German

Jedes Land, das nicht an ein Meer grenzt, ist ein Binnenland.

ACE-in-GF tree

baseText (sText (s (vpS (everyNP (relCN (cn_as_VarCN country_CN)
  (neg_predRS which_RP (v2VP border_V2 (thereNP_as_NP
   (aNP (cn_as_VarCN sea_CN))))))) (npVP (thereNP_as_NP
    (aNP (cn_as_VarCN landlocked_country_CN)))))))

ACE

Every country that does not border a sea is a landlocked-country.

OWL

SubClassOf(
   ObjectIntersectionOf(
      :country
      ObjectComplementOf(
         ObjectSomeValuesFrom( :border :sea )
      )
   )
   :landlocked-country
)

• implementation of the ACE syntax
  • extension of Angelov and Ranta (CNL 2009)
  • focus on the subset of ACE that can be mapped to OWL
  • almost 100% coverage at almost 0% ambiguity
  • no direct generation of discourse representation structures (DRS)
• support most RGL languages
  • Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Latvian, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Urdu
  • RGL-based design provides automatic increase in quality and language-coverage over time
• status
  • some precision problems, e.g. anaphoric references do not obey DRS accessibility constraints
  • ambiguity and coverage problems in some languages

ACE: every person that speaks a language X does not forget X .
Bul: всеки човек който говори език X не забравя X .
Cat: cada persona que parla una llengua X no oblida X .
Chi: 说 一 种 X 语 言 的 每 个 人 没 忘 X 。
Dan: hver person , som taler et sprog X glemmer ikke X .
Dut: elke persoon , dat een taal X spreekt vergeet niet X .
Fin: jokainen henkilö , joka puhuu kieltä X ei unohda X:ää .
Fre: chaque personne qui parle une langue X n' oublie pas X .
Ger: jede Person , die eine Sprache X spricht vergißt X nicht .
Gre: κάθε πρόσωπο που μιλά μία γλώσσα τον X δεν ξεχνά τον X .
Hin: हर [person_CN] , जो [language_CN] X बोलता है X नहीं भूलता है .
Ita: ogni persona che parla una lingua X non dimentica X .
Lav: ikviena persona , kas saka valodu X neaizmirst X .
Nor: hver person , som snakker et språk X glemmer ikke X .
Pol: każda osoba , która rozmawia z językiem X nie zapomina X .
Ron: orice persoană care vorbeşte o limbă X nu îl uită pe X .
Rus: каждый лицo , который говорит на языке X не забывает X .
Spa: cada persona que habla una lengua X no olvida X .
Swe: varje person , som talar ett språk X glömmer inte X .
Tha: บุคคล ทุก คน ที่ พูด ภาษา X ไม่ ลืม X
Urd: ہر شخص , جو زبان X بولتا ہے X نہیں بھولتا ہے

• wiki content is based on a (single) GF grammar
  • provided by GF Webservice / Cloud service
  • optimized for ACE-in-GF (but other GF grammars can also be used)
• wiki entry is GF abstract tree set
  • viewed via linearization(s)
  • can represent ambiguity
• multilingual viewing and editing of wiki content
  • grammar-based look-ahead editing that shows next possible tokens
  • ambiguity resolution via another concrete language
• grammar integrated into the wiki
  • GF grammars are very modular
  • grammar modules as wiki articles (wiki-linking of grammar and content)
  • grammar can be changed while editing the wiki

Design

• generate ~100 ACE sentences/questions and automatically translate them to all the languages
  • full coverage of all the grammar functions
  • large coverage of OWL axiom structures (subclass, range, domain, transitivity, ...)
• measure translation accuracy from ACE to other languages
• use Google Translate as the baseline
• 20 human evaluators (2 per language) as the gold standard

Results

• participants preferred ACE-in-GF translations to Google translations and post-edited them less
• many edits were stylistic (e.g. users preferred elliptical sentences)

Design

• develop a 500-word geography lexicon
  • 3 languages: English, German and Spanish
  • 3 authors (incl. native speakers of German and Spanish, and a GF engineer)
• ask users of different languages to supply the wiki with sentences and tag each as true or false
• ask them then to evaluate others' sentences as true or false
• measure the user (dis)agreement and how much it is influenced by the automatic translation

Results

• 30 participants entered 316 sentences, covering all syntactic functions
• AceWiki-GF user interface was found to be easy to use
• agreement level was ~83% with no significant influence from the translation

• generalize to handle other types of grammars and reasoning
• improve collaborative grammar editing features
• improve ambiguity management (e.g. automatic reasoning-based ambiguity resolution)
• use the wiki content to automatically generate documentation, grammar fragments, look-ahead editor customizations, etc. for novice users

• ACE-in-GF
  • multilingual ACE grammar
  • source code: http://github.com/Attempto/ACE-in-GF
• AceWiki-GF
  • multilingual CNL-based semantic wiki engine
  • source code: http://github.com/AceWiki/AceWiki
  • demo wikis: http://attempto.ifi.uzh.ch/acewiki-gf/
• MOLTO project: http://www.molto-project.eu/
  • see the deliverables of WP11
• Attempto project: http://attempto.ifi.uzh.ch/
• Grammatical Framework project: http://www.grammaticalframework.org/
  • GF Summer School @ Frauenchiemsee (August 2013): http://school.grammaticalframework.org/2013/