Abstract
We investigate the extent to which compositional vector space models can be used to account for scope ambiguity in quantified sentences (of the form Every man loves some woman). Such sentences introduce one reading for each quantifier. We combine a polarised focussed sequent calculus for the non-associative Lambek Calculus NL as described in Moortgat and Moot (2011) with a non-compositional ap- proach to quantifier scope in vector space semantics introduced by Hedges and Sadrzadeh (2016) and (Sadrzadeh 2016). In particular, we obtain an automatic and compositional procedure for obtaining quantifier scope ambiguity in vector space models of meaning.
Highlights
We investigate the extent to which compositional vector space models can be used to account for scope ambiguity in quantified sentences
Mapped onto semantic types so that any derivation gives rise to a meaning recipe
Meaning is taken to be a linear lambda term that evaluates to a truth value
Summary
Such an approach does not lend itself to certain Germanic languages where the ambiguity has to be derivational: in Dutch, the subject relative and object relative interpretations above share the surface form “Mannen die Marie mogen”.3 To deal with this issue without specifying lexical alternatives, i.e. different possible typings of the relative pronoun “die”, Moortgat and Wijnholds (2017) provide a derivational account that results in the same intersective vector space meaning as the ones of Sadrzadeh et al (2013). A continuation-passing-style translation from syntactic types into semantic objects gives rise to the expected reading for quantifier scope ambiguity This technique has been worked out by Moortgat and Moot (2011) (following Bernardi and Moortgat 2010 and Bastenhof 2012), but has not, until now, been put in the context of vector space models.
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