Spatial Language

by Coventry, Kenny R.; Olivier, Patrick

• ISBN13: 9781402002083
• ISBN10: 1402002084
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-03-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Summary

People constantly talk to each other about experience or knowledge resulting from spatial perception; they describe the size, shape, orientation and position of objects using a wide range of spatial expressions. The semantic treatment of such expressions presents particular challenges for natural language processing. The meaning representation used must be capable of distinguishing between fine-grained sense differences and ambiguities grounded in our experience and perceptual structure. While there have been many different approaches to the representation and processing of spatial expressions, most computational characterisations have been restricted to particularly narrow problem domains. The chapters in the present volume reflect a commitment to the development of cognitively informed computational treatments of spatial language and spatial representation. Therefore the chapters present computational work, empirical work, or a combination of both. The book will appeal to all those interested in spatial language and spatial representation, whether they work in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, cognitive psychology or linguistics.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Kenny R. Coventry
Patrick Olivier
Contributors	ix
Reasoning about Shape using the Tangential Axis Transform or the Shape's ``Grain''	1	(18)
Geoffrey Edwards
A Conceptual Model for Representing Verbal Expressions used in Route Descriptions	19	(24)
Agnes Gryl
Bernard Moulin
Driss Kettani
Resolving Ambiguous Descriptions through Visual Information	43	(26)
Ingo Duwe
Klaus Kessler
Hans Strohner
An Anthropomorphic Agent for the Use of Spatial Language	69	(18)
Tanja Jording
Ipke Wachsmuth
Gesture, Thought, and Spatial Language	87	(16)
Karen Emmorey
Shannon Casey
Organization of Temporal Situations	103	(18)
Nancy Franklin
Todd Federico
Grounding Meaning in Visual Knowledge. A Case Study: Dimensional Adjectives	121	(26)
Anna Goy
Understanding How We Think about Space	147	(18)
Christina Manning
Maria D. Sera
Herbert L. Pick, Jr.
The Real Story of ``Over''?	165	(20)
Kenny R. Coventry
Gayna Mather
Generating Spatial Descriptions from a Cognitive Point of View	185	(24)
Robert Porzel
Martin Jansche
Ralf Meyer-Klabunde
Multiple Frames of Reference in Interpreting Complex Projective Terms	209	(24)
Carola Eschenbach
Christopher Habel
Annette Lemollmann
Goal-Directed Effects on Processing a Spatial Environment. Indications from Memory and Language	233	(22)
Holly A. Taylor
Susan J. Naylor
Memory for Text and Memory for Space. Two Concurrent Memory Systems?	255	(16)
Monika Wagener-Wender
Author index	271	(8)
Subject Index	279