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Semantic representation of Korean numeral classifier and its ontology building for HLT applications

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Abstract

The complexity of Korean numeral classifiers demands semantic as well as computational approaches that employ natural language processing (NLP) techniques. The classifier is a universal linguistic device, having the two functions of quantifying and classifying nouns in noun phrase constructions. Many linguistic studies have focused on the fact that numeral classifiers afford decisive clues to categorizing nouns. However, few studies have dealt with the semantic categorization of classifiers and their semantic relations to the nouns they quantify and categorize in building ontologies. In this article, we propose the semantic recategorization of the Korean numeral classifiers in the context of classifier ontology based on large corpora and KorLex Noun 1.5 (Korean wordnet; Korean Lexical Semantic Network), considering its high applicability in the NLP domain. In particular, the classifier can be effectively used to predict the semantic characteristics of nouns and to process them appropriately in NLP. The major challenge is to make such semantic classification and the attendant NLP techniques efficient. Accordingly, a Korean numeral classifier ontology (KorLexClas 1.0), including semantic hierarchies and relations to nouns, was constructed.

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Notes

  1. In this article, we use romanization according to notice 2000–8 of the Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism (2000.7.7) and its converter, which was developed by the Korean Language Processing Laboratory of Pusan National University.

  2. The meanings of the second and third types of classifiers are based on their use in Korean.

  3. The Standard Korean Dictionary is published by the National Institute of the Korean Language (1999).

  4. The list of high-frequency Korean words is based on <A Survey of Frequency in Use of Modern Korean Words> conducted by the National Institute of the Korean Language (2002).

  5. Currently, KorLex (Korean WordNet) 1.5 is composed of nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, and KorLex Noun 1.5 contains 58,656 synsets and 41,368 word senses.

  6. The formalization and implementation of the ontological relations of Korean classifiers using OWL triples, comprising the referred nouns, and various lexical information are illustrated in more detail (Jung et al. 2006).

  7. In most classifier languages, in addition to the semantically specialized classifiers used in referring to particular kinds of entities, there is purported to be a semantically ‘neutral’ classifier capable of being employed with reference to all sorts of entities. This semantically neutral classifier, like the generic classifier used in the present study, tends to be restricted to ‘nonpersonal’, or even ‘inanimate’ entities (Lyons 1977, vol. 2, p. 461). For example, ‘ge’ in Mandarin Chinese or ‘gae’ in Korean are used in this way.

  8. The numbers after the English words, such as ‘1’ in ‘melon1’ and ‘2’ in ‘watermelon2’, indicate sense ID’s in the Princeton WordNet (ver. 2.0) Nouns Synset.

Abbreviations

ACC:

Accusative

ADJ:

Adjective

CL:

Classifier

DEM:

Demonstrative

GEN:

Genitive

HLT:

Human language technology

KCL-M:

Korean numeral classifier module

LUB:

Least upper bound

MT:

Machine translation

NLP:

Natural language processing

NOM:

Nominative

NP:

Noun phrase

OWL:

Ontology web language

PAST:

Past

PRST:

Present

Q:

Numeral quantifier

TOP:

Topic

WSD:

Word sense disambiguation

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) grant funded by the Korea government (MOST) (No. R01-2007-000-20517-0). The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their interest in our research and for their valuable comments and arguments, which have served to modify and improve this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for U-Port IT Research and Education, Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan, 609-735, Republic of Korea

    Soonhee Hwang

  2. Korean Language Processing Laboratory, Department of French, Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan, 609-735, Republic of Korea

    Aesun Yoon

  3. Korean Language Processing Laboratory, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Pusan National University, 30 Jangjeon-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan, 609-735, Republic of Korea

    Hyuk-Chul Kwon

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  1. Soonhee Hwang
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Correspondence to Hyuk-Chul Kwon.

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Hwang, S., Yoon, A. & Kwon, HC. Semantic representation of Korean numeral classifier and its ontology building for HLT applications. Lang Resources & Evaluation 42, 151–172 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10579-007-9047-3

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