Semantic network
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A semantic network is often used as a form of knowledge representation. It is a directed or undirected graph consisting of vertices, which represent concepts, and edges, which represent semantic relations between the concepts.[1]
[edit] Semantic network construction
An example of a semantic network is WordNet, a lexical database of English. It groups English words into sets of synonyms called synsets, provides short, general definitions, and records the various semantic relations between these synonym sets. Some of the most common semantic relations defined are meronymy (A is part of B, i.e. B has A as a part of itself), holonymy (B is part of A, i.e. A has B as a part of itself), hyponymy (or troponymy) (A is subordinate of B; A is kind of B), hypernymy (A is superordinate of B), synonymy (A denotes the same as B) and antonymy (A denotes the opposite of B).
Wordnet properties have been studied from a network theory perspective and compared to other semantic networks created from Roget's Thesaurus and word association tasks respectively yielding the three of them a small world structure.[2]
It is also possible to represent logical descriptions using semantic networks such as the existential Graphs of Charles S. Peirce or the related Conceptual Graphs of John F. Sowa.[1] These have expressive power equal to or exceeding standard first-order predicate logic. Unlike WordNet or other lexical or browsing networks, semantic networks using these can be used for reliable automated logical deduction. Some automated reasoners exploit the graph-theoretic features of the networks during processing.
There are also elaborate types of semantic networks connected with corresponding sets of software tools used for lexical knowledge engineering, like the Semantic Network Processing System (SNePS) of Stuart C. Shapiro or the MultiNet paradigm of Hermann Helbig, especially suited for the semantic representation of natural language expressions and used in several NLP applications.
[edit] History
"Semantic Nets" were first invented for computers by Richard H. Richens of the Cambridge Language Research Unit in 1956 as an "interlingua" for machine translation of natural languages. They were developed by Robert F. Simmons at System Development Corporation in the early 1960s and later featured prominently in the work of Collins and Quillian,[3][4] and Collins and Loftus.[5] In the 1960s to 1980s the idea of a semantic link was developed within hypertext systems as the most basic unit, or edge, in a semantic network. These ideas were extremely influential, and there have been many attempts to add typed link semantics to HTML and XML.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Jonh F.Sowa (1987). "Semantic Networks". Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence. Ed. Stuart C Shapiro. Retrieved on 2008-04-29.
- ^ Steyvers, M.; Tenenbaum, J.B. (2005). "The Large-Scale Structure of Semantic Networks: Statistical Analyses and a Model of Semantic Growth". Cognitive Science 29 (1): 41-78. doi: .
- ^ Allan M. Collins; M.R. Quillian (1969). "Retrieval time from semantic memory". Journal of verbal learning and verbal behavior 8 (2): 240-248.
- ^ Allan M. Collins; M. Ross Quillian (1970). "Does category size affect categorization time?". Journal of verbal learning and verbal behavior 9 (4): 432-438.
- ^ Allan M. Collins; Elizabeth F. Loftus (1975). "A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing". Psychological Review 82 (6): 407-428.