PENG Processable ENGlish

PENG in a Nutshell

Controlled Lexicon

The lexicon of PENG consists of predefined function words (determiners, prepositions, coordinators, subordinators), a set of illegal words (especially intensional words), and user-defined content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs). The content words can be incrementally added or modified by the author during the specification process. By adding content words, the author creates his own application specific lexicon. In addition, the author can define synonyms, acronyms, and abbreviations for content words.

Controlled Grammar

The controlled grammar defines the structure of simple PENG sentences and states how simple sentences can be joined into complex sentences. The grammar specifies the scope of quantifiers and the temporal order of the underlying eventualities. PENG sentences can be anaphorically interrelated in a well-defined way using definite expresssions to build coherent textual structures.

Simple PENG sentences have the following functional structure:

Sentence  ->  Subject + Predicate
Subject   ->  Determiner
	      {+ Pre-nominal Modifier} 
 	       + Nominal Head 
	      {+ Post-nominal Modifier}
Subject   ->  Nominal Head
Predicate ->  { Negation }
              + Verbal Head 
              + Complement 
              {+ Adjunct}

Here are some examples of simple PENG sentences that instantiate the above schema:

• The butler works.
• The butler works in Dreadsbury Mansion.
• The mother of the butler does not work in Dreadsbury Mansion.
• Every butler hates a person.
• No person hates every person.
• Agatha hates Charles or the butler.
• Agatha is not identical to the butler.
• Butlers are murderers.

Here are some examples of complex PENG sentences that are built from simple sentences by using coordinators (and and or), subordinators (if, before, after, while), and constructors (for every and there):

• Agatha hates Charles and Charles hates the butler.
• Agatha hates Charles or Charles hates the butler.
• Agatha hates Charles or the butler.
• Every person that kills a person hates that person and is not richer than that person.
• If Agatha hates a person then the butler hates that person.
• If Agatha hates a person then Charles does not hate that person.
• After Charles kills Agatha, Charles works in the garden.
• Before Charles works in the garden, Charles kills Agatha.
• For every person there is a butler who hates that person.

Each of these sentences can be deterministically parsed in its context and translated into first-order predicate logic via discourse representation structures.

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© Rolf Schwitter, Macquarie University, Australia
Last modified: 28th February 2007