ZhongGeneration

Semantically Empty Items

In order to create semantically void items in generation without overgeneration, trigger.mtr should contains generator rules like the followings.

了_pfv_gr := arg0e_gtr &
[ CONTEXT.RELS <! [ ARG0.E.ASPECT perfective ] !>,
  FLAGS.TRIGGER "了_pfv" ]. 

吗_qp_gr := arg0e_gtr &
[ CONTEXT.RELS <! [ ARG0.SF ques ] !>,
  FLAGS.TRIGGER "吗_qp" ]. 

在_r_gr := arg0e_gtr &
[ CONTEXT.RELS <! [ ARG0.E.ASPECT imperfective ] !>,
  FLAGS.TRIGGER "在_r" ].

被_v_gr_1 := arg0e_gtr &
[ CONTEXT.RELS <! [ ARG1 individual & #i ] !>,
  FLAGS [ SUBSUME < #i >,
          TRIGGER "被_v" ] ].

Note that unwanted parse trees in parsing also cause problems in generation. For example, "*狗 在 在 在 ... 叫" is ill-formed, and it should not be generated as well as parsed.

Questions

1. Can a plain sentence be used for expressing questions? (e.g. 张三 叫 了 => 张三 叫 了 吗)

2. Can a sentence without 了 be generated into a sentence with 了? (e.g. 张三 叫 => 张三 叫 了)

3. Can a sentence with 了 be generated into a sentence without 了? (e.g. 张三 叫 了 => 张三 叫)