SEMANTIC INPUT

The specification of the interlingual text language created for this project can be found in the Appendix. In general, it is a hierarchical arrangement of propositions linked together into propositional clusters (which in turn can be linked together) by relations. The following is a summary of the structure used in this example:

RELATION-20: MEANS-RESULT
    CLAUSE-28: HEAD
        %RECONCILE-1
            AGENT: %JESUS-20
            PATIENT: %CREATURE-SET-6
            GOAL: %GOD-15
    CLAUSE-31: REST
        %DEATH-1
            EXPERIENCER: %JESUS-21
            LOCATION: %CROSS-1


Jesus reconciled all creatures to God
  by
his death on the cross

The semantic structure is encoded in a frame-based representation system. The complete semantic description for the example follows. As you can see, it is a fairly straightforward case-frame analysis at the propositional level, with RST-like relations connecting together larger units of text. Because a knowledge of the surface form used in the original greek text is important for Bible translation (i.e. ``blood'' represents ``death''), an explicit account of surface forms is kept in many instances. This information was not used in this project.

(make-ss relation_20
  (ss-type relation)
  (parent relation_21)
  (type means-RESULT)
  (head clause_28)
  (rest clause_31))

;verse 20
;clause_28
;Jesus reconciled everything (to God) 
;; note: original = ``God reconciled everything to himself''
;; ``Jesus'' is used here to demonstrate one of the rules.  The original
;; text is discussed in the section ``Varying Inputs'' below.

(make-ss clause_28
  (ss-type clause)
  (eng ``Jesus reconciled everything (to God)'')
  (prop %RECONCILE_1)
  (aspect ((phase complete)
           (duration momentary)))
  (time time_2)
  (parent relation_29))

(make-ss %RECONCILE_1
  (ss-type prop)
  (instance-of *RECONCILE==KATALL?ASSV)
  (agent %JESUS_20)
  (patient %CREATURE-SET_6)
  (goal %GOD_15)
  (parent clause_28))

(make-ss %CREATURE-SET_6
  (ss-type nominal)
  (instance-of %CREATURE-SET_1)
  (parent %RECONCILE_1))

(make-ss %JESUS_20
  (ss-type nominal)
  (parent %DEATH_1)
  (role experiencer)
  (instance-of %JESUS_1))

(make-ss %GOD_15
  (ss-type nominal)
  (instance-of %GOD_1)
  (parent %RECONCILE_1))

;clause_31
;Jesus died on the cross [blood]

(make-ss clause_31
  ;; time is same as redemption (I guess)
  (ss-type clause)
  (parent relation_20)
  (eng ``Jesus died on the cross'')
  (prop %DEATH_1 (*SURFACE* metonymy *BLOOD==A@IMA--TOW))
  (aspect ((phase complete)
           (duration momentary)))
  (time time_2))

(make-ss %DEATH_1
  (ss-type prop)
  (parent clause_31)
  (instance-of *DEATH==A@IMA--TOW)
  (experiencer %JESUS_21)
  (location %CROSS_1))

(make-ss %JESUS_21
  (ss-type nominal)
  (parent %DEATH_1)
  (role experiencer)
  (instance-of %JESUS_1))

(make-ss %CROSS_1
  (ss-type nominal)
  (parent %DEATH_1)
  (role location)
  (instance-of *CROSS==STAYR?OW--O^Y))