The SEM zone provides the mapping to the output semantics. Each SEM
zone is basically an underspecified TMR fragment which includes as
much meaning as can be extracted from the word being processed. The
interaction of SEM zones from all the words in the
sentence
result
in the final TMR outputs.
Referring to Figure 5 again, the adquirir-v1 SEM zone creates an ACQUIRE concept with AGENT and THEME slots that will be filled by the TMR names that are produced by ``grupo Roche'' (var1) and ``Dr. Andreu'' (var2), respectively. Other words in the sentence can fill in additional information in the ACQUIRE TMR. One of the meanings of ``a través de,'' treated as a phrasal entry, will add an INSTRUMENT slot.
In addition to specifying TMR fragments, the SEM zone can add in
language-specific semantic constraints which add to or override the
language-neutral constraints provided by the ontology. For example, the English verb ``to taxi,'' as in ``the
jet taxied to the gate'' maps into a GROUND-CONTACT-MOTION, but
further specifies that its INSTRUMENT must have AIRCRAFT semantics.
These ``constrained mappings'' from language-specific definitions to
language-neutral concepts arise because the ontology does not attempt
to provide concepts for every conceivable event, nor is its goal to predict all of the idiosyncratic
constraints found in different natural languages.