the statistical research on the system of relation of slots … statistical research on the...

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International Journal of Knowledge www.ijklp.org

and Language Processing KLP International ⓒ2013 ISSN 2191-2734

Volume 4, Number 2, 2013 pp. 36-44

The statistical research on the system of relation of slots centering on nouns

in modern Chinese

Liang Shehui

International College for Chinese Studies, Nanjing Normal University

No.122, Ninghai Road, Nanjing, 210097, China

[email protected]

Received March 2013; revised April 2013

ABSTRACT. The slots system can be defined as the number of attributive slots class which

can be collocated with a class of nouns. This article introduces to us the system of relation

of slots centering on nouns, slots class, slots system, and its statistic significance and

makes a statistical research on the four randomly selected slots system centering on nouns

such as {abstracts}, {animals}, {equipment}, and {information}. This paper makes a

statistic of slots system centering on nouns and describes the slots system using before

nouns in detail. This kind of exploration plays an applied role in Chinese information

process and Chinese teaching to foreigners.

Keywords: relation of slots centering on nouns; slots system; statistic

1. The system of relation of slots centering on nouns, slots class and slots system.

1.1. The system of relation of slots centering on nouns. In[1] , the design of the work

slips of the system of relation of slots centering on nouns of modern Chinese centers on

nouns, which is as follows: selecting large amounts of noun phrase examples from the

corpus of 50 million‟s phrases, and then the language workers manually analyzing the noun

phrases with various attributes, from which we select the three most representative noun

phrases respectively filled in the phrase example 1, 2 and 3 of the noun work slip. When

filling in the work slip including the concrete information of slots centering on nouns, we

should conduct an association completion to the phrase examples by fully exerting the

experience and language sense of the language workers. Finally, the inputer inputs the word

slips into the computer for unified management, and makes an analysis to the relation of

slots centering on nouns with computers.

The system of relation of slots centering on nouns of modern Chinese include the

information as follows: 1. production information ( entry number, producer, work slip

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FIGURE1: RELATION OF SLOTS CLASS

Number Relation of slots class

1.0 Things domain

2.0 Things

3.0 possessive

4.0 source

5.0 whereabouts

6.0 Quantity And Attributes

7.0 sequential attribute

8.0 Frequency attribute

9.0 Reference attribute

10.0 Spatial attribute

10.11 Position attribute

10.12 Distance attribute

10.13 Space range attributes

14.0 Time attribute

14.15 Time point

14.16 Time bucket

14.17 diachrony

18.0 Physical attribute

18.19 Material attribute

18.20 Color tonal attribute

18.21 Brightness transparency

attributes

18.22 Shape attribute

18.23 Size attribute

18.24 Forms attribute

18.25 Weight attribute

18.26 Temperature attribute

18.27 Humidity attribute

18.28 Concentration purity attribute

18.29 Smell flavor attribute

18.30 Voice quality attributes

18.31 Hardness, intensity and density

properties

18.32 Bright flatness attribute

18.33 New and old Completeness

attribute

18.34 Thermal conductive abrasion

resistance properties

18.35 Elasticity and ductility attribute

18.36 Type component attributes

37.0 Chemical attribute

37.38 Acid and alkaline attribute

37.39 Combustible attribute

37.40 corrosion resistance attribute

37.41 Chemical compound attribute

42.0 Concrete social attribute

42.43 Brand attribute

42.44 Quality attribute

42.45 Value attribute

42.46 Price attribute

42.47 Function attribute

42.48 Concrete attribute

49.0 Biological attribute

49.50 Physical attribute

49.51 Psychological attribute

52.0 social properties of human

beings

53.0 things state

54.0 Concrete state

55.0 Temporal and spatial state

56.0 Abstraction attribute

56.57 Abstraction state

56.58 Abstraction evaluation

56.59 Abstraction class

56.60 General Attribute Of concrete

61.0 Content, structure, plot attribute

62.0 Relation attribute

62.63 Social relation

62.64 Position relation

62.65 Time relation

62.66 Logical relation

62.67 Causal and objective relation

62.68 Comparative relation

62.69 Part-whole relation

62.70 Inclusion relation

number); 2. entry information (morphology, spelling, semantic categorization, number of

arguments, number of semantic items, sequence number of semantic items, definition); 3.

information of relation of slots centering on nouns (phrase example, form class, slots class,

sequence of slots class, probability sequence, expressive association of relation of slots).

The system of relation of slots centering on nouns of modern Chinese used in this article

is studied cooperatively by the Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua

University and School of Foreign Language and Culture.，Renmin University of China. We

have filled and input 3046 semantic types of 2466 nouns in the system, which is developed

by the Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University. In other

words , there are 3046 work slips available to us in the system, on the basis of which the

research of type of relation of nouns is conducted in this article.

1.2. Type of slots. In[2] ,type of slots refers to slots, or type of relations of slots, i.e. the

type of semantic relation between j, the attribute of phrase example I ,and nouns. Types of

slots(the name of relation of slots) should be bracketed with “[ ]”. The basic idea or

pursuant to system architecture of types of slots is: the modification of attributes to

headword is not less than to explain the attribute, state or relation. Therefore, there should

be attribute, state, and relation to top of the type of slots. But considering the system

simplicity, this top layer of relations of slots is not involved in the design.

In[3] ,We have made a detailed discussion about the type of relation of slots. According

to the filing specification of system of relations of slots centering on nouns for

contemporary Chinese”(1st edition), the types of relation of slots can be classified as

follows:

In the figure1, 1.0, 2.0, 10.0 belong to the first level of relation of slots class, while 10.11,

14.15, 18.19, 62.70 belong to the second level of relation of slots class respectively

subordinating to the first level of 10.0, 14.0, 18.0, and 62.0. we can see there are totally 70

slots classes with 22 in the first level and 58 in the second. When describing the

relationship between an attribute and the head word, both of the two levels of slots classes

can be used.

1.3. Slots system and its research significance. The slots system can be defined as the

number of attributive slots class which can be collocated with a class of nouns. “The

research of relation of slots centering on nouns should focus on the slots class, slots

sequence, and slots system” [4]. Currently, some preliminary researches on slots class and

slots sequence have been made from different perspectives, while the research on slots

system get far less attention, and at least no systematic research. Actually, the slots system

is also a very important aspect in studying the relation of slots centering on nouns. “A

detailed description of the slots class, slots sequence, and slots system before the nouns is

of great value to the computer and Chinese teaching to foreigners [5]. Naturally, as an

important aspect of relation of slots, the research of slots system is of great function and

value that we can never neglect.

The research of slots system is an initiative and systematic project research. For space

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consideration, we only conduct a preliminary statistic on the slots system of four randomly

selected semantic nouns—{abstraction}, {animal}, {instrument} and {information},

hoping to make a modest spur to induce others to come forward with valuable

contributions.

2. The statistic research on the slots system of four semantic nouns.

2.1. The statistic of slots system of nouns in { abstraction}. Statistically, the number of

work slips, with semantic type as “abstraction” selected in the system of relation of slots

centering on nouns for contemporary Chinese, is totally 35 sheets and the numbers of

morphology is 32 in sum (the noun with different semantic items is considered as only one

morphology, so there are only 32 morphologies in 35 sheets of work slips, the same below).

There are totally 21 types of relation of slots.

The 32 morphologies are: career, contribution, spirit, world, programme, price, situation,

level, day, circumstance, positivity, tendency, prestige, habit, condition, drawback, danger,

environment, measure, setback, step, proportion, nature, undergraduate, constant, normality,

occasion, scene, singing, plight, rumor, courage.

The 21 types of relation of slots are: [abstraction range] [referent attribute] [abstraction

state] [abstraction evaluation] [content, structure and plot attribute] [possessive] [quantity

attribute] [causal and objective relation] [general attribute of abstraction] [abstraction class]

[time attribute] [source] [space range attribute] [diachrony] [sequence attribute] [pert-whole

attribute] [things domain] [spatial attribute] [concrete state] [position attribute] [size

attribute].

In all of the work slips in the {abstraction}, there is only one morphology “day” with 9

types of slots in front of nouns（for statistic consideration, we will consider respectively the

[referent attribute] and [quantity attribute] as two independent slots classes, the same

below）. There are 8 morphologies with 8 slots types : spirit, circumstance, day, habit,

drawback, danger, nature, rumor; 4 morphologies with 7 slots types: programme, drawback,

environment, singing; 11 morphologies with 11:contribution, situation, tendency, prestige,

condition, measure, setback, constant, scene, plight, courage; 5 morphologies with 5:career,

world, price, level, step; 3 morphologies with 4: positivity, undergraduate, occasion; 3

morphologies with 3:day, proportion, normality.

2.2. The statistic of slots system of nouns in the {animal}. According to the statistics, the

number of work slips, with semantic type as “animal” in the system of relation of slots


morphology is 21 in sum. There are totally 27 types of relation of slots.

The 21 morphologies are as follows: hedgehog, beast, cub, zebra, lion, shrimp, hamster,

jackal, animal, reptile, fish, monster, prawn, monkey, golden fish, bee, deer, tiger, gecko,

white crane, and bagworm.

The 27 types of slots are: [possessive] [quantity attribute] [referent attribute] [concrete

state] [shape attribute] [biological attribute] [psychological attribute] [content, structure and

plot attribute] [source] [function attribute] [position attribute] [value attribute] [causal and

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objective relation] [price attribute] [brand attribute] [size attribute] [space range attribute]

[quality attribute] [weight attribute] [color tonal attribute] [physical attribute] [concrete

social attribute] [whereabouts] [sequence attribute] [bright transparency attribute] [distance

attribute] [voice quality attribute].

In all of the work slips in the {animal}, there are 3 morphologies with 11 types of slots in

front of nouns: fish, golden fish and deer; There are 3 morphologies with 10 slots types :

prawn, monkey, bee; 3 morphologies with 9 slots types: shrimp, tiger, white crane; 3

morphologies with 8: hedgehog, monster, bagworm; 4 morphologies with 7: zebra, lion,

jackal, gecko; 2 morphologies with 6: hamster, reptile; 3 morphologies with 5: beast, cub,

animal.

2.3. The statistic of slots system of nouns in {instrument}. According to the statistics, the

number of work slips, with semantic type as “instrument” in the system of relation of slots



The 98 morphologies are as follows: battery, equipment, magnet, whip, bridal sedan,

exotic, celadon, flexible ladder, dragon lantern, pipe, box, lens, spotlight, toilet, damaged

goods, collection, machine, slot, fork, curiosity, antique, furniture, shelf, wine sets, wine

equipment, carpentry, lacquer, curio, ironware, copper ware, utensil, jadeware, dial, fence,

ladder, rope ladder, instrument, dining car, special car, hearse, weatherglass, forklift, censer,

electric stove, cane, crutch, cotton-wool, chapiter, sidewalk, ridgepole, hedge, butcher‟s

knife, thermometer, scissor, planer tool, thermograph, blade, bow, ruler, scale, theodolite,

compasses, sightcing, flexible rule, tape measure, ungraduated ruler, plotting scale, folding

rule, angle rule, clamp, ammeter, electric cooker, spectrograph, knife edge, galvanometer,

blade point, knife, seismograph, vise, razor, scourge, adobe, walking stick, stick,

typography, offset plate, rimer, Buddhist monk‟s knife, gold needle, mould, plane, tinplate,

sandbox, lithograph, watermeter, spade, earpiece, cleaver.

The 42 types of slots are : [source] [whereabouts] [referent attribute] [concrete state]

[causal and objective attribute] [function attribute] [thermal conductive abrasion resistance

property] [quality attribute] [new and old completeness attribute] [brand attribute] [material

attribute] [possessive] [price attribute] [part-whole attribute] [size attribute] [physical

attribute] [shape attribute] [color tonal attribute] [type component attribute] [diachrony]

[hardness, intensity and density attribute] [weight attribute] [position attribute] [time

bucket] [space range attribute] [time attribute] [concrete evaluation] [bright transparency

attribute] [concrete social attribute] [time point] [content, structure and plot attribute]

[concrete class] [value attribute] [bright flatness attribute] [comparison relation] [sequence

attribute] [combustible attribute] [frequency attribute] [smell flavor attribute] [humidity

attribute] [biological attribute].

In all of the work slips in the {instrument}, there are 3 morphologies with 12 types of

slots in front of nouns: battery, cane, flexible rule; 8 morphologies with 11 slots types:

fence, forklift, crutch, scissor, cramp, ammeter, scourge, walking stick; 9 morphologies

with 10: toilet, special car, cotton-wool, bow, theodolite, compasses, angle rule, spade,

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cleaver ; 22 morphologies with 9: equipment, magnet, whip, bridal sedan, spotlight,

machine, slot, ladder, rope ladder, instrument, dining car, electric stove, thermometer, scale,

sightcing, tape measure, spectrograph, galvanometer, seismograph, watermeter, watermeter,

earpiece; 24 morphologies with 8: box, lens, damaged goods, slot, wine equipment, lacquer,

ironware, weatherglass, censer, ridgepole, butcher‟s knife, planer tool, folding rule, knife

edge, knife, electric stove, vise, weatherglass, stick, vise, rimer, gold needle, tinplate, stone

plate; 15 morphologies with 7: celadon, dragon lantern, collection, fork, shelf, chapiter,

hedge, thermograph, plotting scale, electric cooker, blade point, razor, offset plate, mould,

sandbox; 14 monographs with 6: pipe, curiosity, antique, furniture, wine sets, curio, copper

ware, utensil, dial, sidewalk, knife edge, typography, Buddhist monk‟s knife, plane; 3

monographs with 5: exotic, flexible ladder, jadeware; 2 monographs with 4: carpentry,

adobe.

2.4. The statistic of the system of slots of nouns in {information}.Statistically, the

number of work slips, with semantic type as “information” in the system of relation of slots



The 78 monographs are: works, card, newspaper, slogan, memorandum, betrothal gift,

lottery, tombola, menu, incomplete edition, volume, side view, morning paper, footprint,

trail, transliteration, whereabouts, handprint, vowel, tune, white paper, map, reward, profile,

silhouette, illustration, insert, capital, asset, deposit, photo, sample, patch, label, mark,

scutcheon, notebook, genealogy, certificado, bill, ledger, account volume, account book,

movie, post, picture, gift, problem, invitation, delivery order, handbook, manuscript,

invoice, receipt, quittance, recipe, vote, chronology, deposit receipt, ticket, cookbook,

cursive script, cursive, appellation, nickname, vocabulary, line, word order, word group,

lullaby, diction, misprint, code, word, offprint, phrase, reference book, book report.

The 49 types of slots are as follows: [position attribute] [possessive] [quantity attribute]

[concrete state] [content, structure and ploy attribute] [brand attribute] [source] [referent

attribute] [value attribute] [color tonal attribute] [type component attribute] [size attribute]

[time point] [shape attribute] [causal and objective attribute] [diachrony] [social relation]

[function attribute] [abstraction state] [abstraction class] [frequency attribute] [price

attribute] [concrete class] [space range attribute] [abstraction range] [abstraction class]

[physical attribute] [part-whole relation] [new and old completeness attribute]

[whereabouts] [quality attribute] [sequence attribute] [bright transparency attribute]

[material attribute] [spatial attribute] [time attribute] [inclusion relation] [hardness, intensity

and density attribute] [things domain] [abstraction general attribute].

In all of the work slips in the {information}, there is 1 morphology with 13 types of slots

in front of nouns: photo; 2 morphologies with 11 slots types: lottery, invitation; 3

morphologies with 10: card, slogan, patch; 4 morphologies with 9: memorandum,

silhouette, label, account volume; 10 morphologies with 8: illustration, insert, scutcheon,

picture, gift, handbook, manuscript, recipe, offprint, reference book; 25 morphologies with

7: newspaper, volume, transliteration, map, menu, genealogy, ledger, post, problem,

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delivery order, deposit receipt, recipe, cursive script, cursive, vocabulary, word group,

lullaby, diction, misprint, code, word, word, offprint, phrase; 17 monographs with 6: works,

betrothal gift, tombola, incomplete edition, morning paper, mark, notebook, certificado, bill,

account book, movie, invoice, receipt, quittance, appellation, nickname, word order; 10

monographs with 5 types: side view, handprint, reward, asset, vote, chronology, ticket, line,

reading report; 7 monographs with 4: menu, vowel, tune, white paper, capital, deposit,

recipe; 3 monographs with 3 types: footprint, trail, whereabouts.

2.5. The frequency of occurrences and accumulation of slots class in the four kinds of

semantic nouns. In order to observe more directly the slots classes and slots system of the

four randomly selected kinds of nouns with semantic type as {abstraction} {animal}

{instrument} {information} and make a good foundation for the future deeper research, we

also make a statistic on the frequency of occurrences and accumulation of the slots classes

in the four kinds of nouns by using the computer program, hoping to make an observation,

description and explanation to the distribution of types of slots in the four kinds of nouns

and to the relationship between the slots class and slots system and its status and function in

the whole system of relation of slots centering on nouns for contemporary Chinese from

another side and point of view. Due to space limitations, we only make a list of the

frequency of occurrences and accumulation of the slots class in the nouns of {abstraction}

and {animal}.

FIGURE2: THE LIST OF FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCES AND ACCUMULATION OF THE SLOTS

CLASS IN THE NOUNS OF {ABSTRACTION}

Number Slots class frequency Accumulation

frequency

1 Abstraction general

attribute

0.00469483568075117 0.00469483568075117

2 Space attribute 0.00469483568075117 0.00938967136150235

3 Position attribute 0.00469483568075117 0.01408450704225350

4 Size attribute 0.00469483568075117 0.01877934272300470

5 Things domain 0.00469483568075117 0.02347417840375590

6 Part-whole attribute 0.00469483568075117 0.02816901408450700

7 diachrony 0.00469483568075117 0.03286384976525820

8 Sequence attribute 0.00938967136150235 0.04225352112676060

9 Abstraction range 0.00938967136150235 0.05164319248826290

10 Concrete state 0.0140845070422535 0.06572769953051640

11 Time attribute 0.0234741784037559 0.08920187793427230

12 Spatial range attribute 0.0234741784037559 0.11267605633802800

13 Causal and objective

relation

0.0328638497652582 0.14553990610328600

14 Abstraction class 0.0469483568075117 0.19248826291079800

15 source 0.0798122065727700 0.27230046948356800

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16 Abstraction evaluation 0.0845070422535211 0.35680751173708900

17 Content, structure and

plot attribute

0.1032863849765260 0.46009389671361500

18 possessive 0.1079812206572770 0.56807511737089200

19 Quantity attribute 0.1173708920187790 0.68544600938967100

20 Referent attribute 0.1408450704225350 0.82629107981220700

21 Concrete state 0.1737089201877930 1.00000000000000000

FIGURE 3: THE LIST OF FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCES AND ACCUMULATION OF THE SLOTS

CLASS IN THE NOUNS OF {ANIMAL}

Number Slots class frequency Accumulation

frequency

1 Causal and objective

relation

0.00591715976331361 0.00591715976331361

2 Physical attribute 0.00591715976331361 0.0118343195266272

3 Brand attribute 0.00591715976331361 0.0177514792899408

4 Bright transparency

attribute

0.00591715976331361 0.0236686390532544

5 Quality attribute 0.00591715976331361 0.029585798816568

6 Weight attribute 0.00591715976331361 0.0355029585798817

7 Voice quality attribute 0.00591715976331361 0.0414201183431953

8 Price attribute 0.0118343195266272 0.0532544378698225

9 Concrete social

attribute

0.0118343195266272 0.0650887573964497

10 Shape attribute 0.0118343195266272 0.0769230769230769

11 Distance attribute 0.0118343195266272 0.0887573964497042

12 Value attribute 0.0118343195266272 0.100591715976331

13 whereabouts 0.0118343195266272 0.112426035502959

14 Spatial range attribute 0.0177514792899408 0.130177514792899

15 Color tonal attribute 0.0177514792899408 0.14792899408284

16 Function attribute 0.0177514792899408 0.165680473372781

17 Content, structure and

plot attribute

0.029585798816568 0.195266272189349

18 Psychological attribute 0.0355029585798817 0.230769230769231

19 Sequence attribute 0.0355029585798817 0.266272189349112

20 possessive 0.0473372781065089 0.313609467455621

21 Size attribute 0.0650887573964497 0.378698224852071

22 source 0.082840236686390 0.461538461538462

23 Position attribute 0.082840236686390 0.544378698224852

24 Physiological attribute 0.100591715976331 0.644970414201183

25 Referent attribute 0.112426035502959 0.757396449704142

26 Quantity attribute 0.118343195266272 0.875739644970414

27 Concrete state 0.124260355029586 1.000000000000000

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3. Conclusions. As discussed above, we have made a brief introduction to the system of

relation of slots centering on nouns in modern Chinese, slots class, slots system and its

research significance and also made a preliminary statistic of the slots system of the four

randomly selected kinds of nouns with semantic type as {abstraction} {animal}

{instrument} {information}, through which we get the lists of monographs and types of

relation of slots. Moreover, we have made a preliminary analysis of the number of the slots

link of different lengths which may probably appear in front of the four kinds of semantic

nouns, and listed the monographs correspondent to their appearances in different times.

All of the results are built on the corpus investigation and statistics. Although we hope to

provide some useful references for the processing of noun phrases in Chinese information

processing, the analysis and research of the results that are already in is still preliminary

and experimental, which needs to be further developed and enhanced in future research and

practice.

4. Acknowledgment. This Work is supported by Jiangsu Provincial Department of

Education Foundation of Philosophy and Social Science (Grant No.2011SJB740010),

Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institution of China (Grant

No.11KJD520009), Humanities and Social Sciences Foundation of The Ministry of

Education of China (Grant No.12YJCZH121), under the Priority Academic Program

Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions（PAPD）.

REFERENCES

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[2] Chen Qunxiu. Modern Chinese Predicate verbs machine dictionary expansion and the research on

relation of slots[J], Applied Linguistics Institute, 2001, (4): 98-104.

[3] Zhang Weiguo, Liang Shehui, corresponding of the type of attributes to type of relation of slots and its

influence on the semantic analysis of nouns [A]. Sun Maosong, Chen Qunxiu, language calculation and

content-based text processing [ C], Beijing: Tsinghua University Press, 2003: 199-205.

[4] Lin Xingguang. Lexical semantics and computational linguistics [M]. Beijing：Chinese Publishing

Company， 1999.

[5] Lin Xingguang, Zhang Qingxu. Research on relation of slots in modern Chinese [J]. Chinese Learning,

1998, (6): 7-10.

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