Automatic Extraction of Implicit Interpretations from Modal Constructions

Jordan Sanders and Eduardo Blanco
University of North Texas


Abstract

This paper presents an approach to extract implicit interpretations from modal constructions. Importantly, our approach uses a deterministic procedure to normalize eventualities and generate potential interpretations. An annotation effort demonstrates that these interpretations are intuitive to humans and most modal constructions convey at least one interpretation. Experimental results show that the task is challenging but can be automated.