Biased natural language generation Hovys PAULINE 1988 Hovy

“Biased” natural language generation Hovy’s PAULINE 1988 Hovy, E. H. (1988) Generating Natural Language Under Pragmatic Constraints. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Goals of the system • PAULINE: “Planning and uttering language in natural environments” • To produce: stylistically appropriate texts from a single story representation • With a set of parameters representing the pragmatic circumstances

Parameters • Conversational atmosphere (setting) – time: much, some, little – tone: formal, informal, festive – conditions: good, noisy • Speaker – knowledge of the topic: expert, student, novice – interest in the topic: high, low – opinions of the topic: good, neutral, bad – emotional state: happy, angry, calm

Parameters • Hearer – knowledge of the topic: expert, student, novice – interest in the topic: high, low – opinions of the topic: good, neutral, bad – emotional state: happy, angry, calm • Speaker-Hearer Relationship – depth of acquaintance: friends, acquaintances, strangers – relative social status: dominant, equal, subordinate – emotion: like, neutral, dislike

Interpersonal goals • Hearer – affect hearer’s knowledge: teach, neutral, confuse – affect hearer’s opinion of topic: switch, neutral, none – involve hearer in the conversation: involve, neutral, repel – affect hearer’s emotional state: anger, neutral, calm – affect hearer’s goals: activate, neutral, deactivate

Interpersonal goals • Speaker-Hearer Relationship – affect hearer’s emotion towards speaker: respect, like, dislike – affect relative status: dominant, equal, subordinate – affect interpersonal distance: intimate, close, distant

Generator Decisions • • Topic collection topic organisation sentence organisation content and organisation of sentence constituents • word choice

Stylistic rhetorical goals • Formality: highfalutin, normal, colloquial • simplicity: simple, normal, complex • timidity: timid, reckless • partiality: impartial, implicit, explicit • detail: details only, interpretations, both • haste: pressured, unplanned, somewhat planned, planned • force: forceful, normal, quiet • floridity: dry, neutral, flowery • color: facts only, with color • personal reference: amount of direct reference to speaker/hearer • openmindedness: narrow, open • respect: arrogant, respectful, neutral, cajoling

Hovy’s PAULINE Formality: highfalutin Ex. 1 In early April, a shantytown - named Winnie Mandela city was erected by several students on Beinecke Plaza so that Yale University would divest from companies doing business in South Africa. Later, at 5: 30 AM on April 14, the shantytown was destroyed by officials; also, at that time, the police arrested 76 students. Several local politicians and faculty members expressed criticism of Yale’s action. Finally, Yale gave the students permission to reassemble the shantytown there and, concurrently, the university announced that a commission would go to South Africa in July to investigate the system of Apartheid.

Hovy’s PAULINE Formality: colloquial Ex. 2 Students put a shantytown, Winnie Mandela city, up on Beinecke Plaza in early April. The students wanted Yale University to pull their money out of companies doing business in South Africa. Officials tore it down at 5: 30 AM on April 14, and the police arrested 76 students. Several local politicians and faculty members criticised the action. Later, Yale allowed the students to put it up there again. The University said that a commission would be go to South Africa in July to study the system of Apartheid

Hovy’s PAULINE Slanting the text: partiality Ex. 3 In early April, a small number of students were involved in a confrontation with Yale University over Yale’s investment in companies doing business in South Africa. The students took over Beinecke Plaza and constructed a shantytown named Winnie Mandela city in order to force the university to divest from those companies. Yale requested that the students erect it elsewhere, but they refused to leave. Later, at 5: 30 AM on April 14, officials had to disassemble the shantytown. Finally, Yale, being conciliatory towards the students, not only permitted them to reconstruct it, but also announced that a commission would go to South Africa in July to examine the system of Apartheid

Hovy’s PAULINE Slanting the text: partiality Ex. 4 As a reminder to Yale University to divest from companies doing business in South Africa, a large number of concerned students erected a shantytown named Winnie Mandela city on Beinecke Plaza in April. At 5: 30 AM on April 14, Yale had officials destroy it; also, at that time, the university had the police arrest 76 students. After the local community’s huge outcry, Yale permitted the students to reconstruct the shantytown.

Hovy’s PAULINE Ex. 5 Carter and Kennedy were the candidates in a primary in Michigan on 20 February. Carter lost to Kennedy by 1335 votes. At present, Kennedy has a better chance of getting the nomination than before. Carter is also closer to getting the nomination than before. Both Carter and Kennedy want to get the nomination. Acquaintance: colloquial, impartial, details, somewhat planned

Hovy’s PAULINE Ex. 6 Kennedy diminished Carter’s lead by getting all of 21850 votes in the primary in Michigan. In a similar case, Carter decreased Udall’s lead in a primary in 1976, and he easily trounced Udall to be nominated by 2600 delegates. I am really glad that Kennedy is now closer to getting the nomination than before. Friend: colloquial, implicit, details+interpretions, planned

Hovy’s PAULINE Ex. 7 To the boss: colloquial, implicit, interpretions, pressured