Lambek vs. Lambek: functorial vector space semantics and string diagrams for Lambek calculus

DOI10.1016/J.APAL.2013.05.009zbMATH Open1280.03026arXiv1302.0393OpenAlexW2058503912MaRDI QIDQ388206FDOQ388206

Authors: Bob Coecke, Edward Grefenstette, Mehrnoosh Sadrzadeh 

Publication date: 19 December 2013

Published in: Annals of Pure and Applied Logic (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: The Distributional Compositional Categorical (DisCoCat) model is a mathematical framework that provides compositional semantics for meanings of natural language sentences. It consists of a computational procedure for constructing meanings of sentences, given their grammatical structure in terms of compositional type-logic, and given the empirically derived meanings of their words. For the particular case that the meaning of words is modelled within a distributional vector space model, its experimental predictions, derived from real large scale data, have outperformed other empirically validated methods that could build vectors for a full sentence. This success can be attributed to a conceptually motivated mathematical underpinning, by integrating qualitative compositional type-logic and quantitative modelling of meaning within a category-theoretic mathematical framework. The type-logic used in the DisCoCat model is Lambek's pregroup grammar. Pregroup types form a posetal compact closed category, which can be passed, in a functorial manner, on to the compact closed structure of vector spaces, linear maps and tensor product. The diagrammatic versions of the equational reasoning in compact closed categories can be interpreted as the flow of word meanings within sentences. Pregroups simplify Lambek's previous type-logic, the Lambek calculus, which has been extensively used to formalise and reason about various linguistic phenomena. The apparent reliance of the DisCoCat on pregroups has been seen as a shortcoming. This paper addresses this concern, by pointing out that one may as well realise a functorial passage from the original type-logic of Lambek, a monoidal bi-closed category, to vector spaces, or to any other model of meaning organised within a monoidal bi-closed category. The corresponding string diagram calculus, due to Baez and Stay, now depicts the flow of word meanings.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1302.0393

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zbMATH Keywords

linear logicstring diagramLambek calculuscompact closed categoryBaez-Stay diagramcategorial grammarsdistributional compositional categorical model of meaningmonoidal closed categorypregroupproof netvector space semantics

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Substructural logics (including relevance, entailment, linear logic, Lambek calculus, BCK and BCI logics) (03B47) Proof-theoretic aspects of linear logic and other substructural logics (03F52) Closed categories (closed monoidal and Cartesian closed categories, etc.) (18D15)

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Cited In (25)

• Distributional semantics: a Montagovian view
• Quantum computations for disambiguation and question answering
• Density matrices with metric for derivational ambiguity
• Categorical Vector Space Semantics for Lambek Calculus with a Relevant Modality
• Equational reasoning with context-free families of string diagrams
• Uniqueness of Composition in Quantum Theory and Linguistics
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• Gaussianity and typicality in matrix distributional semantics
• A generalised quantifier theory of natural language in categorical compositional distributional semantics with bialgebras
• Linguistic matrix theory
• Generalized relations in linguistics \& cognition
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• Vector spaces as Kripke frames
• Relational Models for the Lambek Calculus with Intersection and Constants
• Categorical vector space semantics for Lambek calculus with a relevant modality (extended abstract)
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• Pregroup grammars, their syntax and semantics
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• DisCoCat for Donkey Sentences
• String diagrams for strictification and coherence
• The Mathematics of Text Structure
• Abstract tensor systems as monoidal categories
• Coherent diagrammatic reasoning in compositional distributional semantics
• Reasoning about meaning in natural language with compact closed categories and Frobenius algebras
• A type-driven vector semantics for ellipsis with anaphora using Lambek calculus with limited contraction

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