simplenlg.framework

Class WordElement

java.lang.Object

simplenlg.framework.NLGElement

simplenlg.framework.WordElement

public class WordElement
extends NLGElement

This is the class for a lexical entry (ie, a word). Words are stored in a Lexicon, and usually the developer retrieves a WordElement via a lookup method in the lexicon

Words always have a base form, and usually have a LexicalCategory. They may also have a Lexicon ID.

Words also have features (which are retrieved from the Lexicon), these are held in the standard NLGElement feature map

Version:

4.0

Author:

E. Reiter, University of Aberdeen.

Field Summary

Fields inherited from class simplenlg.framework.NLGElement

features

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
WordElement() empty constructor
WordElement(String baseForm) create a WordElement with the specified baseForm (no category or ID specified)
WordElement(String baseForm, LexicalCategory category) create a WordElement with the specified baseForm and category
WordElement(String baseForm, LexicalCategory category, String id) create a WordElement with the specified baseForm, category, ID
WordElement(WordElement currentWord) creates a duplicate WordElement from an existing WordElement

Method Summary

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
void	addInflectionalVariant(Inflection infl) Specify that this word has an inflectional variant (e.g.
void	addInflectionalVariant(Inflection infl, String lexicalFeature, String form) Add an inflectional variant to this word element.
boolean	equals(Object o) Check if this WordElement is equal to an object.
String	getBaseForm()
List<NLGElement>	getChildren() This method returns an empty List as words do not have child elements.
Object	getDefaultInflectionalVariant()
String	getDefaultSpellingVariant() Convenience method, equivalent to getFeatureAsString(LexicalFeature.DEFAULT_SPELL).
String	getId()
Map<Inflection,simplenlg.framework.WordElement.InflectionSet>	getInflectionalVariants() Convenience method to get all the inflectional forms of the word.
boolean	hasInflectionalVariant(Inflection infl) Check whether this word has a particular inflectional variant
String	printTree(String indent)
void	setBaseForm(String baseForm)
void	setDefaultInflectionalVariant(Inflection variant) Set the default inflectional variant of a word.
void	setDefaultSpellingVariant(String variant) Convenience method to set the default spelling variant of a word.
void	setFeatures(WordElement currentWord) Sets Features from another existing WordElement into this WordElement.
void	setId(String id)
String	toString()
String	toXML()

Methods inherited from class simplenlg.framework.NLGElement

clearAllFeatures, equals, getAllFeatureNames, getAllFeatures, getCategory, getFactory, getFeature, getFeatureAsBoolean, getFeatureAsDouble, getFeatureAsElement, getFeatureAsElementList, getFeatureAsFloat, getFeatureAsInteger, getFeatureAsList, getFeatureAsLong, getFeatureAsString, getFeatureAsStringList, getParent, getRealisation, getTense, hasFeature, isA, isNegated, isPlural, removeFeature, setCategory, setFactory, setFeature, setFeature, setFeature, setFeature, setFeature, setFeature, setNegated, setParent, setPlural, setRealisation, setTense

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

WordElement

public WordElement()

empty constructor

WordElement

public WordElement(String baseForm)

create a WordElement with the specified baseForm (no category or ID specified)

Parameters:

baseForm - - base form of WordElement

WordElement

public WordElement(String baseForm,
                   LexicalCategory category)

create a WordElement with the specified baseForm and category

Parameters:

baseForm - - base form of WordElement

category - - category of WordElement

WordElement

public WordElement(String baseForm,
                   LexicalCategory category,
                   String id)

create a WordElement with the specified baseForm, category, ID

Parameters:

baseForm - - base form of WordElement

category - - category of WordElement

id - - ID of word in lexicon

WordElement

public WordElement(WordElement currentWord)

creates a duplicate WordElement from an existing WordElement

Parameters:

currentWord - - An existing WordElement

Method Detail

getBaseForm

public String getBaseForm()

Returns:

the baseForm

getId

public String getId()

Returns:

the id

setBaseForm

public void setBaseForm(String baseForm)

Parameters:

baseForm - the baseForm to set

setId

public void setId(String id)

Parameters:

id - the id to set

setDefaultInflectionalVariant

public void setDefaultInflectionalVariant(Inflection variant)

Set the default inflectional variant of a word. This is mostly relevant if the word has more than one possible inflectional variant (for example, it can be inflected in both a regular and irregular way).

If the default inflectional variant is set, the inflectional forms of the word may change as a result. This depends on whether inflectional forms have been specifically associated with this variant, via addInflectionalVariant(Inflection, String, String).

The NIHDBLexicon associates different inflectional variants with words, if they are so specified, and adds the correct forms.

Parameters:

variant - The variant

getDefaultInflectionalVariant

public Object getDefaultInflectionalVariant()

Returns:

the default inflectional variant

getInflectionalVariants

public Map<Inflection,simplenlg.framework.WordElement.InflectionSet> getInflectionalVariants()

Convenience method to get all the inflectional forms of the word.

Returns:

the HashMap of inflectional variants

setDefaultSpellingVariant

public void setDefaultSpellingVariant(String variant)

Convenience method to set the default spelling variant of a word. Equivalent to setFeature(LexicalFeature.DEFAULT_SPELL, variant).

By default, the spelling variant used is the base form. If otherwise set, this forces the realiser to always use the spelling variant specified.

Parameters:

variant - The spelling variant

getDefaultSpellingVariant

public String getDefaultSpellingVariant()

Convenience method, equivalent to getFeatureAsString(LexicalFeature.DEFAULT_SPELL). If this feature is not set, the baseform is returned.

Returns:

the default inflectional variant

addInflectionalVariant

public void addInflectionalVariant(Inflection infl,
                                   String lexicalFeature,
                                   String form)

Add an inflectional variant to this word element. This method is intended for use by a Lexicon. The idea is that words which have more than one inflectional variant (for example, a regular and an irregular form of the past tense), can have a default variant (for example, the regular), but also store information about the other variants. This comes in useful in case the default inflectional variant is reset to a new one. In that case, the stored forms for the new variant are used to inflect the word.

An example: The verb lie has both a regular form (lies, lied, lying) and an irregular form (lay, lain, etc). Assume that the Lexicon provides this information and treats this as variant information of the same word (as does the NIHDBLexicon, for example). Typically, the default inflectional variant is the Inflection.REGULAR. This means that morphology proceeds to inflect the verb as lies, lying and so on. If the default inflectional variant is reset to Inflection.IRREGULAR, the stored irregular forms will be used instead.

Parameters:

infl - the Inflection pattern with which this form is associated

lexicalFeature - the actual inflectional feature being set, for example LexicalFeature.PRESENT_3S

form - the actual inflected word form

addInflectionalVariant

public void addInflectionalVariant(Inflection infl)

Specify that this word has an inflectional variant (e.g. irregular)

Parameters:

infl - the variant

hasInflectionalVariant

public boolean hasInflectionalVariant(Inflection infl)

Check whether this word has a particular inflectional variant

Parameters:

infl - the variant

Returns:

true if this word has the variant

setFeatures

public void setFeatures(WordElement currentWord)

Sets Features from another existing WordElement into this WordElement.

Parameters:

currentWord - the WordElement to copy features from

toString

public String toString()

Overrides:

toString in class NLGElement

toXML

public String toXML()

getChildren

public List<NLGElement> getChildren()

This method returns an empty List as words do not have child elements.

Specified by:

getChildren in class NLGElement

Returns:

a List of NLGElements representing the children of this element.

printTree

public String printTree(String indent)

Overrides:

printTree in class NLGElement

equals

public boolean equals(Object o)

Check if this WordElement is equal to an object.

Overrides:

equals in class NLGElement

Parameters:

o - the object

Returns:

true iff the object is a word element with the same id and the same baseform and the same features.