SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR THE GENERATION OF ALTERNATE PHRASES FROM PACKED MEANING

Techniques are provided to generate alternate phrases from a packed meaning representation. The semantics of input items in a packed meaning representation are matched against a lexicon to determine initial entries in a phrasal information structure. Context, syntax and semantic information describing each phrasal entry are added to the phrasal information structure. Linear or other implications are used to determine a set of unordered rewrite rules. The unordered rewrite rules associate semantic information with pseudofacts such that a complete set of choices from the set of disjunctions in the packed meaning representation is selected. Semantic information associated with the unordered rewrite rules identifies entries in the phrasal information structure to be updated with the pseudofact of the unordered rewrite rule. Entries in the phrasal information structure not associated with false contexts are combined based on ordered rewrite rules. The ordered rewrite rules are based on the language of the packed meaning representation. Source information associated with each new entry in the phrasal information structure reflects the phrasal entry identifiers of the entries used to determine the new entry. For any set of entries in the phrasal information structure produced by an ordered rewrite rule, the context of a missing semantic fact is subtracted from the context of the entry lacking the semantic fact. Entries associated with a false context are discarded and entries sharing the same syntax and semantic information are merged. Any entries in the phrasal information structure associated with the “ALL” pseudofact are then determined. Alternate phrases are generated based on the source information for the entry in the phrasal information structure associated with the “ALL” pseudofact.