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Article published In: Babel
Vol. 64:4 (2018) ► pp.594–618

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Formal ontology for discourse analysis of a corpus of court interpreting

 | Infosys
 | Freelance translator-interpreter
 | Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Published online: 23 November 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1075/babel.00054.pea
Abstract
We develop a new method of discourse analysis using speech act theory and formal ontology. The method constitutes an attempt to make discourse analysis more formal and repeatable. We apply the method to a corpus of bi-lingual, interpreted legal dialogue, focusing on the speech act of clarification and its component acts. While discourse analysis is primarily a qualitative tool, it can be applied quantitatively by counting certain types of discourse, such as clarification speech acts. Dialogues are still analysed, utterances are classified as speech acts and their semantic relationships are qualitatively assessed. Subjectivity of human analysis is minimised using a new method of discourse analysis that employs a formal ontology. The ontology is stated in higher-order logic making the annotation of the corpus more objective, formal and repeatable than prior research.
Résumé
Nous élaborons une nouvelle méthode d’analyse du discours en utilisant la théorie des actes de langage et l’ontologie formelle. La méthode s’efforce de rendre l’analyse du discours plus formelle et reproductible. Nous appliquons la méthode à un corpus de dialogue juridique bilingue, interprété. Nous nous concentrons sur l’acte de langage de clarification et ses composantes. Bien que l’analyse du discours constitue principalement un outil qualitatif, elle peut être appliquée de manière quantitative, en comptant certains types de discours, tels que les actes de langage de clarification. Les dialogues continuent d’être analysés, les énoncés sont classés en actes de langage et leurs relations sémantiques sont évaluées de manière qualitative. La subjectivité de l’analyse humaine est réduite au minimum en utilisant une nouvelle méthode d’analyse du discours, qui emploie une ontologie formelle. L’ontologie est énoncée dans une logique d’ordre supérieur, ce qui rend l’annotation du corpus plus objective, plus formelle et plus reproductible que la recherche antérieure.
Article outline
  • 1.Problem statement
    • 1.1Application domain
  • 2.Prospective applications
    • 2.1Translation gap analysis and chunking
    • 2.2Objectives
    • 2.3Speech act theory
    • 2.4Formalizing speech acts
  • 3.Suggested Upper Merged Ontology (SUMO)
  • 4.Conceptual framework
    • 4.1Quantifying clarification dialogues in terms of repair turns and speech acts
      • 4.1.1Clarification as repairs
      • 4.1.2Clarification speech acts
    • 4.2Clarification speech acts in SUMO definition
      • 4.2.1Speech acts of clarification dialogue
    • 4.3Definition of clarification dialogue set
    • 4.4Original turn number and splitting turn
    • 4.5Speakers of the turn
    • 4.6Agent vs patient
    • 4.7Language
    • 4.8Speech acts
  • 5.Pilot study
    • 5.1Discussion
    • 5.2Special discourse in the courtroom
    • 5.3How formalized speech acts help defining clarification dialogues
    • 5.4When sorry is not an apology
    • 5.5How to handle tacit consent
    • 5.6Borderline clarification endeavours
    • 5.7Redefine elaborating in SUMO
  • 6.Definitions
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
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