Marker Passing as a Weak Method for Text Inferencing

Abstract

The problem of deciding what is implied by a written text, of “reading between the lines” is the problem of text inference. To extract proper inferences from a text requires a great deal of general knowledge on the part of the reader. Past approaches have often used a “strong method” tuned to process a particular kind of knowledge structure (such as a script, or a plan). The alternative is a “weak method” which is applicable to a variety of knowledge structures. Just such a method is proposed here, one which recognizes six very general classes of inference. These classes are not dependent on individual knowledge structures, but instead rely on patterns of connectivity between concepts. Patterns are discovered, and inferences are suggested, by a process of marker passing between concepts.