TR-I-0345 :March 1993

John K. Myers

The Meanings of Ability Utterances with Applications to Dialog Understanding

Abstract:This paper investigates the ontology of ability. A taxonomy of the various types of ability is presented. Each ability is marked by the features control and changeability. Literal meanings of ability utterances correspond to the ability classes. The pragmatics of ability utterances varies with the literal meaning, and can be used in understanding.