Style as a Choice of Blending Principles

1
Style as a Choice of Blending Principles

• Joseph Goguen
• Fox Harrell
• UCSD

2
A New Approach to Style

• Hypothesis style blending principles
• Developed for language, but ok for other media
• Intended applications
• - Computational multimedia narrative
• - User-interface design
• - Gaming
• - Maybe database queries integration

3
What is Style?

• Style is not just statistics!
• Style is fundamental to meaning
• - not just way to present content
• - not separate from content
• - not surface, deep inside meaning
• Probably cannot be fully formalized, but can be
  better understood by using formalization

4
Levels of Language

• Discourse
• Sentence
• Phrase (including metaphor)
• Word
• Our system treats differently for pragmatic
  reasons, but distinction is not strict not
  reified.
• Indeed, model building is not reality discovery.

5
Supporting Theories

• Narrative
• Metaphor Blending (from cognitive linguistics
  cognitive semantics)
• Algebraic Semiotics Structural Blending
• Algebraic semantics (CS theory of abstract data
  types)
• A bit of category theory

6
Labov Narrative Structure

• Narrative of personal experience, William Labov,
  refined by Charlotte Linde
• Optional orientation (time, place, characters,
  etc.)
• Sequence of narrative clauses describe events
• Narrative presupposition says occur in same order
  as given
• Narrative clauses interwoven with evaluative
  material, provide interpretation, evaluation
• Optional closing gives summary or moral

7
Labov Structure in BNF

• ( )
• (( ) )
• Can use to structure story generation
• Complex narratives, flashbacks c, still have
  Labov segments
• Can also use other format specifications

8
Algebraic Semiotics

• Semiotic spaces have sorts, constants,
  operations, axioms, constants, with partial
  ordering on each, and a primary sort
• Semiotic morphisms are partial mappings between
  semiotic spaces
• Algebraic semiotics is brand name not
  aligned with contemporary semiotics, though
  influenced by Peirce Saussure

9
Algebraic Semiotics

• Builds on algebraic semantics (as in abstract
  data type theory)
• Incorporates insights from cognitive linguistics
  and conceptual blending
• Algebraic definition of blending lax colimit in
  order enriched category (3/2 colimit in 3/2
  category)

10
Simple Conceptual Blending
11
Blending Optimality Principles

• Integration Scenario in blend is integrated
  scene
• Web Tight connections of blend inputs (e.g.,
  event in input
• construed as corresponding event in blend)
• Unpacking Easy to reconstruct inputs
  connections from blend
• Topology Elements in blend should participate in
  same kinds of
• relations as counterparts in input spaces
• Good Reasoning Elements blend should have
  meaning.
• Metonymic Tightening Relationships between
  elements from
• same input space should be as close as possible
  in blend.

12
Formal Optimality Principles

• Commutativity
• Type Casting
• Axiom Preservation
• Operation Preservation
• Ordering Relation Preservation
• (for priorities subsorts)

13
Houseboat Blend
14
Boathouse Space (one of 48 blends)
For resident/boat to live-in house, type of
boat must be cast from Object to Person.
15
Conceptual Blending Algorithm

• Three node types are (left to right)
• relation nodes, sort nodes, constant nodes.
• Vertical edges connect nodes from different input
  spaces.
• Horizontal edges from relation nodes to sort
  nodes indicate the sorts that the relation is
  defined on.
• Horizontal edges from sort nodes to constant
  nodes indicate the sorts of constants.

16
Structural Blending

• For generative media, need to handle structure,
  not just concepts about structure (e.g., syntax
  and discourse)
• Templates act as constructors (which are
  functions)

17
Active Poetry System
Griot is active (generative) poetry system. In
interactive mode, selection takes user input.
18
The Girl with Skin of Haints and Seraphs -
spaces programmed by Fox Harrell
Every night she wakes covered with snow-
queen or cherub sweat. Melaninated, soul
thoughts taunted her as a teen. It was no
laughing matter for the white or
original-lady, until she awakens and begins a
privilege or pride day anew.
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(every night she wakes covered with snow-queen or
cherub sweat) (melaninated, soul thoughts taunted
her as a teen) (it was no laughing matter) (for
the white or original-lady) (until she awakens
and begins a privilege or pride day anew)
20
the beginning was quiet and simple - save for the
ignorance contradiction she dropped from her
momma as skin angels caused hate-making, love
making wakeful moments shimmied with desire a
spectral tone pervaded harp mathematics no longer
concerned her when she was elderly pale-skinned
young-lady thoughts taunted her as a teen the
young lady would prevail evil privilege spawns
and devours evil smugness and she is filled with
passion she could cry serious times were here
they would call her charcoal-girl,
dusky-girl! The tormented european felt pain and
entitlement in her mind) the spectral tone
pervaded she could cry until she awakens and
begins a hate love day anew until she awakens and
begins a love hate day anew
21
Disoptimality Principles

• Neruda
• I am withered, impervious, like a swan of felt
• navigating a water of beginning and ashes.
• Rilke
• cheap winter hats of fate
• These violate at least three of the optimality
  principles and require casting to quite remote
  types

22
Future Work

• Computational narrative (improvisational
  interactive multimedia narrative)
• Richer media
• More blending principles (more specific)
• Gaming
• Use values in semiotic spaces for blending

23
Conclusions

• Reasonably comprehensive notion of style
• But formalization is modeling implementation
  tool, not privileged as real
• Limited sense of history can reside in domains
• One sense of evolution is iterative refinement of
  optimality principles
• Not interested in autonomy not a goal to
  explicitly encode personal social history
  (GOFAI)
• Adequate for reductionist notions of style, but
  recognizes situated nature of style