A Complex Network Approach to Distributional Semantic Models.

A number of studies on network analysis have focused on language networks based on free word association, which reflects human lexical knowledge, and have demonstrated the small-world and scale-free properties in the word association network. Nevertheless, there have been very few attempts at applyi...

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Main Author: Akira Utsumi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4546414?pdf=render
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author Akira Utsumi
author_facet Akira Utsumi
author_sort Akira Utsumi
collection DOAJ
description A number of studies on network analysis have focused on language networks based on free word association, which reflects human lexical knowledge, and have demonstrated the small-world and scale-free properties in the word association network. Nevertheless, there have been very few attempts at applying network analysis to distributional semantic models, despite the fact that these models have been studied extensively as computational or cognitive models of human lexical knowledge. In this paper, we analyze three network properties, namely, small-world, scale-free, and hierarchical properties, of semantic networks created by distributional semantic models. We demonstrate that the created networks generally exhibit the same properties as word association networks. In particular, we show that the distribution of the number of connections in these networks follows the truncated power law, which is also observed in an association network. This indicates that distributional semantic models can provide a plausible model of lexical knowledge. Additionally, the observed differences in the network properties of various implementations of distributional semantic models are consistently explained or predicted by considering the intrinsic semantic features of a word-context matrix and the functions of matrix weighting and smoothing. Furthermore, to simulate a semantic network with the observed network properties, we propose a new growing network model based on the model of Steyvers and Tenenbaum. The idea underlying the proposed model is that both preferential and random attachments are required to reflect different types of semantic relations in network growth process. We demonstrate that this model provides a better explanation of network behaviors generated by distributional semantic models.
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spelling doaj.art-44589990f8e94651942ca82025925a922022-12-22T01:50:01ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01108e013627710.1371/journal.pone.0136277A Complex Network Approach to Distributional Semantic Models.Akira UtsumiA number of studies on network analysis have focused on language networks based on free word association, which reflects human lexical knowledge, and have demonstrated the small-world and scale-free properties in the word association network. Nevertheless, there have been very few attempts at applying network analysis to distributional semantic models, despite the fact that these models have been studied extensively as computational or cognitive models of human lexical knowledge. In this paper, we analyze three network properties, namely, small-world, scale-free, and hierarchical properties, of semantic networks created by distributional semantic models. We demonstrate that the created networks generally exhibit the same properties as word association networks. In particular, we show that the distribution of the number of connections in these networks follows the truncated power law, which is also observed in an association network. This indicates that distributional semantic models can provide a plausible model of lexical knowledge. Additionally, the observed differences in the network properties of various implementations of distributional semantic models are consistently explained or predicted by considering the intrinsic semantic features of a word-context matrix and the functions of matrix weighting and smoothing. Furthermore, to simulate a semantic network with the observed network properties, we propose a new growing network model based on the model of Steyvers and Tenenbaum. The idea underlying the proposed model is that both preferential and random attachments are required to reflect different types of semantic relations in network growth process. We demonstrate that this model provides a better explanation of network behaviors generated by distributional semantic models.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4546414?pdf=render
spellingShingle Akira Utsumi
A Complex Network Approach to Distributional Semantic Models.
PLoS ONE
title A Complex Network Approach to Distributional Semantic Models.
title_full A Complex Network Approach to Distributional Semantic Models.
title_fullStr A Complex Network Approach to Distributional Semantic Models.
title_full_unstemmed A Complex Network Approach to Distributional Semantic Models.
title_short A Complex Network Approach to Distributional Semantic Models.
title_sort complex network approach to distributional semantic models
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4546414?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT akirautsumi acomplexnetworkapproachtodistributionalsemanticmodels
AT akirautsumi complexnetworkapproachtodistributionalsemanticmodels