GSoc2021-DBpedia-NeuralExtraction logo GSoc2021-DBpedia-NeuralExtraction

Broadly speaking, Girju 20021 defined that causality refers to the way of knowing if one state of affairs causes another. In English, the causative constructions can be explicit or implicit.

Different types of causal relations

Explicit causative constructions

Causal connectives

for this reason; with the result that

because of, thanks to, due to

Resultative conjunctions

  e.g. The colonies came to realize they had to separate from England, so
they started the Revolutionary War.
because, as, since, for, so, so that

  e.g. Being cloudy, the experiment was postponed.

Correlative comparative construction

  e.g. The traffic was so heavy that I couldn’t arrive on time.

  e.g. The new satellite was named ASUKA (flying birds). The reason was that the migratory bird soaring into deep space.
  e.g. It is not a myth that world hunger is due to scarcity of food.

Causation verbs

Lexical Decomposition

  e.g. cause, lead to, bring about, generate, make, force, allow, kill, melt, dry, break, drop, poison, hang, punch, clean

Verbal causative constructions

Analytic causatives

  e.g. “I made him do the homework.” “I got him to do the homework.” “I had him do the homework.”

Morphological causatives (-en, -ify)

blacken, sweeten, thicken, nullify, liquefy, verify

Lexical causatives

kill, feed, die, eat

Conditionals

  e.g. If s1, then s2

Causative adverbs and adjectives

Adverbs of perception

audibly, visibly

Adverbs marginally perceptual

manilestly, publicly, conspicuously

Adverbs that involve the notion of a result whose properties are context dependent

successfully, plausibly, conveniently, amusingly, pleasantly

Adverbs that suggest tendencies, liabilities, disposition or potencies

irrevocably, ously, rudely

Adverbs that refer to effects

obediently, gratefully, consequently, painfully

Adverbs of means

mechanically, magically

Implicit causative constructions

Complex nominals expressing causation

with an implicit causation relationship

  cold tremble (namely, NP1) causes malaria mosquitoes (namely, NP2)

with an explicit but ambiguons causation relationship

  NP1-produced NP2; NPl-inducing NP2 ; NPl-provoking NP2 ; NP1-related NP2; NP2 with NP1 ; P2 by NP1

with an explicit, unambiguous causation relationship

  NPl-causing NP2 (e.g, “disease-causing bacteria”) ; NP2-caused NPI (e.g., “infection-caused hess” )

Implicit causality of verbs

  readers prefer to interpret the noun as referring to one or other of the two potential referents

Reference