This paper describes MITRE’s participation in the Semantic Textual Similarity task (SemEval-2017 Task 1), which evaluated machine learning approaches to the identification of similar meaning among text snippets in English, Arabic, Spanish, and Turkish. We detail the techniques we explored, ranging from simple bag-ofngrams classifiers to neural architectures with varied attention and alignment m...

This paper describes our multi-view ensemble approach to SemEval-2017 Task 4 on Sentiment Analysis in Twitter, specifically, the Message Polarity Classification subtask for English (subtask A). Our system is a voting ensemble, where each base classifier is trained in a different feature space. The first space is a bag-of-words model and has a Linear SVM as base classifier. The second and third ...

In this paper, we introduce a new baseline for language-independent text difficulty assessment applied to the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) proficiency scale. We demonstrate that reading level assessment is a discriminative problem that is best-suited for regression. Our baseline uses z-normalized shallow length features and TF-LOG weighted vectors on bag-of-words for Arabic, Dari, Engl...

In English, denominal verbs incorporate in varying degrees the meaning of the root noun as part of the verb’s meaning. For example, one can box a present in a gift box but not in a paper bag, shelve a book on the mantelpiece but not on a spike. Other verbs such as land and warehouse exhibit bleaching to a much greater degree; for example, one can land a hydroplane on water, or warehouse parts i...

From the importance of knowledge in the speech, we knew the importance of oral exam. So in this paper we integrated BOW (Bag of Word), LSA(Latin Semantic Analysis), ASR (automatic speech recognition), zero crossing rate, and Ontology based approach to automate the online oral exam especially in Arabic language with take into consideration the authentication problem. Our proposal method faced ma...

Traditionally, CSR discourse has focused on multinational corporations. However, the present work’s starting point was the following question: can consumer-leaders and responsible SMEs help foster societal change toward sustainable consumption? By drawing on the literature about ethical consumption and community-based social marketing, we suggest community leaders and small organizations can pl...

We participate in the English subtask B and C at SemEval-2016 Task 3 “Community Question Answering”. This paper is concerned with the description of our participating system. We propose a ranking model that combines a translation model with the cosine similarity-based method. Compared to the traditional bag of words method, the proposed model is more effective because the relationships between ...

While multiethnolects have been documented in major European metropolises over the last several decades, no such varieties reported North America. This is surprising given high degree of global immigration many American cities. We consider Toronto, Ontario, one most multicultural cities world, and explore features a Multicultural Toronto English. Data comes from young people an ethnolinguistica...

Based on a widely held belief that immersion provides the best language learning opportunities, a large number of Asian students go to English-speaking countries to improve their English language skills. These strongly motivated learners arrive in a new country with a bag of expectations, learner beliefs, and imaginations about the new community they are about to enter. However, learners are of...

This paper describes the raising of the low front vowels /ɛ, æ/ and the lowering of the mid front /e/ before the voiced velar /ɡ/ in Pacific Northwest English (PNWE). This prevelar system appears to have two parts with differing social patterns. In the most advanced part, /ɛɡ/ and /eɡ/ are homophonous upgliding diphthongs merged at a point between non-prevelar /ɛ/ and /e/ for all 20 Caucasian S...