SYSTEM OUTPUT

~ a

A

b ~ c c

Figure 6.4 Structure o f the ‘Clare Short’ argument

(N ote that Figure 6.4 makes use o f two nonstandard diagrammatic devices: (i) the ‘= ’ serving sim ply to link a proposition and its negation, and (ii) the dotted arrow - from ~c to a indicating a support arc assum ed to be maintained by the audience).

From this, the beliefs in Figure 6.5 are easily inferable (as with the preceding argument, the hearer is assumed not to hold beliefs on the issue, and has the same high co m p eten ce and low scepticism ). b e l ( s p e a k e r , e ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , a ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , s u p p o r t s ( a , e ) ). b e l (s p e a k e r , b ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , s u p p o r t s ( b , a ) ). b e l ( s p e a k e r , c ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , s u p p o r t s ( d , c ) ). b e l (s p e a k e r , d ) . b e l ( a g o ,s u p p o r t s ( n o t ( c ) , n o t ( a ) )).

Figure 6.5 System b eliefs for the ‘Clare Short’ argument

The final output o f the ^^letorica system running with the input in Figure 6.5 is show n in Figure 6.6 (and com plete, level by level, output can be found in A ppendix C). A gain, the output con clu d es with a com p letely ordered plan, this tim e also including a list o f affect laden goals, due to an application o f the A FFEC T-U C heuristic.

Complete plan of primitives;

2 ,make_salient(v_agent=agO,v_proposition=e,v_topic=null_topic)

12 .make_salient (v_agent=agO ,v_proposition=clue(detail) ,v_topic=null_topic) 4 ,push_topic (v_topic=supports (a, e) , v_parent=null_topic)

6.m ak e_salient (v_agent=agO,v_proposition=a,v_topic=supports (a,e) )

27 ,make_salient (v_agent=agO, v_proposition=clue (detail) , v_topic=supports (a, e) ) 19 ,push_topic (v_topic=supports (c, a) ,v_parent=supports (a, e) )

20.make_salient(v_agent=agO,v_proposition=not c ,v_topic=supports(c ,a ) ) 28 .push_topic(v_topic=supports(d,c), v_parent=supports(c,a))

30 .make_salient (v_agent=agO, v_proposition=d, v_topic=supports (d, c) ) 3 3 .pop_topic(v_topic=supports(d,c) ,v_parent=supports(c,a) ) 24.pop_topic(v_topic=supports(c,a) , v_parent=supports (a, e) )

2 6 .make_salient (v_agent=agO,v_proposition=clue(parallel) ,v_topic=supports(a,e) ) 13 .push_topic (v_topic=supports (b, a) , v_parent=supports (a, e) )

15 .make_salient (v_agent=agO,v_proposition=b,v_topic=supports (b,a) ) 18.pop_topic(v_topic=supports(b,a) ,v_parent=supports(a,e) )

9 •Pop_topic(v_topic=supports (a, e ) , v_parent=null_topic) laden w ith affect on the following goals:

[[20,bad]])

Figure 6.6 Final H^fietorica output for the ‘Clare Short’ argument

The text associated with this output is:

For Clare Short, the wait is over. Sadly, however, if Toby Graham had not searched for her, she would still be suffering her painful loss.

It is high time that the law concerning contact between adults after adoption is revised to enable birth parents to have identifying information once the adoptee is 18 or perhaps, 25. This change is required because at the moment, contact can only be made if the adoptee searches out their birth parents. The Contact Register is hopelessly limited as so few know of its existence, leaving many birth parents to suffer in silence.

Again there are several points of note in this realisation. First, the detail clue at goal 12 is realised as

because (and requires some grammatical reformulation to accommodate it - namely the phrase This change is required). The detail clue at goal 27 is not easily realised given syntactic constraints (i.e. those constraints which impinge upon the functioning of any realisation component in regard to the generation of text on the basis of the hard, and in this case, soft plan components generated by

Hihetorica). As a result, the clue was left simply as a sentence break. The parallel clue of 26 is similarly constrained. The bad affect on goal 20, introduced by the UCP argument in 11, is realised using

hopelessly.

The final argument selected is the ‘Irish census’ question from the Letters page of The Guardian, from Wednesday, 23^‘* October, 1996:

Tomorrow, the Office of National Statistics will take a decision affecting Irish people in Britain for the next 15 years. It concerns the inclusion of an Irish category in the Ethnic Group question in the census.

[It has become increasingly apparent since 1991 that the lack of such census information places Britain's Irish community at a serious disadvantage];,. [The

VI. SYSTEM OUTPUT 147

planning of social services, housing, healthcare and many other support services depends on such accurate census statistics]^. [Irish people in Britain experience poorer health, higher rates of mortality and economic disadvantages which are passed from one generation to the next]^. [These disadvantages are striking when compared to the indigenous white population and when compared to other economic minorities] g.

[We would like to state our support for a separate category for Irish people in the Ethnic Group question in the 2001 census]^. We would urge the ONS to put an end to the anomalous situation where the largest ethnic-minority group in Britain is invisible.

The analysis of this text yields the structure in Figure 6.7:

Figure 6.7 Structure of the ‘Irish census’ argument This leads to the epistemic characterisation in Figure 6.8:

b e l ( s p e a k e r , e ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , c ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , s u p p o r t s ( e , d ) ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , d ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , s u p p o r t s ( d , b ) ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , b ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , s u p p o r t s ( c , b ) ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , a ) . b e l ( s p e a k e r , s u p p o r t s ( b , a ) ) .

Figure 6.8 System beliefs in the ‘Irish census’ argument

When these are used as input to 3(fietorica, the final output produced is as in Figure 6.9 (again complete output can be found in Appendix C):

2 .make_salient (v_agent=agO,v_proposition=a, v_topic=null_topic)

12 .make_salient (v_agent=agO ,v_proposition=clue (detail), v_topic=null_topic)

4 ,push_topic (v_topic=supports (b,a) , v_parent=null_topic)

6 .make_salient (v_agent=agO,v_proposition=b,v_topic=supports(b,a) )

27 ,make_salient (v_agent=agO, v_proposition=clue(detail) , v_topic=supports (b, a) )

13 .push_topic (v_topic=supports (d,b), v_parent=supports (b, a) ) 15 .make_salient (v_agent=agO, v_proposition=d,v_topic=supports (d,b) )

34 .raake_salient (v_agent=agO, v_proposition=clue (detail) , v_topic=supports (d,b) ) 28.push_topic(v_topic=supports(e,d) ,v_parent=supports(d,b) )

30 .make_salient (v_agent=agO, v_proposition=e, v_topic=supports (e, d) ) 3 3 -pop_topic (v_topic=supports (e, d) ,v_parent=supports(d,b) ) 1 8 -pop_topic (v_topic=supports (d, b) ,v_parent=supports(b,a) )

26 .make_salient (v_agent=agO, v_proposition=clue (parallel) , v_topic=supports (b, a) ) 19 .push_topic (v_topic=supports (c,b), v_parent=supports (b, a) )

21.make_salient (v_agent=agO, v_proposition=c, v_topic=supports ( c , b) ) 24 .pop_topic (v_topic=supports (c,b) , v_parent=supports (b, a) )

9 -pop_topic (v_topic=supports (b, a) ,v_parent=null_topic) laden with affect on the following goals :

[ ]

Figure 6.9 Final !I(fietorica output for the ‘Irish census’ argument

The resultant text is as follows:

Tomorrow, the Office of National Statistics will take a decision affecting Irish people in Britain for the next 15 years. It concerns the inclusion of an Irish category in the Ethnic Group question in the census.

We would like to offer our wholehearted support for a separate category for Irish people in the Ethnic Group question in the 2001 census. Our primary reason is that it has become increasingly apparent since 1991 that the lack of such census information places Britain’s Irish community at a serious disadvantage, as there is evidence to suggest that Irish people in Britain experience poorer health, higher rates of mortality and economic disadvantages which are passed from one generation to the next - and these disadvantages are striking when compared to the indigenous white population and when compared to other economic minorities. In addition, the planning of social services, housing, healthcare and many other support services also depends on the collection of such accurate statistics.

We would urge the ONS to put an end to the anomalous situation where the largest ethnic-minority group in Britain is invisible.

There are four clues realised in this text. First, detail at 12, realised as Our primary reason. Second, detail at 27, realised as as there is evidence to suggest. Third, detail at 34 realised simply as the em dash followed by and. Finally, the parallel clue at 26, realised using In addition.

These three examples demonstrate not only a range of functionality of the ü(fietoTicasystem, but also that the ouput is structurally well formed and can be associated with coherent text. The next chapter in part addresses whether ^R^torica output is also persuasive, by tackling the key problem of system evaluation.

Vn. PERORATION 149

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