Meaning Annotation Experience. A Tribute to Petr Sgall
Marie Mikulová, Jan Štěpánek, Barbora Štěpánková, Jarmila Panevova, Eva Hajicova
Abstract
We present ongoing work on annotating fine-grained semantic distinctions for circumstantial meanings, focusing on spatial expressions. We describe our theoretical background, and annotation process, as well as how we evaluate the results obtained. Using multiple independent annotations across the 3-million-token, genre-diverse Prague Dependency Treebank – Consolidated corpus of Czech data, we analyse inter-annotator agreement, recurrent disagreement patterns, and the limits of semantic categorization. Our results highlight the inherent vagueness of linguistic meaning. We also propose strategies for handling disagreement, such as weighted annotations, intermediate labels, and fuzzy labels that preserve annotation nuance. This work builds on the legacy of Petr Sgall and the Functional Generative Description theory that underpins the multi-layer form–meaning framework.- Anthology ID:
- 2026.dmr-1.15
- Volume:
- Proceedings of The Seventh International Workshop on Designing Meaning Representations (DMR 2026) @ LREC 2026
- Month:
- May
- Year:
- 2026
- Address:
- Palma, Mallorca (Spain)
- Editors:
- Jin Zhao, Claire Benet Post, Elizabeth Hoefer
- Venues:
- DMR | WS
- SIG:
- Publisher:
- ELRA Language Resources Association (ELRA)
- Note:
- Pages:
- 160–171
- Language:
- External URL:
- https://lrec.elra.info/lrec2026-ws-dmr-15
- DOI:
- 10.63317/4v4gn44mvftb
- Cite (ACL):
- Marie Mikulová, Jan Štěpánek, Barbora Štěpánková, Jarmila Panevova, and Eva Hajicova. 2026. Meaning Annotation Experience. A Tribute to Petr Sgall. In Proceedings of The Seventh International Workshop on Designing Meaning Representations (DMR 2026) @ LREC 2026, pages 160–171, Palma, Mallorca (Spain). ELRA Language Resources Association (ELRA).
- Cite (Informal):
- Meaning Annotation Experience. A Tribute to Petr Sgall (Mikulová et al., DMR 2026)