Experiments in producing playful explanations for given names (anthroponyms) in hebrew and english

Abstract

In this project, we investigate the generation of wordplay that can serve as playful explanations for given names. We present a working system (part of work in progress), which segments and/or manipulates input names. The system does so by decomposing them into sequences (or phrases) composed of at least two words and/or transforming them into other words. Experiments reveal that the output stimulates human users into completing explanations creatively, even without sophisticated derivational grammar. This research applies to two languages: Hebrew and English. The applied transformations are: addition of a letter, deletion of a letter and replacement of a similar letter. Experiments performed in these languages show that in Hebrew the input and output are perceived to be reasonably associated; whereas, the English output, if perceived to be acceptable rather than absurd, is accepted as a humorous pun. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.