senseexpressing

Senseexpressing is a term used in linguistics and computational linguistics to denote the practice of explicitly expressing semantic sense or sensory content in communication. It refers to methods by which a speaker or writer clarifies the intended meaning of an utterance beyond its literal wording, or a system represents that meaning in an intermediate form for processing.

Scope and uses: The concept covers manual annotation of word senses in corpora, paraphrase generation aimed at revealing underlying sense, and user interfaces or AI systems that render abstract semantic content into accessible text or speech. It is distinct from stylistic or emotional expression, focusing on conveying meaning and perception rather than affect.

Techniques: Practitioners may annotate text with sense labels, create semantically explicit rewrites, or design prompts and models that reproduce the intended sense. In natural language processing, senseexpressing supports tasks such as word sense disambiguation, semantic role labeling, and translation where sense preservation is important. In education and accessibility, it can improve clarity for learners and for users with cognitive or sensory processing differences.

Examples: In a sentence like "The bank is nearby," senseexpressing would clarify whether the intended sense is financial institution or riverbank. In a descriptive passage, senseexpressing might render sensory content explicitly, e.g., "The pine scent filled the air—woody, resinous, and sharp."

Limitations: As a relatively new or informal term, there is no universal standard for its definition or scope, and usage varies across disciplines.

Related topics: word sense disambiguation, semantic annotation, semantic explicitness, and sensemaking.