Computational Linguistics: An Introduction (Studies in Natural Language Processing)

In spite of the rapid growth of interest in the computer analysis of language, this book is one of the first to provide an integrated introduction to the field. Inevitably, when many different approaches are still being considered, a straightforward work of synthesis would be neither possible nor practicable. Nevertheless, Ralph Grishman provides a valuable survey of various approaches to the problems of syntax analysis, semantic analysis, text analysis and natural language generation, while considering in greater detail those that seem to him most productive. The book is written for readers with some background in computer science and finite mathematics, but advanced knowledge of programming languages or compilers is not necessary and nor is a background in linguistics. The exposition is always clear and students will find the exercises and extensive bibliography supporting the text particularly helpful. Part 1: What Is Computational Linguistics? -- The Objectives Of Computational Linguistics -- Computational And Theoretical Linguistics -- Computational Linguistics As Engineering -- The Structure Of This Survey -- A Tree Diagram -- Part 2: Syntax Analysis -- The Role Of Syntax Analysis -- Is Syntax Analysis Necessary? -- Phrase-structure Languages -- Early Systems: Context-free Parsers -- Transformational Analyzers: First Systems -- Augmented Context-free Parsers -- Other Phrase-structure Grammars -- Analyzing Adjuncts -- Analyzing Coordinate Conjunction -- Parsing With Probability And Graded Acceptability -- Part 3: Semantic Analysis -- Formal Languages For Meaning Representation -- Translation To Logical Form -- Semantic Constraints -- Conceptual Analyzers -- Anaphora Resolution -- Analyzing Sentence Fragments -- Using The Logical Form -- Part 4: Discourse Analysis And Information Structuring -- Text Grammar -- Organizing World Knowledge -- Frames -- Analyzing Narrative: Scripts And Plans -- Information Formats -- Analyzing Dialog -- Part 5: Language Generation -- The Poor Cousin -- Sentence Generation -- Text Generation. Ralph Grishman. Includes Indexes. Bibliography: P. 179-187.

In spite of the rapid growth of interest in the computer analysis of language, this book provides an integrated introduction to the field. Inevitably, when many different approaches are still being considered, a straightforward work of synthesis would be neither possible nor practicable. Nevertheless, Ralph Grishman provides a valuable survey of various approaches to the problems of syntax analysis, semantic analysis, text analysis and natural language generation, while considering in greater detail those that seem to him most productive. The book is written for readers with some background in computer science and finite mathematics, but advanced knowledge of programming languages or compilers is not necessary and nor is a background in linguistics. The exposition is always clear and students will find the exercises and extensive bibliography supporting the text particularly helpful.