Computational Linguistics and Formal Semantics (Studies in Natural Language Processing)

Cambridge University Press, 11/5/1992
EAN 9780521419598, ISBN10: 052141959X

Hardcover, 344 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm
Language: English

This 1992 collection takes the exciting step of examining natural language phenomena from the perspective of both computational linguistics and formal semantics. Computational linguistics has until now been primarily concerned with the construction of computational models for handling the complexities of linguistic form, but has not tackled the questions of representing or computing meaning. Formal semantics, on the other hand, has attempted to account for the relations between forms and meanings, without necessarily attending to computational concerns. The book introduces the reader to the two disciplines and considers the prospects for the more unified and comprehensive computational theory of language which might obtain from their amalgamation. Of great interest to those working in the fields of computation, logic, semantics, artificial intelligence and linguistics generally.

1. Unification
2. Representations and interpretations
3. Syntactic categories and semantic type
4. Fine-structure in categorical semantics
5. Properties, propositions and semantic theory
6. Algorithms for semantic interpretation
7. Situation schemata and linguistic representation
8. Application-oriented computational semantics
9. Form and content in semantics
Epilogue
on the relation between computational linguistics and formal semantics
Bibliography.

"...makes important theoretical progress in the formalism of natural language processing. The accent is on the relations between the syntax and the semantics of natural language. Also, the commonalities of natural language and artificial intelligence are stressed....readers will find the state of the art in the theory of natural language processing and some important new contributions." Claudiu Popescu, Computing Reviews

"This is a collection of excellent papers....The overall high quality of the contributions should make it valuable to all computational linguists interested in semantics." John Nerbonne, Computational Linguistics