As an interdisciplinary field, computational linguistics has its sources in several areas of science, each with its own goals, methods, and historical background. Thereby, it has remained unclear which components fit together and which do not. This suggests three possible approaches to designing a computational linguistics textbook. The first approach proceeds from one's own school of thought, usually determined of study, rather than by a well-informed, delib by chance, such as one's initial place erate choice. The goal is to extend the inherited theoretical framework or method to as many aspects of language analysis as possible. As a consequence, the issue of com pat ibility with other approaches in the field need not be addressed and one's assumptions are questioned at best in connection with 'puzzling problems. ' The second approach takes the viewpoint of an objective observer and aims to survey the field as completely as possible. However, the large number of different schools, methods, and tasks necessitates a subjective selection. Furthermore, the pre sumed neutrality provides no incentive to investigate the compatibility between the elements selected. The third approach aims at solving a comprehensive functional task, with the differ To arrive at the desired solution, suitability ent approaches being ordered relative to it. and compatibility of the different elements adopted must be investigated with regard to the task at hand.
Reviews / Votes
From the reviews of the second edition:
"Hausser sets out a detailed case for the view that all aspects of language . are strictly 'time-linear', that is, reflect a radical processing in real time, a view which, if it can be sustained, involves a radical shift in our concepts of language. . Hausser provides a clear and devastating critique of orthodox constituent-based phrase structure grammar . . The book is presented as a textbook with exercises checking comprehension at the end of each chapter . . Overall then, the book is provocative . ." (Ruth Kempson, Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 37, 2001)
"'Foundations of Computational Linguistics' should interest language philosophers, theoretical linguists and computational linguists alike. . 'Foundations of Computational Linguistics' presents both a state of the art and the author's own theory, which contains a lot of important innovations. . Hausser's requirements in computational linguistics are ambitious but, as he shows (and this is surely one of the great merits of the book), not unrealistic. . We highly recommend this book, which is an important and very rewarding book indeed." (Paul Gochet and Michel Kefer, Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Vol. 3 (221), 2002)
"The book presents in a unified way a complete theory of natural language and its 'implementations' in terms of the robot Curious. But also for readers interested in a broader view of computational linguistics, studying the book may be worthwhile since the author always compares his particular approach to other more familiar theories from the literature." (Heribert Vollmer, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 984, 2002)
Edition
2nd rev. and ext. ed. 2001
Language
Place of publication
Publishing group
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Professional/practitioner
Edition type
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 24.2 cm
Width: 19.3 cm
Weight
ISBN-13
978-3-540-42417-8 (9783540424178)
DOI
10.1007/978-3-662-04337-0
Schweitzer Classification
I. Theory of Language.- 1. Computational language analysis.- 2. Technology and grammar.- 3. Cognitive foundations of semantics.- 4. Language communication.- 5. Using language signs on suitable contexts.- 6. Structure and functioning of signs.- II. Theory of Grammar.- 7. Generative grammar.- 8. Language hierarchies and complexity.- 9. Basic notions of parsing.- 10. Left-associative grammar (LAG).- 11. Hierarchy of LA-grammar.- 12. LA- and PS-hierarchies in comparison.- III. Morphology and Syntax.- 13. Words and morphemes.- 14. Word form recognition in LA-Morph.- 15. Corpus analysis.- 16. Basic concepts of syntax.- 17. LA-syntax for English.- 18. LA-syntax for German.- IV. Semantics and Pragmatics.- 19. Three system types of semantics.- 20. Truth, meaning, and ontology.- 21. Absolute and contingent propositions.- 22. Database semantics.- 23. Structure and functions of a Slim machine.- 24. A formal fragment of natural language.- Schematic summary.- Conclusion.- A. Another example of a word bank.- A.1 Embedding and extracting information.- A.2 Translating the content of a knowledge base into propositions.- A.3 An equivalent graphical representation.- A.4 Word bank representation.- A.5 Embedding and extracting propositional content.- B.1 The sample sentence.- B.3 Pre-verbal application of DET+N.- B.4 Application of NOM+FV.- B.5 Application of FV+MAIN.- B.6 Reapplication of FV+MAIN.- B.7 Post-verbal application of DET+N.- B.8 Transition to the subordinate clause based on ADD-ADP.- B.9 Beginning of the subordinate clause based on START-SUBCL.- B.10 Reapplication of NOM+FV.- B.11 Completing the subordinate clause with FV+MAIN.- B.12 Result of the derivation.- C. Subordinating navigation in the speaker mode.- C.1 Different navigation types.- C.2 Embedding constructions.- C.3 Realization of clauses with the verb in final position.- C.4 Lexical realization of conjunctions.- C.5 Multiple center embeddings.- Name Index.
