The first section of this paper deals with the attempts within the framework of transformational grammar to make semantics a systematic part of linguistic description, and outlines the characteristics of the generative semantics position. The second section takes a critical look at generative semantics in its later manifestations, and makes a case…

This report documents efforts over a five-month period toward completion of a pilot system for machine translation of German scientific and technical literature into English. The report is divided into three areas: grammar formalism, programming, and linguistics. Work on grammar formalism concentrated mainly on increasing the power of the…

The system described in this report is designed for use as a computational tool that allows a linguist to develop and study methods for generating surface strings from an underlying semantic structure. Initial findings with regard to form-determiners (such as voice, form, tense, and mood), some rules for embedding sentences, and some attention to…

This report describes work on a pilot system for a fully automatic, high-quality translation of German scientific and technical text into English and gives the results of an experiment designed to show the system's capability to produce quality mechanical translation. The areas considered were: (1) grammar formalism, mainly involving the addition…

THE AUTHOR RECOUNTS THE RISE IN IMPORTANCE OF MACHINE TRANSLATION, WHICH TOGETHER WITH LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING COMPRISE THE MAJOR FIELDS OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS. MUCH OF THE RECENT THEORETICAL WORK ON LANGUAGE DEALS WITH THE PROBLEM OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SURFACE SYNTACTIC STRUCTURE OF LANGUAGE AND THE UNDERLYING STRUCTURE. THE…

Computational linguistics, as linguistics in general, is the study of human behavior. (MF)

RESEARCH IN THREE AREAS OF COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS IS DESCRIBED--(1) THE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR FOR A SUBSET TO GRAMMATICAL SENTENCES IN ENGLISH, (2) THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS GRAMMAR IN TERMS OF A SENTENCE SYNTHESIZING PROGRAM WRITTEN IN LISP 1.5, AND (3) THE USE OF SENTENCE SYNTHESIZING PROGRAMS FOR…

At present a computer system cannot be constructed for handling the totality of a natural language in any significant way. It is, however, possible to construct a system for communication in a narrow field of discourse. A working model for a specialized discourse based on a recognition grammar is discussed. Some properties of the recognition…

Describes a program for understanding and generating natural language which handles paragraph-length imput. Its core, "preference semantics," a system of preferential choice between deep semantic patterns, is contrasted with: (1) syntax-oriented linguistic approaches, and (2) theorem-proving approaches to understanding. Available from…

Parts of this paper were presented in the form of a lecture at Florida State University, Tallahassee, on February 19, 1970. Section 8 was originally delivered as an informal seminar at the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, on March 12, 1970. (VM)

A set of procedures for testing hypotheses about the syntactic structure of natural languages has been developed for use on-line with computer display consoles. The procedures were designed in the context of Chomsky's transformational generative grammar. A linguist can construct phrase structure trees, selecting with the lightgun from alternative…

THIS PAPER IS THE FIRST IN A SERIES PRESENTING THE FEATURES OF SYSTEMS DESIGNED FOR COMPUTATIONAL LINGUISTICS AT THE LINGUISTICS RESEARCH CENTER (LRC) OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN. ONGOING RESEARCH IS EXPANDING THE APPLICATION OF THESE SYSTEMS TO INCLUDE NOT ONLY NATURAL LANGUAGE BUT PROGRAMING LANGUAGES AS WELL. THIS PAPER DISCUSSES…

This review of Bever's psycholinguistics survey is for the most part favorable. Commentary is centered on sections 1, 2, 4, and 6 of the report. The survey's first part is judged significant in that Wundt's pioneering work in psycholinguistics is discussed. The second section, on grammar as a psychological process, is found obscure in its…

This paper defines the structure of a semantic network for use in representing discourse and lexical meanings. The structure is designed to represent underlying semantic meanings that, with a lexicon and a grammar, can generate natural-language sentences in a linguistically justifiable manner. The semantics of natural English can be defined as a…

The objective of this thesis was to colligate the various strands of research in the literature of computational linguistics that have to do with the computational treatment of semantic content so as to encode it into a computerized dictionary. In chapter 1 the course of mechanical translation (1947-1960) and quantitative linguistics is traced to…