In generating sentences by means of a transformational grammar, it is necessary to analyze trees, testing for the presence or absence of various structures. This analysis occurs at two stages in the generation process--during insertion of lexical items (more precisely, in testing contextual features), and during the transformation process, when…

This fourth annual report summarizes the investigation of (1) a "sentence dictionary" and (2) a "word government dictionary" for use in automatic abstracting and extracting systems. The theory behind the sentence dictionary and its compilation is that a separation of significant from nonsignificant sentences can be accomplished on the basis of…

This paper is concerned primarily with the structure of language and how knowledge about this structure can lead to improved automated information retrieval. The paper discusses developments in linguistics and the application of linguistics to information retrieval, especially fact retrieval and indexing. For fact retrieval it is proposed that…

This book is a step-by-step guide to creating and analyzing linguistic corpora. It defines a corpus as a collection of texts or parts of texts upon which some general linguistic analysis can be conducted. It begins with a discussion of the role that corpus linguistics plays in linguistic theory, demonstrating that corpora have proven to be very…

This paper defines the relationship between linguistics and information science in terms of a common interest in natural language. The concept of a natural language information system is introduced as a framework for reviewing automated language processing efforts by computational linguists and information scientists. (96 references) (Author)

A statistical measure is developed for predicting the terms from a restricted vocabulary that will be used to index a document, given that one of the index terms is known. (Author)

Presents a computational study of children's acquisition of word-to-meaning mappings, approximates this task as a mathematical problem, and presents an algorithm for solving the problem, illustrating the algorithm's operation on a small example. Notes that computational simulations demonstrated the robustness of the algorithm and illustrated how…

Proposes a model for explaining constraints imposed by predicates on selecting arguments appropriate for the predicates. The model has two components, a taxonomic representation of concepts and probabilistic formalization of selectional constraints defined in terms of that taxonomy. Describes four computational experiments testing the model's…

Shows how to characterize language learning in a finite parameter space, such as in the "principles-and-parameters" approach, as a Markov structure. Explains how sample complexity varies with input distributions and learning regimes. Finds that a simple random-step algorithm always converges to the right target language and works faster than a…

An account of grammatical acquisition is developed within the parameter setting framework applied to a generalized categorical grammar (GCG). Computational simulation shows that several resulting acquisition procedures are effective on a parameter set expressing major typological distinctions based on constituent order, and defining 70 distinct…

Discuses the adverbialization of two roughly synonymous present-day English intensifiers, "pretty" and "fairly." Based on electronic corpora, a quantitative analysis of their long-term history is provided using the framework of adverb functions proposed by Quirk et al (1995). (Author/VWL)

Presents results from a self-paced reading experiment in Japanese investigating attachment preferences for relative clauses to three ensuing potential nominal heads. Results are discussed in light of two types of parsing models. (Author/VWL)

The present study is a corpus-based investigation of syntactic priming, i.e. the tendency to reuse syntactic constructions. On the basis of data from the ICE-GB corpus, I analyze two different pairs of syntactic patterns, the so-called dative alternation and particle placement of transitive phrasal verbs. Although it has sometimes been argued that…

Hudson (1990) proposes that each conjunct in a coordinate phrase forms dependency relations with heads or dependents outside the coordinate phrase (the "multi-head" view). This proposal is tested through corpus analysis of Wall Street Journal text. For right-branching constituents (such as direct-object NPs), a short-long preference for conjunct…

Historically, accounts of object representation and perceived similarity have focused on intrinsic features. Although more recent accounts have explored how objects, scenes, and situations containing common relational structures come to be perceived as similar, less is known about how the perceived similarity of parts or objects embedded within…