AUTOMATIC ENGLISH-TO-LOGIC TRANSLATION IN A SIMPLIFIED MODEL. A STUDY IN THE LOGIC OF GRAMMAR
Abstract
The report summarizes research conducted to establish logical structures implicit in portions of natural English and the construction of artificial languages whose rules permit an explicit statement of those structures in terms of symbolic logic. A language called English I was designed whose grammar is essentially that of elementary logic itself. Computer programs are discussed that recognize the grammaticality of English I and English II, the latest of a series of synthesized English-like languages, and translate English II to English I. Results are given of analyses of the natural language correlates of the logical concepts of degree, grouping, quantification, and scope. A 'placer' concept is described that serves as a basic grammatical function category for words and phrases that function in particular ways in particular contexts though they may usually belong to other categories. A precedence system, including two new connectives, was devised that avoids pile- ups in the assignment of groupers. The concept of 'fragments' is introduced to handle natural language factoring. A calculus of 'demand' computation is described for combining and analyzing fragments. The computer programs were written in the string-manipulating language SNOBOL 3.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0637227
Entities
People
- Herbert G. Bohnert
- Paul O. Backer
Organizations
- IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center