TOWARDS A COMPUTATIONAL FORMALIZATION OF NATURAL LANGUAGE SEMANTICS,
Abstract
The formalization of natural language semantics is a problem central of a number of major academic and practical concerns. A semantic theory requires a formalized representation of messages, arrangements of morphological units, and the processes of encoding and decoding that relate them. Formal logic has provided a paradigm for semantics based on the notions of model, extension, and intension; with certain changes and additions, this paradigm indicates what is needed for a theory of natural language semantics. Possible computational avenues of approach to developing a semantic theory include machine translation, data management and information retrieval, language and picture processing, psychological modeling, natural language CAI, and natural-language programming. Several linguists have developed semantic descriptions based on transformational grammar; the earliest of these regarded semantic interpretation as being derived from syntactic deep structure, while the more recent have regarded deep structure itself as being semantically meaningful. Computational approaches to date have treated semantics as a problem of translating natural language into predicate-calculus formulas, relational structures, or statements in a formal procedural language; the most significant of these approaches are those of Thompson, Simmons et al., Woods, and Kellogg. Considered individually, none of these approaches has produced an adequate semantic theory for natural language, but all contribute something towards the formulation of an adequate approach. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 26, 1969
- Accession Number
- AD0691097
Entities
People
- Robert M. Schwarcz
Organizations
- System Development Corporation