Showing papers on "Natural language published in 1977"
Proceedings Article•
22 Aug 1977TL;DR: Human engineering features for enhancing the usability of practical natural language systems are described, including spelling correction, processing of incomplete input, and their ability for casual users to extend the language accepted by the system through the use of synonyms and peraphrases.
Abstract: Human engineering features for enhancing the usability of practical natural language systems are described. Such features include spelling correction, processing of incomplete (elliptical) input?, of the underlying language definition through English queries, and their ability for casual users to extend the language accepted by the system through the use of synonyms and peraphrases. All of the features described are incorporated in LJFER, -"applications-oriented system for creating natural language interfaces between computer programs and casual USERS LJFER's methods for the mroe complex human engineering features presented.
242 citations
TL;DR: Deaf children who are unable to acquire oral language naturally and who are not exposed to a standard manual language can spontaneously develop a structured sign system that has many of the properties of natural spoken language.
Abstract: Deaf children who are unable to acquire oral language naturally and who are not exposed to a standard manual language can spontaneously develop a structured sign system that has many of the properties of natural spoken language. This communication system appears to be largely the invention of the child himself rather than of the caretakers.
242 citations
TL;DR: The learning of language has become better understood as a result of recent developments in the fields of linguistics, ethology and comparative neurology, which led to the discovery of cranial vault asymmetries.
Abstract: Developments concerning the nature of language have taken place in the disparate disciplines of linguistics, ethology and neurology. It is not widely known that these developments have brought these fields of study into accord, and have helped clarify the mechanism of language acquisition in childhood. They carry practical implications important to the teaching of language and to the understanding of language disabilities. The conclusions have also led to the discovery of cranial vault asymmetries which promise insight into the evolution of language in man's prehistory. The learning of language has become better understood as a result of recent developments in the fields of linguistics, ethology and comparative neurology.
235 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors postulate the existence of two types of language learners who can be characterized by the intensity with which they practice a second language (L2). Any verbal interaction requiring L2 is defined here as practice.
Abstract: The study reported here postulates the existence of two types of language learners who can be characterized by the intensity with which they practice a second language (L2). Any verbal interaction requiring L2 is defined here as practice. Learners who interact intensively, who seek out opportunities to use L2 and who cause others to direct language at them are termed high input generators. Learners who either avoid interacting or play relatively passive roles in language interaction situations are termed low input generators The subjects in this study are adult ESL students in an intensive program. They were grouped into one of the two categories described above based on a quantitative measure of verbal interaction in L2 classes. The subjects were then compared for performance or achievement on language tests, the amount of language contact outside the classroom, and field sensitivity. It was found that while placement test scores could not have predicted performance on final tests, measures of interaction could. It is concluded that interaction type is a determining variable in the acquisition of L2.
186 citations
TL;DR: This note describes LIFER, a practical facility for creating natural language interfaces to other computer software that has bundled natural language specification and parsing technology into one convenient package.
Abstract: This note describes LIFER, a practical facility for creating natural language interfaces to other computer software. Emphasizing human engineering, LIFER has bundled natural language specification and parsing technology into one convenient package.
179 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1977
153 citations
TL;DR: The intent has been to produce a front end system which enables the user to concentrate on his problem or task rather than making him worry about how to communicate his ideas or questions to the machine.
Abstract: One of the major stumbling blocks to more effective used computers by naive users is the lack of natural means of communication between the user and the computer system. This report discusses a paradigm for constructing efficient and friendly man-machine interface systems involving subsets of natural language for limited domains of discourse. As such this work falls somewhere between highly constrained formal language query systems and unrestricted natural language under-standing systems. The primary purpose of this research is not to advance our theoretical under-standing of natural language but rather to put forth a set of techniques for embedding both semantic/conceptual and pragmatic information into a useful natural language interface module. Our intent has been to produce a front end system which enables the user to concentrate on his problem or task rather than making him worry about how to communicate his ideas or questions to the machine.
122 citations
Proceedings Article•
22 Aug 1977TL;DR: The authors argue for formal meaning representations for natural language and adopt the problem of identifying the possible antecedents of anachoric expressions as a forcing function for the adequacy of such representations.
Abstract: We argue, on general grounds, in favor of formal meaning representations for natural language. We then adopt, as a "Forcing function" for the adequacy of such as representation the problem of identifying the possible antecedents of anachoric expressions. This suggests certain structural properties of a representation which facilitate the identification of a possible antecedents. Given an appropriate representation. language with such properties, it is then possible to deal with a surprisingly rich class of anachora.
103 citations
01 Nov 1977-International Journal of Human-computer Studies \/ International Journal of Man-machine Studies
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the mismatch between the user's conceptualization of the data and its actual structure must be consciously resolved in a single process, and that the use of natural language instead of an artificial query language is the only means by which this can be done.
Abstract: Now that large data bases of valuable information are in existence, we must face the problem of putting this information in the hands of the end user. This is not a task to be taken lightly, since it is a very difficult problem due to the mismatch between the user's conceptualization of the data and its actual structure. By analyzing this problem in some detail we argue that this mismatch must be consciously resolved in a single process, and that the use of natural language instead of an artificial query language is the only means by which this can be done. The technical feasibility of this approach is demonstrated by the ROBOT natural language query processor. Actual dialogs and end user experiences are used to show the resulting increase in end user orientation. The impact of natural language processing on the various DBMS architectures is also discussed.
103 citations
TL;DR: Critical to the performance of the program are assumptions that it makes about the relation between sentence structure and surface structure, about when word classes may be formed and when ATN networks may be merged, and about the structure of noun phrases.
TL;DR: In this article, the performance of a computer model of linguistic segmentation is described and evaluated when it is used with natural language, and it is shown that it identifies words quite successfully and seems to have some sensitivity to morphs but it performs poorly with structures larger than words.
Abstract: The performance of a computer model of linguistic segmentation is described and evaluated when it is used with natural language. It identifies words quite successfully and seems to have some sensitivity to morphs but it performs poorly with structures larger than words. From the language samples, the program extracts most of the sequential redundancy and some of the redundancy due to the unequal frequencies of elements. This accords with the principle of economical coding in cognition (Attneave, 1954; Oldfield, 1954). The process seems also to model certain aspects of how children's vocabularies grow and the increasing lengths of the words which children acquire. It may have a bearing on the explanation of infantile amnesia and the word transformation effect.
01 Jul 1977-International Journal of Human-computer Studies \/ International Journal of Man-machine Studies
TL;DR: The results indicate that, at least for the kinds of problems tested here, it is possible to develop vocabularies of limited size that can be used effectively in man-computer communications.
Abstract: Two-person teams of subjects worked at realistic problem-solving tasks by communicating through a teletypewriter system. One third of the teams had to limit their vocabulary to words on lists of 300 words, one-third were required to use words on lists of 500 words, and one third of the teams worked with no vocabulary restrictions. Each team solved a different problem on each of three successive days. Dependent measures were taken on four classes of variables: (1) time to solve the problem, (2) measures of overt behavior, (3) measures of verbal output, and (4) errors made by subjects who used the restricted vocabularies. The main finding of the experiment was that subjects who worked with the restricted vocabularies interacted and solved problems as successfully as their counterparts who worked with no vocabulary restrictions. The results indicate that, at least for the kinds of problems tested here, it is possible to develop vocabularies of limited size that can be used effectively in man-computer communications.
TL;DR: Directed recursive labelnode hypergraphs (DRLHs) are defined as a new representation-language combining 3 generalizations of directed labeled graphs.
Proceedings Article•
22 Aug 1977TL;DR: An effort in the application of artificial intelligence to the access of data from a large, distributed data base over a computer network that provides access to multiple instances of a data base management system over the ARPANET in real time is discussed.
Abstract: : This report discusses an effort in the application of artificial intelligence to the access of data from a large, distributed data base over a computer network. A running system is described that provides access to multiple instances of a data base management system (DBMS) over the ARPANET in real time. The system accepts a rather wide range of natural language questions about the data, plans a sequence of appropriate queries to the data base management system to answer the question, determines on which machine to carry out the queries, establishes links to those machines over the ARPANET, monitors the prosecution of the queries and recovers from certain errors in execution, and prepares a relevant answer to the original question. In addition to the functional components that make up the demonstration system, equivalent functional components with higher levels of sophistication are discussed and proposed. Keywords: LADDER(Language Access to Distributed Data with Error Recovery).
Proceedings Article•
22 Aug 1977TL;DR: A model for processing English requests for information from a relational data base has been applied to a large data base of aircraft flight and maintenance data to generate a system called PLANES; examples are drawn from this system.
Abstract: We present a model for processing English requests for information from a relational data base. The model has as its main steps (a) locating semantic constituents of a request; (b) matching these constituents against larger templates called concept case frames; (c) filling in the concept case frame using information from the user's request, from the dialogue context and from the user's responses to questions posed by the system; and (d) generating a formal data base query using the collected information. Methods are suggested for constructing the components of such a natural language processing system for an arbitrary relational data base. The model has been applied to a large data base of aircraft flight and maintenance data to generate a system called PLANES; examples are drawn from this system.
Proceedings Article•
22 Aug 1977TL;DR: This paper describes the current status of the PSI program synthesis system, which allows program specification dialogues using natural language, traces and examples from which a high-level program model is acquired.
Abstract: This paper describes the current status of the PSI program synthesis system. It allows program specification dialogues using natural language, traces and examples from which a high-level program model is acquired. This model is then refined into an efficient implementation of the program. PSI consists of several modules including a parser-interpreter, trace and examples inference expert, dialogue moderator, program model builder, coder and efficiency expert.
TL;DR: Maternal speech to children has been shown to vary by age and language ability of the children, and in this study maternal speech to male and female 4-, 6-, and 8-month-old infants was recorded in the laboratory.
Abstract: Maternal speech to children has been shown to vary by age and language ability of the children. Previous studies have usually involved children over 1 year of age. In this study maternal speech to male and female 4-, 6-, and 8-month-old infants was recorded in the laboratory. Mothers used shorter utterances to 8-month-olds than to 4- or 6-month-olds, presumably in response to the infant's changing level of comprehension. Mothers used more sentences with subjects, verbs, or objects deleted to 8-month-olds and more complex sentences to 4-month-olds.
Proceedings Article•
01 Jan 1977TL;DR: LIFER as discussed by the authors is a practical facility for creating natural language interfaces to other computer software, emphasizing human engineering, and bundled natural language specification and parsing technology into one convenient package.
Abstract: This note describes LIFER, a practical facility for creating natural language interfaces to other computer software. Emphasizing human engineering, LIFER has bundled natural language specification and parsing technology into one convenient package.
TL;DR: Computational Semantics: An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Comprehension.
Abstract: Computational Semantics: An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Comprehension. Edited by E. Charniak and Y. Wilks. Pp. vii + 294. (North-Holland: Amsterdam, New York and Oxford, 1976.)
TL;DR: The use of natural language to manipulate data retrieval and display capabilities to enable a decision-maker to obtain a grasp of an overall situation in the face of an overwhelming availability of low level data.
Abstract: For many years, I have been pursuing a long-range research objective in the area of natural language understanding for man-machine communication, an objective that I share with many of my colleagues. The objective is to develop the capability for people to interact directly in fluent natural language with a computer system for support of some decision making task they are involved in. Specifically, I am concerned with the use of natural language to manipulate data retrieval and display capabilities to enable a decision-maker to obtain a grasp of an overall situation in the face of an overwhelming availability of low level data. Such a system must give concise answers to specific high-level questions posed by the decision-maker within a small number of seconds in most cases.
01 Jan 1977
TL;DR: A survey of the history of language origin theories must end in inconclusive fashion, primarily because it has been compiled at a time when the literature relating to the topic has reached the proportions of a flood of new and only slowly digestible information as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Publisher Summary This survey of the history of language origin theories must end in inconclusive fashion, primarily because it has been compiled at a time when the literature relating to the topic has reached the proportions of a flood of new and only slowly digestible information. It seems clear that the work on language capabilities in apes has been one of the important developments triggering the reopening of the problem. The work with apes and language has made it possible, for the first time, to manipulate factors in the learning of a first language in a way that would be quite unethical if the subjects would have been human children. The profoundly deaf are a population in which language can be investigated without necessarily equating language with speech, but deaf children's acquisition of language cannot be endlessly tampered with in a manner acceptable with chimpanzee subjects. There are many possible practical educational and therapeutic spin-offs from the language work with chimpanzees.
Proceedings Article•
22 Aug 1977TL;DR: The goal is to regard an interaction between a user and a data base as a discourse, having the properties and constraints normally associated with human dialog, and of particular interest to us is the key role that shared knowledge between conversants plays in the effectiveness of human dialog.
Abstract: Our' goal is the development and application of various techniques for generating approximate responses to data base queries. An "approximate re-sponse" is a response other than a direct answer to the question. Approximate responses are frequently referred to by linguists as "indirect answers" or "replies" (e.g. in BS76). What is approximate is not so much the response as the relationship between the response and the initial query. Our approach is to regard an interaction between a user and a data base as a discourse, having the properties and constraints normally associated with human dialog. (Conversational Postulates of Grice (G67) are examples of such constraints.) Many of the conventions of human dialog can be implemented through approximate responses which, for instance, 1) aid a user in formulating a suitable alternative query when the precise response to the initial query would be uninteresting or useless; 2) inform a user about the structure or content of the data base when the user is unfamiliar with its complexities ; and 3) summarize at an appropriate level, eliminating unnecessary detail. Natural language (NL) query systems are of benefit to users who are only partially familiar with the structure and/or content of the underlying data base. Such "naive" users are typically hampered by their lack of knowledge in formulating a query which will retrieve the. desired information. We believe that NL can do more than simply provide the user with a convenient, higher-level replacement for a formalized query syntax. NL questions frequently embed information about the user's understanding of the structure of the data. This information can be exploited to inform and guide the user in the use of the data base. Of particular interest to us is the key role that shared knowledge between conversants plays in the effectiveness of human dialog. As observed in (CH75), dialog tends to proceed with statements which offer a specific piece of 'new' information to the conversation which is differentiated from information considered as 'given' or already known We wish to thank Peter Buneman, Rob Gerritsen, and Ivan Sag for many fruitful discussions. Knowledge to the other party. Breaches of this 'Given-New Contract' can point to the need for additional background information to be supplied in order for communication to be effective. We believe that this observation can be effectively utilized within the context of queries to a data base system. Our approach here is to pay special attention …
TL;DR: Chouillet et al. as mentioned in this paper studied the ontogeny of primate intellectual development and its implications for communicative potential. But their work focused on the development of nonverbal communication.
Abstract: s, p. 39. 1976 The Ontogeny of Primate Intellectual Development and its Implications for Communicative Potential, Annals of the N, Y. Academy of Sciences 280, 173-211 Chouillet, J. 1972 Descartes et le Problbme de 1'Origine des Langues au 1 8 e Sibcle, Dix-Huitieme Sidcle (Revue annuelle), 39-60. Cicourel, Aaron V. 1974 Gestural Sign Language and the Study of Nonverbal Communication, Sign Language Studies 4, 35-76. Cooper, William E., & Marc R. Lauritsen 1974 Feature Processing in the Perception and Production of Speech, Nature 252, 121-123.
Proceedings Article•
06 Oct 1977
TL;DR: This paper defines the input language, and gives examples of IDA's behavior, and presents the representation of the "structural schema," which is the information needed by IDA to know how the data base is actually organized.
Abstract: IDA was developed to allow a casual user to retrieve information from a data base, knowing the fields present in the data base, but not how they are distributed to the files. IDA is part of the LADDER System that accepts queries in a restricted subset of English about a data base stored on CCA's Datacomputer. IDA's input is a very simple, formal query language which is essentially a list of restrictions on fields and queries about fields, with no mention of the structure of the data base. It produces a series of DBMS queries, which are transmitted over the ARPA network. The results of these queries are combined by IDA to provide the answer to the user's query. In this paper, we define the input language, and give examples of IDA's behavior. We also present our representation of the "structural schema," which is the information needed by IDA to know how the data base is actually organized. We give the heuristics used to produce a program in the language of the DBMS. Finally, we discuss the limitations of this approach, as well as future research areas.