Comments on: Parsing Language http://webwords.txhawkins.net/2009/02/15/parsing-language/ it's words on the web, it's all just words. Sun, 20 May 2012 21:56:45 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Rob http://webwords.txhawkins.net/2009/02/15/parsing-language/#comment-10 Rob Thu, 19 Feb 2009 03:53:51 +0000 http://webwords.txhawkins.net/2009/02/15/parsing-language/#comment-10 That's one of the reasons people want to do this "understanding" thing. Once you have converted English into some internal format that captures the meaning of the sentence, it should be possible to convert it back to natural language again. The specific language would not matter much. You would have a machine translation device, and be one step towards a "Universal Translator". Remember how the translator on Enterprise had to have enough of a new language to start translating? It was doing statistical semantic parsing! I'm teaching my boy to speak English. You can do the Spanish later. That’s one of the reasons people want to do this “understanding” thing. Once you have converted English into some internal format that captures the meaning of the sentence, it should be possible to convert it back to natural language again. The specific language would not matter much. You would have a machine translation device, and be one step towards a “Universal Translator”.

Remember how the translator on Enterprise had to have enough of a new language to start translating? It was doing statistical semantic parsing!

I’m teaching my boy to speak English. You can do the Spanish later.

]]> By: Clinton Balmain http://webwords.txhawkins.net/2009/02/15/parsing-language/#comment-9 Clinton Balmain Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:23:01 +0000 http://webwords.txhawkins.net/2009/02/15/parsing-language/#comment-9 Okay, so you go build this thing that understands English - how hard would it be to make it understand, say, Spanish? Assuming you put in a new database of word definitions (replacing "man" with "hombre," for example) would that be adequate? Presumably the grammar would have to be tweaked. How far could you stray from English before the entire thing came apart? How hard would it be to do German, and then French, and then Japanese, and then Mandarin? I guess my question is: are you teaching your computer to understand LANGUAGE, or just ENGLISH? Okay, so you go build this thing that understands English - how hard would it be to make it understand, say, Spanish? Assuming you put in a new database of word definitions (replacing “man” with “hombre,” for example) would that be adequate? Presumably the grammar would have to be tweaked.

How far could you stray from English before the entire thing came apart? How hard would it be to do German, and then French, and then Japanese, and then Mandarin?

I guess my question is: are you teaching your computer to understand LANGUAGE, or just ENGLISH?

]]> By: Bill Hensley http://webwords.txhawkins.net/2009/02/15/parsing-language/#comment-8 Bill Hensley Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:35:26 +0000 http://webwords.txhawkins.net/2009/02/15/parsing-language/#comment-8 Actually, it was Isaac Newton who said, "If I have seen so far, it is only because I stand on the shoulders of giants." At least, that's how history records it. Such a towering intellect as Newton could equally well have said, "If I have seen so far, it is only because I am surrounded by midgets." :-) Actually, it was Isaac Newton who said, “If I have seen so far, it is only because I stand on the shoulders of giants.” At least, that’s how history records it. Such a towering intellect as Newton could equally well have said, “If I have seen so far, it is only because I am surrounded by midgets.” :-)

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