Subject: more on nlp

to the readers : i have recently sent out several email inquiries to various list services that i subscribe to in an attempt to learn why we do not see more software that can relate to the complexities of human grammar . that is , i was trying to learn why do n't we see better grammar checkers , more translation software , and more sophisticated language tutoring software . if there were a theory of syntax that could be programmed at all would n't there also be a swarm of programs being offered by researchers and graduate students from around the world ? would n't we be arguing about the merits of " lfg - linguist 3 . 1 " vs " gb - linguist 2 . 0 . " and would n't we be arguing about the merits of one theories labelled bracketing versus another 's ? further , other areas that might use language interfaces such as games and program internal " help facilities " are also quite primitive . granted , the difficulties of trying to get a program to account for pro - - blems of meaning have occupied programmers for years , but this in itself is not sufficient enough explanation for why we do not see more results in areas that require a program to exhibit a sophisticated understanding of the structure of human language . which brings me to the point of this query . to improve my understanding of this problem and perhaps to generate some meaningful dialog about this problem , i would like to propose the following list of what we should minimally expect of a program or a theory of syntax that claims to be able to handle the structure of human language . i would like to invite readers to add to the list or to point out which areas have already been adequately handled . if an area is adequately handled , i would like information on how to receive the software that is available . i divide this list into three basic areas : 1 ) minimum requirements for linguists , 2 ) minimum requirements for grammar checkers , foreign language tutoring software , and other more secular uses of syntax , and 3 ) minimum requirements for translation technology . i . minimum requirements for linguists . a program or a theory of syntax that is to be programmed must minimally be able to : 1 ) provide a full labelled bracketing of any string ( including information about intermediate and maximal level nodes ) . 2 ) provide the parts of speech of all items in a string 3 ) provide the parts of a sentence ( subject , direct object , etc ) of a string 4 ) provide acceptability judgements for sentences that can be parsed ( e . g . john1 likes himself2 is parsable but unacceptable ) . 5 ) provide judgements about topicalized sentences , fronted wh questions , tough - movement sentences , relative clauses , noun clauses , cleft and pseudo - cleft sentences , pied - piping , the complex np constraint , control sentences , parasitic gap sentences , island conditions , the that trace effect , the coreferrence requirements of pronouns and reciprocals , and strong and weak crossover effects . 6 ) perhaps provide explanations for why particular parses fail . ii . minimum requirements for grammar checkers , foreign language tutoring software , and other more secular uses of syntax . a program or theory of syntax that is to be of value in these areas should minimally : 1 ) provide information about part of speech 2 ) provide information about part of sentence ( subject , object , etc ) 3 ) provide demonstrations of grammatical constructions e . g . make passivesentences from active and active from passive , make questions from statements , join two sentences into one using a variety of conjunctions , transitions and prepositions . 4 ) provide judgements about errors in the production of sentences 5 ) provide information about types of clauses : subordinate / main , adverb , noun etc . 6 ) provide information about sentence type e . g . simple , complex , compound , etc . 7 ) analyze punctuation of words , phrases , and clauses ( including coordination ) . minimum requirements for translation technology : 1 ) provide a correct parse for the subject language and provide a grammatically correct sentence in the target language . 2 ) provide acceptability judgements and other grammar checking of sentences in both languages . 3 ) be able to do convert some sentences in both languages : e . g . statement to question , active to passive and so on . this list might be short in many ways , but i think it illustrates my point . there is a lot more that could be happening in the realm of computational syntax , but it is not happening . if i am overly pessimistic , i would like to know where i can find software that can do the above . i will post all responses to the list as a summary . also , if anyone would like to add to this list , i will keep track of the responses and post them to the list . also , if someone can explain what prevents these developments i would appreciate that as well . phil bralich bralich @ uhccux . uhcc . hawaii . edu
