Reading(5): Syntax and its Analysis

Now I was doing some research on dialogue modeling and management. The more I learned more, the more important I felt about Natural Language Understanding. This evening, we would have the weekly Ping Pong club activity in BUAA. So I read the book in the afternoon after our project discussion.

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Pages: 31~40 of Natural Language Understanding, second edition, by James F. Allen, 1995

How to calculate the syntax of a sentence? In order to solve this problem, there were two aspects should be considered: Grammar of language and syntax parser technology. To a new language grammar, we cared about its universality, selectivity , and comprehensibility.

How to confirm whether some words could construct some special grammar component? There were two ways. One was constructing a new sentence. In this sentence, some congeneric component used as an paratactic. This was a very good method. As mostly, only same congeneric grammar component could be used as coordinative. The other way was inserting the component into other sentences and checking whether it could be as same grammar component.

There were two kinds of grammar parsers: Top-down and bottom-up. They were same as the process of program compilers. So I introduced it little there.

When researching grammar, you would find that each grammar component had many kinds of usages. Therefore you should try more times in order to check whether it was true of grammar. Meanwhile, you must modify the grammar for the new forms. Under the limited knowledge background, such backdating was necessary. However there was a very key point. That was you must review carefully the new rule and its relation between existed others in detail. I believed it was same as our rule-based system. Sometimes you add a new rule for some special situation now, and there were some many contrary instances to it. So, you must do it very carefully. I believed our language, such as English and Chinese, had not grammar. And many linguists added some rules for them based on some observation. This process was great exploits to humans.