Computers and Human Language [Paperback]

Offering an inquiry into the nature of language from the perspective of computing,Computers and Human Languagesynthesizes recent research in linguistics, computer science, and experimental psychology as it explores the major computational approaches to language, especially the modeling of processes by which language is comprehended. Among the topics considered are the computationally symbolic basis of language, lexicons as repositories of information, automated text processing, phonology, phototactics, speech synthesis and the persisting challenge of continuous speech, transformational grammars and their successors, linguistic and conceptual approaches to sentence meaning, and discourse coherence and plan-based bridging inferences. The book also explores such up-to-the-minute subjects as neurally-inspired computing, parsing and psychological plausibility, the controversial representation hypothesis, and the ramifications of discourse focus.
With its clear, engaging style and gradual, systematic exposition,Computers and Human Languagemakes the fast-moving world of computational linguistics accessible to the non-specialist reader.

Looks quite good, and seems well suited to my course, an introduction to parsing and linguistic theory for graduate linguistics students with little or no computational background. --Stanley Starosta,University of Hawaii

A well-written introduction to computational linguistics. I am particularly impressed by the broad range of topics covered...The list of references is also comprehensive. --Martin Volk,University of Koblenz

A beautiful treatment of computational linguistics from the computer sciences point of view. --Robert F. Simmons,University of Texas

Very well-organized....Covers the full range of computational linguistics. --Peter Jeang,Bloomfield College

The book's coverage is...impressive, both in terms of its depth and the blã#