What is Language? In linguistics, language is defined as a system of communication based on words and their combination into sentences This formal definition excludes non-verbal communication: body language, intonation, etc.
Language is the system of signs that expresses
ideas. It is constantly evolving in response to historical and social conditions. Coding and Decoding Linguistic Information Conversations are taken on trust and depend on the speakers sensitivity to language and cultural expectations. Linguistic sign unifies a concept (signified) and sound image (signifier) that differs among cultures. Conversations involve what is being said and how it s being said (Intonation, speed, stress, volume, silence, etc.) What we say, how we say it and what we dont say can influence the purpose of a conversation Cognitive system of language underlies our ability to infer ones intentions. (Ex. Do you know what time it is?) Understanding that voice pauses such as er and um are fillers for thought Conveying clear meaning despite ellipsis (missing words) Purpose of Conversations Practical needs Create relationships Exchange of stories Express personalities Entertainment
Conversations alter according to purpose:
Turn-taking Adjacency pairs (phrases that require a response) Politeness and command/negotiation Content and conditioning (socially acceptable language) Speech Act (what is being done when something is said) Speech Events (a method of talking used in particular talk-situations that typically reoccur) Service Encounter (transaction of goods and services) Natural Language Processing (NLP) NLP is a field that studies the interaction between computers and natural languages.
What is NLP Good At?
Good Okay Bad
Spam Detection Sentiment Question Part-of Speech Analysis Answering Tagging Word Sense Paraphrasing Named Entity Disambiguation Summarisation Recognition Parsing NLG Translation Information Extraction Natural Language Processing (NLP) Natural Language Generation (NLG) is hard! If you observe; devices like Siri, Cortana and Echo use a combination of templates and canned responses.
Why is it hard? Simply put: ambiguity
Lost Boy Found by Snowman
Teacher Strikes Idle Children Or Feds Raise Interest Rates (Feds increase interest rates) Feds Raise Interest Rates (The raising of Feds cause interest to rates) This is usually solved by statistical analysis of much sample text Bibliography What is language? Stanford: Natural Language Processing Speech and Language Processing What is Natural Language Generation Cultural Criticism: Semiotics and Cultural Criticism Talking to Each Other: The Language of Conversation The Language of Conversation The Origin of Language and Communication What is Language?