Researching the relationship between natural language and computers

The University of Malta’s Institute of Linguistics (IoL) has developed a new degree programme in an area of research concerned with the relationship between natural language and computers. IoL chairman Ray Fabri, IoL members Albert Gatt and Alexandra Vella, and Mike Rosner from the Department of Intelligent Computer Systems, spoke to Francesca Vella about this exciting new degree

Why did the Institute of Linguistics feel the need to develop the human language technology degree programme?

Linguistics is the study of language, and language is becoming an increasingly central component of modern technology. There is a widespread consensus that not only do computer systems need to be “intelligent” insofar as they can resolve problems quickly and efficiently, but that they also need to be intuitive to use and easy to communicate with.

For humans, language is the communicative medium of choice, and by this, we mean language in its broadest sense, encompassing not only the capacity to produce and understand sentences, but also other aspects of communication, like gesture, emotion and facial expression.

Understanding all of these aspects of communication – currently the focus of intensive research in the various sub-disciplines of Linguistics – is an important prerequisite to training computers to be able to use language in ways which approximate the ways in which humans use it.

This is why Linguistics plays such a significant role in emerging technology. Moreover, Linguistics has significant overlap with computational modelling, and has itself adopted formal and quantitative methods and approaches in the development of powerful models of natural language processing.

In view of these developments, it has become necessary for the Institute of Linguistics (IoL) to “modernise” its approach and move into this area of research and study. The rationale is to make teaching and research in the IoL reflect current trends, both within Linguistics as an academic discipline, and within society and industry, where intelligent applications involving the use and/or processing of natural language are increasingly coming to the fore.

These applications range from developments in Artificial Intelligence systems, to telecommunications; these in turn have obvious convergences with information processing, mobility and the internet.

These developments are leading to a new generation of interactive applications and services, offering global access, based on linguistic interaction. To take just one example, about 90% of internet content still takes the form of browsable pages expressed in ordinary language.

Types Of Context Clues - News


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Researching the relationship between natural language and computers

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What are context clue or clues? Definition of context clues? Four ...

Are hints that an author gives to help define a difficult or unusual word. The clue may appear within the same sentence as the word to which it refers, or it may follow in a preceding sentence. Because most of one's vocabulary is gained through reading, it is important that you be able to recognize and take advantage of context clues.


Types Of Context Clues - Bookshelf

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Daily Guide Directory


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Six Types of Context Clues
Notes about Context Clues. The six types of context clues do not operate in isolation; two or three types of contextual information are often included ...

CRSP - Context Clues
Because most of your vocabulary is gained through reading, it is important that you be able to recognize and take advantage of context clues. Types of context clues. ...

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FOUR TYPES OF CONTEXT CLUES. 1. examples. 2. synonyms and definitions ... contrasts. 4. experience or sense of the sentence. LAST. START OVER. NEXT ...