First
Conference
o n
Applied
Natural Language
Processing
Association for
Computational Linguistics
Proceedings of the Conference
1-3 February 1983
Miramar-Sheraton Hotel
Santa Monica, California, USA
© 1983, Association for Computational Linguistics
Order copies of this and other ACL proceedings from:
Donald E. Walker (ACL)
Bellcore
N O T E S F R O M T H E C O N F E R E N C E C H A I R
This conference focuses on the use of computational linguistic techniques to solve real world problems. Technical papers are presented in sessions on domain-independent natural language in- terfaces, knowledge-based approaches, handling ill-formed input, text analysis, machine translation, and speech interfaces. A panel considers the impact of natural language access on database design and implementation. There also are demonstrations of working systems; exhibits of special pur- pose processors, tools, and other materials that support natural language processing; and tutorials covering special topic areas.
I want to share with you my enthusiasm and pleasure about the way in which the conference has developed over the past eighteen months. Many of us have long felt the need for a special meeting devoted to applied natural language processing. The Workshop on Applied Computational Linguistics in Perspective, co-sponsored by the Naval Research Laboratory and the ACL and held just before the 1981 ACL Annual Meeting at Stanford University, highlighted this need and started the ball rolling. Incidentally, a report describing that workshop appears in the A m e r l e a n J o u r n a l o f C o m p u t a t i o n a l Llngulstlen, Volume 8, Number 2, April-June, 1982.
The response to the call for papers was gratifying both in the interest expressed by diverse groups and in the large number of high quality papers submitted. Selecting the 26 papers for the conference was not an easy task.
[ wish to thank Beatrice Oshika, who chaired our program committee, for her hard work in organizing the program, tutorials, exhibits, and demonstrations, and for her general support in seeing that things ran smoothly. Special thanks to Don Walker, our Secretary-l~easurer, for his expertise in handling the funds and for arranging the printing of the call for papers, the program, and the proceedings.
Thanks to the program committee for a job well done, to Doug Hogan, Martin Kay, and Madeleine Bates for their help in reviewing papers, and to the people who are chairing sessions.
In addition, I would like to thank the Naval Research Laboratory for its financial support, which has helped reduce conference costs.
Finally, I would like to thank yon, the attendees, for your interest and support; l look forward to participating with you in what I know will be an exciting and rewarding conference.
Iris Kameny General Chair
General Chair: Program Chair: Secretary-Treasurer:
Committee Members:
C O N F E R E N C E C O M M I T T E E
Iris M. Kameny, System Development Corporation Beatrice T. Oshika, System Development Corporation Donald E. Walker, SRI International
Richard Cantone, Navy Center for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence Christine A. Montgomery, Operating Systems Division, Logicon
C. Raymond Perrault, University of Toronto Jane J. Robinson, SRI International
Norman K. Sondheimer, USC/Information Sciences Institute
C O N F E R E N C E
P R O G R A M
8:30-9:15
OPENING REMARKS:
9z15.-10"46
Tutqtday, I February 1983
Iris M. Kameny, System Development Corporation Stanley Wibon, Naval Research Laboratory
DOMAIN-INDEPENDENT NATURAL LANGUAGE INTERFACES-Session I (pages 1-30) Chair: Aravind K. Joshi, University of Pennsylvania
Problems in aaturaJ language interface to DBM$ with examples from EUFID
Marjorie Templeton and John Burger, System Development Corporation Introducing ASK, a simple knowledgeable system
Bozena H. Thompson and Frederick B. Thompson, California Institute of Technology
A robust portable naturaJ language data base interface
Jerroid M. Ginsparg, Bell Laboratories
11:00-noon
KNOWLEDGE-BASED APPROACHES-Session I (pages 54-68)
Chair: Ivan A. Sag, Stanford University
Distinguishing face from opinion amd event.~ from meta~eveaCm Christine A. Montgomery, Operating System Division, Logicon Parsing with logical variables
Timothy W. Finin and Martha Stone Palmer, University of,~-nnsylvania noon-2-O0 L U N C H E O N
GUEST SPEAKER: Dan Schutzer, Technical Director, Office of Naval Intelligence
2-00-3-00
HANDLING ILL-FORMED INPUT (pages 89-106) Chair: Ralph M. Weischedel, University of Delaware
The 'Btted' parse: lO0~parsing capability in a syntactic grammar of English Karen Jensen and George E. Heidorn, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center Utilizing domain-specific information for processing compact text
Elaine Marsh, New York University Linguistic String Project
Scruffy text understanding: design and implementation of the NOMAD system
Richard H. Granger, Chris J. Staros, Gregory B. Taylor and Rika Yoshii, University of California at irvine
4:00-5:30
TEXT ANALYSIS-Session 1 (pages 107-131) Chair: Donald E. Walker, SRI International
Specialized information extraction: automatic chemical reaction coding from English descriptions Larry H. Reeker, Elaine M. Zamora, and Paul E. Blower, Chemical Abstracts Service
.Automatic analysis of descriptive texts James R. Cowie, University of Strathclyde
'Expertness' from structured textY RECONSIDER: a diagnostic
prompting
programMark S. Tuttle, University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley; David D. Sherertz, Tandem Computers; Marsden S. Blois, University of CMifornia, San Francisco; and Stuart Nelson, State University of New York at Stony Brook
W e d n e s d s ~ r , 2 F e b r u m ' y 1983
8:30-10:30
,MACHINE TRANSLATION (pages 148-177) Chair: Gary Martins, Intelligent Software Inc.
Investigating the possibility of a microprocessor-based machine translation system Harold L. Somers, University of Manchester
An application of Montague grammar to English.Japanese machine translation Toyoaki Nishida and Shuji Doshita, Kyoto University
A status report on the LRC machine translation system Jonathan Slocum, Siemens Corporation
Computer assisted translation systems: the standard design and a multi-level design Alan K. Melby, Brigham Young University
l l : 0 0 - n o o n
SPEECH INTERFACES (pages 178-197) Chair: Douglas L. Hogan, Consultant
Interactive natural language processing: a pragmatic approach
A. Biermann, R. Rodman, B. Ballard, T. Betancourt, G. Bilbro, H. Dean, L. Fineman, P. Fink, D. Gregory, K. Gilbert, and F. Heidlage; Duke University and North Carolina State University Application of the Liberman-Prince stress rules to computer synthesized speech
David L. MePeters. Bell Laboratories; and Alan L. Tharp, North Carolina State University noon-2:00 L U N C H E O N
GUEST SPEAKER: Martin Kay, Xerox Pain Alto Research Center 2 : 0 0 - 3 : 0 0
PANEL: T H E I M P A C T O F N A T U R A L L A N G U A G E A C C E S S O N D A T A B A S E D E S I G N A N D I M P L E M E N T A T I O N (page 198)
Chair: S. Jerrold Kaplan, Teknowledge
Panelists: Jeffrey Hill, Artificial Intelligence Corporation Francisco Corella, Symantec
Jim Davidson, Stanford University Sieves Shwartz, Cognitive Systems, Inc.
Robert Wilensky, University of California at Berkeley
4:00-5:30
TEXT ANALYSIS-Session 2 (pages 132-147) Chair: Donald E. Walker, SRI International
Using na ,arai language descriptions to improve the usab//ity o/' d u r a b l e s Carnie D Harrier and John D. Joyee, General Motors Research Laboratories
Natural ,anguage text segmentation techniques app//ed to the automatic compilation of printed subject indexes and for online database acce.~
George V~adutz, Institute for Scientific Information
Automatic representation of the semantic relationships corresponding to a French surface expression Gian Piero Zarri, Centre National de la Recherche Scientiflque
T h u r s d a y , 3 F e b r u a r y 1983 8:30-10:00
DOMAIN INDEPENDENT NATURAL LANGUAGE INTERFACES-Session 2 (pages 31-53) Chair: Aravind K. Joshi, University of Pennsylvania
I~-NLI: an expert natural language interface to on/ine data bases Giovanni Guida and Carlo Tasso, Universita di Udine
TEAM, a transportable natural language interface system Barbara J. Gross, SRI International
/solatmg domain dependencies in natural language interfaces
R. Grishrnan, New York University and Navy Center for Applied Resem'¢h in AI; L. Hirschman, Burrougiis Corporation; and C. Friedman, New York University Linguistic String Project
lOz30-noon
KNOWLZDGE BASED APPROACHES-Session 2 (pages 69-88) Chair: I- m A. Sag, Stanford University
Explore a natural language processing system for oil exploration
Wendy . Lehnert, University of Massachusetts; and Steres P. Shwartz, Cognitive Systems, Inc. Knowle, ;e based question answering
Michael ;. Pazzani and Carl Engelman, The MITRE Corporation How to rive a database front end using general semantic information B. K. B [uraev and K. Sparek Jones, University of Cambridge noon-h ) LUNCHEON
1:30-3: )
PANEL ~UMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Cha~ Iris M. Kameny, System Development Corporation Panelist Jude Franklin, Navy Center for Applied Research in AI
Douglas L. Hogan, Consultant
Aravind K. Joshi, University of Pennsylvania Martin Kay, Xerox Pain Alto Research Center Gary Martins, Intelligent Software Inc. Ivan A. Sag, Stanford University Donald E. Walker, SRI International
Ralph M. Weiachedel, University of Delaware
T A B L E OF C O N T E N T S
D O M A I N - I N D E P E N D E N T N A T U R A L L A N G U A G E I N T E R F A C E S
Introduction
Aravind K. Joshi . . . 1
Problems in natural language interface to DBMS with examples from EUFID
Marjorie Templeton and John Burger . . . 3
Introducing ASK, a simple knowledgeable system
Bozena H. Thompson and Frederick B. Thompson . . . 17
A robust portable n a t u r a l / a n g u a g e d a t a base interface
Jerrold M. Ginsparg . . . 25
[R-NLI: aa expert n a t u r a l language interface to online d a t a b a s ~
Giovanni Guida and Carlo Tasso . . . 31
TEAM, a transportable u a t u r a / l a n g u a g e interface system
Barbara J. Grosz . . . 3g
Isolating domain dependencies in n a t u r a / / a n g u a g e interfaces
R. Grishman, L. Hirschman, and C. Friedman . . . 46
KNOWLEDGE-BASED A P P R O A C H E S
Introduction
Ivan A. Sag . . . 54
Distinguishing fact from opinion and events from m e t a ~ v e a t ~
Christine A. Montgomery . . . 5~
Parsing with logical variables
Timothy W. Finia and Martha Stone Palmer . . . 62
Explorer: a natural language processing system for oil exploration
Wendy G. Lehnert and Steven P. Shwartz . . . 69
Knowledge based question answering
Michael J. Pazzaui and Carl Eagelmaa . . . 73
How to drive a database front end using g e n e r a / s e m a n t i c information
B. K. Boguraev and K. Sparck Jones . . . 81
H A N D L I N G I L L - F O R M E D I N P U T
Introduction
Ralph M. Weischedel . . . 8g
The '~tted' parse: lO0~parsing capability in a syntactic grammar of English
Karen Jensen .~nd George E. Heidorn . . . 93
Utilizing domain-speci~c information for processing compact text
Elaine Marsh . . . gg
S'cru/Ty text understanding" design and implementation of the N O M A D system
R i c h a r d H. Granger, Chris J. Staros, Gregory B. Taylor, and Rilm Yoshii . . . 104
T E X T A N A L Y S I S
Introduction
Donald E. Walker . . . 107
Specialized information extraction: automatic c h e m i c a l reaction coding from English descriptions
Larry H. Reeker, Elaine M. Zamora, and P a u l E. Blower . . . 109
Automatic analysis of descriptive texts
J a m e s R. Cowie . . . I17
*Expertness' from structured text? RECONSIDER: a diagnostic prompting p r o g r a m
M a r k S. Turtle, David D. Sherertz, Marsden S. Blois, and S t u a r t Nelson . . . 124
Using u a t u r a / l a n g u a g e descriptions to improve the usability of databaw.s
Carole D. Hafner and John D. Joyce . . . 132
N a t u r a / l a n g u a g e text segmentation techniques app~ed to the automatic compilation of printed
subject indexes and for online database access
George V l a d u t z . . . 136
Automatic representation of the semantic relationships corresponding to a French surface expression
Gian Piero Zarri . . . 143
M A C H I N E T R A N S L A T I O N
Introduction
G a r y Martins . . . 148
investigating the possibility of a microprocessor-based machine translation system
Harold L. Somers . . . 149
An application of Montague grammar to English-Japanese machine translation
Toyoaki Nishida and Shuji Doshita . . . 156
A status report on the LRC machine translation system
J o n a t h a n Slocum . . . 166
C o m p u t e r ass/sted translation systems: the standard design and a multi-level design
Alan K. Melby . . . 174
S P E E C H I N T E R F A C E S
Inroduction
Douglas L. Hogan . . . 178
Interactive natural language processing: a pragmatic a p p r o a c h
A. Bierm-~nn, R. R o d m a n , B. Ballard, T. Betancourt, G. Bilbro, H. Dens, L. F i n e m a n , P. Fink,
D. Gregory, K. Gilbert, and F. Heidlage . . . 180
Application of the Liberman-Prince stress rules to computer synthesized speech
David L. McPeters and Alan L. T h a r p . . . 192
PANEL: T H E I M P A C T O F N A T U P . , a k I , L A N G U A G e ' - A C C E S S O N D A T A B A S E
D E S I G N A N D I M P L E M E N T A T I O N
Introduction
S. Jerrold K~plan . . . : . . . 108
A U T H O R I N D E X
B. B a l l a r d . . . 180
T . B e t a n c o u r t . . . 180
A. B i e r m a n n . . . 180
G. B i l b r o . . . 180
M a r s d e n S. Blois . . . 124
F~ul E. B l o w e r . . . 109
B. K. B o g u r a e v . . . 81
JoAn B u r s e r . . . 3
J ~ n e s R . C o w i e . . . l i t H. D e n s . . . 180
S h u j i D o s h i t a . . . 156
C a r l E n g e h n u . . . 7 3 L. F i n e m a n . . . 180
T i m o t h y W . F i n i n . . . 6 2 P. F i n k . . . 180
C. F r i e d m a n . . . 4 6 K . G i l b e r t . . . 180
J e r r o i d M. G i n s p a r g . . . 2 5 R i c h a r d H. G r a n s e r . . . 104
D. G r e g o r y . . . 180
R. G r i s h m a n . . . 46
B a r b a r a J. G r o s z . . . 39
G i o v a n n i G u i d a . . . 31
C a r o l e D. H a f n e r . . . 132
F. H e i d l a g e . . . 180
G e o r g e E. H e i d o r n . . . 9 3 L. H i r s c h m a n . . . 46
D o u g l a s L. H o g a n . . . 178
K a r e n J e n s e u . . . 9 3 A r a v i n d K. J o s h i . . . I J o h n D. J o y c e . . . 132
S. J e r r o l d K a p l a n . . . 198
W e n d y G. L e h n e r t . . . 6 9 E l a i n e M a r s h . . . 9 9 G a r y M a r t i n s . . . 148
D a v i d L. M c P e t e r s . . . 192
A l a n K . M e l b y . . . "174 C h r i s t i n e A. M o n t $ o m e r y . . . 55
S t u a r t N e l s o n . . . 124
T o y o a k i N i s h i d a . . . 156
M a r t h a S t o n e P a l m e r . . . 6 2 M i c h a e l J. P a z z a n i . . . T3 L a r r y H. R e e k e r . . . 109
R. R o d m a n . . . 180
Ivan A. Sag . . . 54
D a v i d D. S h e r e r t z . . . 124
S t e v e n P . S h w a r t z . . . 6 9 J o n a t h a n S l o c u m . . . 166
H a r o l d L. S o m e r s . . . 149
K . S p a r c k J o n e s . . . 81
C h r i s J. S t a r o s . . . 104
C a r l o T a s s o . . . 3 2 G r e g o r y B. T a y l o r . . . 104
M a r j o r i e T e m p l e t o n . . . 3
A l a n L. T h a r p . . . 192
B o z e n a H. T h o m p s o n . . . IT F r e d e r i c k B. T h o m p s o n . . . IT M a r k S. T u t t l e . . . 124
G e o r g e V l a d u t z . . . 136
D o n a l d E. W a l k e r . . . 107
R a l p h M . W e i s c h e d e l . . . 8 9 R i k a Y o s h i i . . . 104
E l a i n e M. Z a m o r a . . . 109
G i a n P i e t r o Z a r r i . . . 143
