LINGUIST List 10.1299

Mon Sep 6 1999

Books: Language Processing

Editor for this issue: Scott Fults <scottlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Paul Peranteau, Language Processing - Linguistic Attractors, D. Cooper

John benjmains Publishing announces the availability of this new work in
Language Processing

Linguistic Attractors.
The cognitive dynamics of language acquisition and change.
DAVID L. COOPER
Human Cognitive Processing 2
US & Canada: 1 55619 202 9 / USD 90.00 (Hardcover)
Rest of world: 90 272 2354 8 / NLG 180.00 (Hardcover)

The interdisciplinary linguistic attractor model portrays language
processing as linked sequences of fractal sets, and examines the
changing dynamics of such sets for individuals as well as the speech
community they comprise. Its motivation stems from human anatomic
constraints and several artificial neural network approaches. It uses
general computation theory to: 1) demonstrate the capacity of
Cantor-like fractal sets to perform as Turing Machines; 2) better
distinguish between models that simply match outputs (emulation) and
models that match both outputs and internal dynamics (simulation); and
3) relate language processing to essential computation steps executed
in parallel. Measure and information theory highlight the key
variables driving linguistic dynamics, while catastrophe and game
theory help predict the possible topologies of language change. It
introduces techniques to isolate and measure attractors, and to
interpret their stability and relative content within a
system. Important results include the capability to distinguish the
sequence of related sound changes, and to make point-to-point
comparisons of different texts using common metrics. Other techniques
allow quantifiable ambiguity landscapes illustrating the forces that
propel different languages in different directions.


			John Benjamins Publishing Co. 
Offices:	Philadelphia			Amsterdam:
Websites: 	http://www.benjamins.com	http://www.benjamins.nl
E-mail:		servicebenjamins.com		customer.servicesbenjamins.nl
Phone:		+215 836-1200			+31 20 6762325
Fax: 		+215 836-1204			+31 20 6739773

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