LINGUIST List 7.1521

Mon Oct 28 1996

Qs: Ethnographic software, Semantic interpreters, Pragmatics

Editor for this issue: Ljuba Veselinova <lveselinemunix.emich.edu>

Directory

1. "G. Tucker Childs", Ethnographic software
2. ZOILA DELEG, Semantic interpreters/analyzers -- How do they work?
3. Alan Firth, PRAGMATICS, 2nd edition

Could anyone give me their (comparative) opinions on the
following programs used for enthnographic fieldwork? I
myself have used only Shoebox and that only for linguistic
analysis. Please add to the discussion any comparable
programs you know of.

Nudist
Ethnographic software developed by David Seidel
Shoebox

Thanks. I'll summarize. - Tucker


G. Tucker Childs
Applied Linguistics
451X Neuberger Hall
Portland State University
Portland, OR 97207-0751
(503) 725-4099
tuckernh1.nh.pdx.edu

This is rather a basic question, so initially I posted it to
the sci.lang newsgroup. When I got no response, I tried posting
to the comp.ai.nat-lang newsgroup, but still no response (yet).
I am hoping that someone here can enlighten me.

I more or less understand what it means to take apart a text
morphologically and syntactically, but I do not understand
what semantic interpreter/analyzer software does. Does it
deal with each sentence within the context of the text it
appears in? How does it cope with "colorless green ideas
sleep furiously"? Can you give me an example of a meaningful
English sentence that has been interpreted and/or analyzed
by any such software? Are there any implementations that you
are aware of for either a Mac or PC, shareware or freeware,
that one can play with in order to understand the principle
of semantic interpretation/analysis? Or perhaps an online
demo? Do anyone know of any good introductory articles (in,
say, Scientific American) on the subject of computational
semantics ?

Thanks!

Zoila Deleg
delegzrpi.edu

Jacob Mey and I are to co-author a revised (2nd) edition of
'Pragmatics: An Introduction' (Blackwells, 1993). We are very
keen to hear from anyone who may have used the first edition of
the book in classes. Please send comments -- detailed and/or
general -- to me, Alan Firth, at: firthhum.auc.dk. Comments on
the 'Exercises & Questions' sections of the book are especially
welcome, though we would be most grateful for any suggestions
and/or comments on the book as a whole. With thanks in
anticipation, Alan Firth

***PLEASE NOTE NEW POSTAL ADDRESS & TEL. No.***---------
Dr. Alan Firth
Dept. of Languages & Intercultural Studies
Aalborg University, KROGHSTRAEDE 3, DK-9220 Aalborg,
Denmark.
Tel: +45 98154211, ext. 3234
E-mail: firthhum.auc.dk