Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-31T20:18:50.524Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Symbolic Representation and Natural Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Torben Thrane
Torben Thrane
Affiliation:
Center for Informatics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Get access

Abstract

The notion of symbolizability is taken as the second requisite of computation (the first being ‘algorithmizability’), and it is shown that symbols, qua symbols, are not symbolizable. This has far-reaching consequences for the computational study of language and for AI-research in language understanding. The representation hypothesis is formulated, and its various assumptions and goals are examined. A research strategy for the computational study of natural language understanding is outlined.

Type
Research Article
Information
Nordic Journal of Linguistics , Volume 11 , Issue 1-2 , June 1988 , pp. 151 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barwise, J. & Perry, J. 1983. Situations and Attitudes. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. 2nd Printing 1984.Google Scholar
Brachman, R. J. & Levesque, H. J. (eds.) 1985. Readings in Knowledge Representation. Los Altos: Morgan Kaufmann.Google Scholar
CP = The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. Edited by Charles, Hartshorne and Paul, Weiss. Cambridge, Mass.: 1935–1966. (References in text are to Volume and Paragraph.)Google Scholar
Deuchar, M. 1984. British Sign Language. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Goodman, N. 1975. Languages of Art. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT.Google Scholar
Haugeland, J. 1981. Semantic Engines: An Introduction to Mind Design. In Haugeland, J. (ed.) Mind Design. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. 3rd Printing 1985, pp. 1–34.Google Scholar
Hobbes., T. 1651. Leviathan. Harmondsworth (1963): Pelican Books.Google Scholar
Hofstadter, D. R. 1982. Metafont, Metamathematics, and Metaphysics: Comments on Donald Knuth's Article “The Concept of a Meta-Font”. In Hofstadter, D. R.Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern. Bantham Books (1986), pp. 260–287.Google Scholar
Hookway, C. 1985. Peirce. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Johnson-Laird, P. 1983. Mental Models. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.Google Scholar
Knuth, D. 1982. The Concept of a Meta-Font. Visible Language 16, 3–27.Google Scholar
Levy, D. M., Brotsky, D. C. & Olson, K. R. 1987. Formalizing the Figural: Aspects of a Foundation for Document Manipulation. (Draft). Intelligent Systems Laboratory, Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto, Ca. 94304.Google Scholar
Lyons, J. 1977. Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Newell, A. 1980. Physical Symbol Systems. Cognitive Science 4, 135–183.Google Scholar
Newell, A. 1982. The Knowledge Level. Artificial Intelligence 18, 87–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newell, A. & Simon, H. A. 1976. Computer Science as Empirical Inquiry: Symbols and Search. In Haugeland, J. (ed.) Mind Design. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. 3rd Printing 1985, pp. 35–66.Google Scholar
O'Connor, D. J. 1975. The Correspondence Theory of Truth. London: Hutchinson.Google Scholar
Pylyshyn, Z. W. 1984. Computation and Cognition: Toward c Foundation for Cognitive Science. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. 2nd Edition 1985.Google Scholar
Searle, J. 1980. Minds, Brains, and Programs. In Haugeland, J. (ed.) Mind Design. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT. 3rd Printing 1985, pp. 35–66.Google Scholar
Searle, J. 1983. Intentionality. Cambridge: Cambridge UP. 5th Printing 1987.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, B. C. 1982. Reflection and Semantics in a Procedural Language. MIT. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.Google Scholar
Southall, R. 1987. A Basis for the Description of Machine-written Documents (Draft). Intelligent Systems Laboratory, Xerox Palo Alto Research Centre, 3333 Coyote Hill Road, Palo Alto, Ca. 94304.Google Scholar
Thrane, T. 1980. Referential-Semantic Analysis: Aspects of a Theory of Linguistic Reference. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waterman, D. T. 1986. A Guide to Expert Systems. Reading, Ma.: Addison-Wesley.Google Scholar
Winograd, T. & Flores, F. 1986. Understanding Computers and Cognition. A New Foundation for Design. Norwood, N.J.: Ablex.Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, , Ludwig, 1921. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. London (1966): Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar