LEXICAL ANALYSIS TO ENHANCE MAN-MACHINE INTERACTION

ONE OF THE BIGGEST BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE AND WIDE SPREAD USE OF COMPUTERS BY NON-COMPUTER-SPECIALISTS IS THE NEED FOR USERS TO INTERACT WITH COMPUTERS IN "COMPUTERESE" RATHER THAN ENGLISH. ADDITIONALLY, THE LACK OF STANDARD SOFTWARE MODULES THAT "UNDERSTAND" NATURAL LANGUAGE HAMPERS THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOFTWARE FOR TRANSLATING LANGUAGE AND FOR MONITORING LANGUAGE ACQUISITION SKILLS. THE PROPOSED EFFORT ADDRESSES BOTH OF THESE CONCERNS BY EXPLORING THE EXTENT TO WHICH VARIOUS LEVELS OF LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS CAN BE IMPLEMENTED AND EFFECTIVELY IN PERSONAL COMPUTING SYSTEMS WITH LIMITED PROCESSING POWER. THIS RESEARCH WILL EXPAND EMERSON & STERN ASSOCIATES' EXISTING WORK WITH ORTHOGRAPHY TO INCORPORATE SYNTACTIC, AND EVENTUALLY SEMANTIC, MODELS.