Further information about the LKB system. This includes download instructions, LKB mailing list, bug reporting.
Typed feature structure formalisms allow linguistically precise and theoretically motivated descriptions of human languages to be used in real-world applications such as email response, spoken dialogue systems, and machine translation. This book provides a theoretical and practical introduction to typed feature structures and their use in computational linguistics.
Implementing Typed Feature Structure Grammars includes informal, yet rigorous, descriptions of typed feature structure logic as well as formal definitions. This presentation covers the basics of grammar development, introducing the reader to treatments of syntax, morphology, and semantics and discussing the computational issues involved in parsing and generation.
This book also acts as a user manual for the Linguistic Knowledge Building (LKB) system, which was developed by the author and her colleagues. The LKB system is a grammar and lexicon development environment that allows the reader to experiment with the various grammars described in the book and learn the details of the formalism. However it is also powerful and efficient enough to support development of large-scale grammars.
Anne Copestake is a lecturer in the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory.
The LKB system is freely available as Open Source and is compatible with Windows, Linux, and Solaris.
Read an excerpt from this book.
Documentation for the LKB system.
LKB related papers and other information
Other available systems
A list of the URLs of the other systems mentioned in the book (section 5.8.2):
4/1/2002
- Preface ix
- I Typed feature structure grammars 1
- 1 Introduction 3
- 1.1 What you need to run the LKB 4
- 1.2 What you need to know about to understand this book 5
- 1.3 A brief introduction to the LKB system 6
- 1.4 Using this book 7
- 2 A first session with the LKB system 9
- 2.1 Obtaining and starting the LKB 9
- 2.2 Using the LKB top menu 11
- 2.3 Loading an existing grammar 12
- 2.4 Examining typed feature structures and type constraints 15
- 2.5 Parsing sentences 18
- 2.6 Viewing a semantic representation 24
- 2.7 Generating from parse results 26
- 2.8 Adding a lexical entry 27
- 2.9 Adding a type with a constraint description 27
- 2.10 Summary 28
- 3 Typed feature structures made simple 31
- 3.1 A really really simple grammar 31
- 3.2 The type hierarchy 36
- 3.3 Typed feature structures 43
- 3.4 Unification 50
- 3.5 Type constraints and inheritance 63
- 3.6 Summary 73
- 4 Grammars in typed feature structures 75
- 4.1 An introduction to grammars in TFSs 75
- 4.2 Parsing in an implementation 84
- 4.3 Difference lists 89
- 4.4 The description language 93
- 4.5 Writing grammars in the LKB system 100
- 4.6 Summary 106
- 5 More advanced grammars 107
- 5.1 Lexicalist grammars 107
- 5.2 Lexical and morphological rules 114
- 5.3 Exploiting the type system in grammar encoding 121
- 5.4 Simple semantics and generation 126
- 5.5 Long distance dependencies 135
- 5.6 *A final note on formalism issues 138
- 5.7 Summary 142
- 5.8 Further reading 142
- II LKB user manual 149
- 6 LKB user interface 151
- 6.1 Top level commands 152
- 6.2 Type hierarchy display 157
- 6.3 Typed feature structure display 157
- 6.4 Parse output display 160
- 6.5 Parse tree display 160
- 6.6 Chart display 161
- 7 Error messages and debugging techniques 163
- 7.1 Error messages 163
- 7.2 Lexical entries 171
- 7.3 Grammar rules 171
- 7.4 Debugging techniques 171
- 8 Advanced features 175
- 8.1 Defining a new grammar 175
- 8.2 Script files 177
- 8.3 Parsing and generation efficiency techniques 181
- 8.4 Irregular morphology 183
- 8.5 Multiword lexemes 184
- 8.6 Parse ranking 185
- 8.7 Leaf types 185
- 8.8 Caches 186
- 8.9 Using emacs with the LKB system 186
- 8.10 YADU 186
- 8.11 MRS 188
- 8.12 Generation 188
- 8.13 Testing and Diagnosis 189
- 8.14 Parse tree labels 189
- 8.15 Linking the LKB to other systems 190
- 9 Details of system parameters 193
- 9.1 Grammar independent global variables 194
- 9.2 Grammar specific parameters 196
- 9.3 User definable functions 198
- References 203
- Index 209
- Index of Menu Commands 213
- Index of Parameters and Functions 215
