Beyond Grammar

This volume shows how Data Oriented Parsing models can learn new words and structures.

'Bod develops a theory of human language based on linguistic experience. Instead of rules or principles, previously derived chunks of representations constitute the knowledge base for language use. With empirical rigor and compelling argumentation the author develops the theoretical foundations for his data-oriented approach and extends it to semantics and the processing of spoken dialogue. All computational linguists with a sincere interest in corpus-based methods should definitely read this well-written book. Theoretical linguists and psycholinguists will find it illuminating and thought-provoking.' Hans Uszkoreit, DFKI Saarbruken and Saarland University 'Beyond Grammar should be read by all theoretical linguists who feel intrigued or threatened by the renaissance of statistical natural language processing. Bod argues for the provocative thesis that knowledge of language should be understood not as a grammar, but as a 'statistical ensemble of language experience that changes slightly every time a new utterance is perceived or produced'. By building a conceptual theory that integrates formal language theory with statistical linguistics, he also shows why the coming statistical revolution need not put theoretical linguists out of business. This is a beautifully written, important, and accessible work.' Joan Bresnan, Stanford University.