XUXEN: A Spelling Checker/Corrector for Basque Based on Two-Level Morphology

The application of the formalism of two-level morphology to Basque and its use in the e laborat ion of the X U X E N s p e l l i n g checker/corrector are described. This application is intended to cover a large part of the language. Because Basque is a highly inflected language, the approach of spelling checking and correction has been conceived as a by-product of a general purpose morphological analyzer/generator. This analyzer is taken as a basic tool for current and future work on automatic processing of Basque. An extens ion for cont inuat ion c l a s s specifications in order to deal with long-distance dependencies is proposed. This extension consists basically of two features added to the standard formalism which allow the lexicon builder to make explicit the interdependencies of morphemes. User-lexicons can be interactively enriched with new entries enabling the checker from then on to recognize all the possible flexions derived from them. Due to a late process of standardization of the language, writers don't always know the standard form to be used and commit errors. The treatment of these "typical errors" is made in a specific way by means of describing them using the two-level lexicon system. In this sense, XUXEN is intended as a useful tool for standardization purposes of present day written Basque.