This paper introduces Lexical Constraint Grammars (lcgs), a novel framework for the description and processing of syntactic structures in natural language. Each lcg fixes a base class of structures and a lexicalised constraint language used to express restrictions on configurations within that class. The most prominent feature of these constraint languages is their locality : constraints specif...

This study investigated what factors are used by native speakers and Japanese learners of English when they determine the position of stress in producing and perceiving disyllabic English nonwords. Syllable structure (vowel length and number of consonants) and lexical class affected both groups, but in different ways. Phonotactic legality of intervocalic consonants influenced native speakers al...

We apply machine learning techniques to classify automatically a set of verbs into lexical semantic classes, based on distributional approximations of diathe-ses, extracted from a very large annotated corpus. Distributions of four grammatical features are sufficient to reduce error rate by 50% over chance. We conclude that corpus data is a usable repository of verb class information, and that c...

In this study, we aim to test our hypothesis that confidence scores of sentiment values of tweets aid in classification of sentiment. We used several feature sets consisting of lexical features, emoticons, features based on sentiment scores and combination of lexical and sentiment features. Since our dataset includes confidence scores of real numbers in [0-1] range, we employ regression analysi...

The importance of dealing with unknown words in Natural Language Processing NLP is growing as NLP systems are used in more and more applications One aid in predicting the lexical class of words that do not appear in the lexicon referred to as unknown words is the use of syntactic parsing rules The distinction between closed class and open class words together with morphological recognition appe...

Acquiring vocabulary has always been recognized as a significant and challenging part of language learning process. In this study, the researcher examined the extent to which form recall of target lexical items by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) is affected by a) repetition and b) by the type of target item; single words versus collocations. The treatment consisted of non-commun...

The lexical choice process should be regarded as a constraint satisfaction problem: the generation system must choose a lexical unit that is accurate (t~mthful), va//d (conveys the necessary information), and preferred (maxirnal under a preference function). This corts~aint-based architecture allows a clema separation to be made between what the system knows of the object or event, and what the...

Lexical bundles are empirically derived formulaic units of language which are register-specifi c and perform a variety of discourse functions. Because these units of language contribute to the linguistic make up of specifi c registers, they can be important indicators for determining the success of language users within these discourse communities. Therefore, language learners need to assimilat...

Word retrieval deficits for specific grammatical categories, such as verbs versus nouns, occur as a consequence of brain damage. Such deficits are informative about the nature of lexical organization in the human brain. This study examined retrieval of grammatical categories across three languages in a trilingual person with aphasia who spoke Arabic, French, and English. In order to delineate t...