Language And Process

This is a collection of 11 analytical and empirical studies on the process of second language acquisition, probing a wide array of issues, from transfer appropriate processing to L2 default processing strategies, among hearing or deaf learners of a variety of target languages.

A survey of computational methods for understanding, generating, and manipulating human language, which offers a synthesis of classical representations and algorithms with contemporary machine learning techniques. This textbook provides a technical perspective on natural language processing—methods for building computer software that understands, generates, and manipulates human language. It emphasizes contemporary data-driven approaches, focusing on techniques from supervised and unsupervised machine learning. The first section establishes a foundation in machine learning by building a set of tools that will be used throughout the book and applying them to word-based textual analysis. The second section introduces structured representations of language, including sequences, trees, and graphs. The third section explores different approaches to the representation and analysis of linguistic meaning, ranging from formal logic to neural word embeddings. The final section offers chapter-length treatments of three transformative applications of natural language processing: information extraction, machine translation, and text generation. End-of-chapter exercises include both paper-and-pencil analysis and software implementation. The text synthesizes and distills a broad and diverse research literature, linking contemporary machine learning techniques with the field's linguistic and computational foundations. It is suitable for use in advanced undergraduate and graduate-level courses and as a reference for software engineers and data scientists. Readers should have a background in computer programming and college-level mathematics. After mastering the material presented, students will have the technical skill to build and analyze novel natural language processing systems and to understand the latest research in the field.

Process and Experience in the Language Classroom argues the case for communicative language teaching as an experiential and task driven learning process. The authors raise important questions regarding the theoretical discussion of communicative competence and current classroom practice. They propose ways in which Communicative Language Teaching should develop within an educational model of theory and practice, incorporating traditions of experimental and practical learning and illustrated from a wide range of international sources. Building on a critical review of recent language teaching principles and practice, they provide selection criteria for classroom activities based on a typology of communicative tasks drawn from classroom experience. The authors also discuss practical attempts to utilise project tasks both as a means of realising task based language learning and of redefining the roles of teacher and learner within a jointly constructed curriculum.

Linguists and lawyers from a range of countries and legal systems explore the language of the law and its participants, beginning with the role of the forensic linguist in legal proceedings, either as expert witness or in legal language reform. Subsequent chapters analyze different aspects of language and interaction in the chain of events from a police emergency call through the police interview context and into the courtroom, as well as appeal court and alternative routes to justice. A broad-based, coherent introduction to the discourse of language and law.

The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey. It is now a cliché that the world is a smaller place. We think nothing of jumping on a plane to travel to another country or continent. The most exotic locations are now destinations for mass tourism. Small business people are dealing across frontiers and language barriers like never before. The Internet brings different languages and cultures to our finger-tips. English, the hybrid language of an island at the western extremity of Europe seems to have an unrivalled position as an international medium of communication. But historically periods of cultural and economic domination have never lasted forever. Do we not lose something by relying on the wide spread use of English rather than discovering other languages and cultures? As citizens of this shrunken world, would we not be better off if we were able to speak a few languages other than our own? The answer is obviously yes. Certainly Steve Kaufmann thinks so, and in his busy life as a diplomat and businessman he managed to learn to speak nine languages fluently and observe first hand some of the dominant cultures of Europe and Asia. Why do not more people do the same? In his book The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey, Steve offers some answers. Steve feels anyone can learn a language if they want to. He points out some of the obstacles that hold people back. Drawing on his adventures in Europe and Asia, as a student and businessman, he describes the rewards that come from knowing languages. He relates his evolution as a language learner, abroad and back in his native Canada and explains the kind of attitude that will enable others to achieve second language fluency. Many people have taken on the challenge of language learning but have been frustrated by their lack of success. This book offers detailed advice on the kind of study practices that will achieve language breakthroughs. Steve has developed a language learning system available online at: www.thelinguist.com.

Develop your NLP skills from scratch! This revised bestseller now includes coverage of the latest Python packages, Transformers, the HuggingFace packages, and chatbot frameworks. Natural Language Processing in Action has helped thousands of data scientists build machines that understand human language. In this new and revised edition, you’ll discover state-of-the art NLP models like BERT and HuggingFace transformers, popular open-source frameworks for chatbots, and more. As you go, you’ll create projects that can detect fake news, filter spam, and even answer your questions, all built with Python and its ecosystem of data tools. Natural Language Processing in Action, Second Edition is your guide to building software that can read and interpret human language. This new edition is updated to include the latest Python packages and comes with full coverage of cutting-edge models like BERT, GPT-J and HuggingFace transformers. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.

Summary Natural Language Processing in Action is your guide to creating machines that understand human language using the power of Python with its ecosystem of packages dedicated to NLP and AI. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Technology Recent advances in deep learning empower applications to understand text and speech with extreme accuracy. The result? Chatbots that can imitate real people, meaningful resume-to-job matches, superb predictive search, and automatically generated document summaries—all at a low cost. New techniques, along with accessible tools like Keras and TensorFlow, make professional-quality NLP easier than ever before. About the Book Natural Language Processing in Action is your guide to building machines that can read and interpret human language. In it, you'll use readily available Python packages to capture the meaning in text and react accordingly. The book expands traditional NLP approaches to include neural networks, modern deep learning algorithms, and generative techniques as you tackle real-world problems like extracting dates and names, composing text, and answering free-form questions. What's inside Some sentences in this book were written by NLP! Can you guess which ones? Working with Keras, TensorFlow, gensim, and scikit-learn Rule-based and data-based NLP Scalable pipelines About the Reader This book requires a basic understanding of deep learning and intermediate Python skills. About the Author Hobson Lane, Cole Howard, and Hannes Max Hapke are experienced NLP engineers who use these techniques in production. Table of Contents PART 1 - WORDY MACHINES Packets of thought (NLP overview) Build your vocabulary (word tokenization) Math with words (TF-IDF vectors) Finding meaning in word counts (semantic analysis) PART 2 - DEEPER LEARNING (NEURAL NETWORKS) Baby steps with neural networks (perceptrons and backpropagation) Reasoning with word vectors (Word2vec) Getting words in order with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) Loopy (recurrent) neural networks (RNNs) Improving retention with long short-term memory networks Sequence-to-sequence models and attention PART 3 - GETTING REAL (REAL-WORLD NLP CHALLENGES) Information extraction (named entity extraction and question answering) Getting chatty (dialog engines) Scaling up (optimization, parallelization, and batch processing)

This book explores the contributions that cognitive linguistics and psychology, including neuropsychology, have made to the understanding of the way that second languages are processed and learnt. It examines areas of phonology, word recognition and semantics, examining 'bottom-up' decoding processes as compared with 'top-down' processes as they affect memory. It also discusses second language learning from the acquisition/learning and nativist/connectionist perspectives. These ideas are then related to the methods that are used to teach second languages, primarily English, in formal classroom situations. This examination involves both 'mainstream' communicative approaches, and more traditional methods widely used to teach EFL throughout the world. The book is intended to act both as a textbook for students who are studying second language teaching and as an exploration of issues for the interested teacher who would like to further extend their understanding of the cognitive processes underlying their teaching.Mick Randall is currently Senior Lecturer in TESOL and Head of the Institute of Education at the British University in Dubai. He has taught courses in second language learning and teaching, applied linguistics and psychology in a number of different contexts. He has a special interest in the cognitive processing of language and in the psycholinguistics of word recognition, spelling and reading.