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Symbolic Representation and Natural Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Torben Thrane
Affiliation:
Center for Informatics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
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Abstract

The notion of symbolizability is taken as the second requisite of computation (the first being ‘algorithmizability’), and it is shown that symbols, qua symbols, are not symbolizable. This has far-reaching consequences for the computational study of language and for AI-research in language understanding. The representation hypothesis is formulated, and its various assumptions and goals are examined. A research strategy for the computational study of natural language understanding is outlined.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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