Chapter10LanguageandComputerWhatiscomputationallinguistics?Computationallinguisticsisabranchofappliedlinguistics,dealingwithcomputerprocessingofhumanlanguage.(1)Itincludestheanalysisoflanguagedatasoastoestablishtheorderinwhichlearnersacquirevariousgrammaticalrulesorthefrequencyofoccurrenceofsomeparticularitem.(2)Itincludeselectronicproductionofartificialspeechandtheautomaticrecognitionofhumanspeech.(3)Itincludesresearchonautomatictranslationbetweennaturallanguages.(4)Italsoincludestextprocessingandcommunicationbetweenpeopleandcomputers.10.1Computer-assistedlanguagelearning(CALL)10.1.1CAL/CAIvs.CALLCAI(Computer-assistedinstruction)meanstheuseofacomputerinateachingprogram.CAL(Computer-assistedlearning)referstotheuseofacomputerinteachingandlearningandinordertohelpachieveeducationalobjectives.CAIaimsatseeingeducationalproblemsonthepartoftheteacher,whereasCALemphasizestheuseofacomputerinbothteachingandlearning.CALL(Computer-assistedlanguagelearning)meanstheuseofacomputerintheteachingorlearningofasecondorforeignlanguage.IfCAIorCALdealswithteachingandlearningproblemsingeneral,CALLdealswithlanguageteachingandlearninginparticular.10.1.2PhasesofCALLdevelopment(4periods)1.Duringthisperiod,computerswerelargemainframemachineskeptinresearchinstitutions.2.Smallcomputersappearedandcostcheaperthanbefore,whichmadeagenerationofprogramspossible.3.Thelearningwasnotsomuchsuppliedbythelanguageofthetextitselfasbythecognitiveproblem-solvingtechniquesandtheinteractionbetweenstudentsinthegroup.4.Insteadofwritingspecificprogramsforlanguageteaching,word-processinghasadaptedtolanguageteachingbyenablingstudentstocomposeandtryourtheirwritingsinanon-permanentform.10.1.3Technology1.Customizing,template,andauthoringprograms.2.Computernetworks.3.Compactdisktechnology4.Digitizedsound.10.2Machinetranslation(MT)10.2.1Historyofdevelopment1.TheindependentworkbyMTresearchers2.Towardsgoodqualityoutput3.Thedevelopmentoftranslatetools10.2.2Researchmethods1.Linguisticapproach2.Thepracticalapproaches(1)Thetransferapproach(2)Theinter-lingualapproach(3)Knowledge-basedapproach10.2.3MTQuality10.2.4MTandtheInternet10.2.5Spokenlanguagetranslation10.2.6MTandhumantranslationAtthebeginningofthenewcentury,itisapparentthatMTandhumantranslationcanandwillco-existinrelativeharmony.Thoseskillswhichthehumantranslatorscancontributewillalwaysbeindemand.(1)Whentranslationhastobeof“publishable”quality,bothhumantranslationandMThavetheirroles.MTplaysanimportantpartinlargescaleandrapidtranslationofboringtechnicaldocumentation,highlyrepetitivesoftwarelocalizationmanuals,andmanyothersituationswherethecostsofhumantranslationaremuchhigherthantheonesofMT.Bycontrast,thehumantranslatorsareandwillremainunrivalledfornon-repetitivelinguisticallysophisticatedtexts(e.g.inliteratureandlaw),andevenforone-offtextsinspecifichighly-specializedtechnicalsubjects.(2)Forthetranslationoftextswherethequalityofoutputismuchlessimportant,MTisoftenanidealsolution.(3)Fortheone-to-oneinterchangeofinformation,therewillprobablyalwaysbearoleforthehumantranslators.Butforthetranslationofpersonalletters,MTsystemsarelikelytobeincreasinglyused;and,forelectronicmailandfortheextractionofinformationfromwebpagesandcomputer-basedinformationservices,MTistheonlyfeasiblesolution.(4)Asforspokentranslation,theremustsurelyalwaysbeamarketforthehumantranslators.ButMTsystemsareopeningup...