Linguistic and non-linguistic "understanding" of linguistic tokens.

Donald MacCrimmon MacKay

ResearchPublished 1964

An examination of the difference between recognizing an utterance as a "symptom" of the state of affairs or confronting its originator and recognizing it as a linguistic tool. It is suggested that, although only the first kind of understanding is required to enable a computer to accept data and answer questions in verbal form, such ability does not guarantee its comprehension of all aspects of language. To reach full linguistic comprehension, the program must also embody at least a skeleton representation of the linguistic context of an utterance. By use of such a model, a computer should be able to meet more sensitive tests of linguistic comprehension. 19 pp.

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  • Availability: Web Only
  • Year: 1964
  • Pages: 12
  • Document Number: RM-3892-PR

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MacKay, Donald MacCrimmon, Linguistic and non-linguistic "understanding" of linguistic tokens. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1964. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM3892.html.
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