Natural Language Relies on Grammar and Meaning
Definition
Natural Language
The language humans use to communicate, such as English, Spanish, or Mandarin.
- It is complex and ambiguous, making it challenging for computers to understand.
- To process natural language, computers need to break it down into smaller components and analyze its structure and meaning.
Note
- Key Terms:
- Noun: A word that represents a person, place, thing, or idea (e.g., "dog," "city," "happiness").
- Verb: A word that describes an action or state (e.g., "run," "is," "think").
- Syntax: The rules that govern the structure of sentences (e.g., word order, punctuation).
- Semantics: The meaning of words and sentences.
Key Structures of Natural Language
- Parts of speech are categories of words that perform specific functions in a sentence.
- The main parts of speech include:
- Nouns: Represent people, places, things, or ideas.
- Verbs: Describe actions or states.
- Adjectives: Modify nouns (e.g., "red," "happy").
- Adverbs: Modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs (e.g., "quickly," "very").
- Pronouns: Replace nouns (e.g., "he," "she," "it").
- Prepositions: Show relationships between nouns (e.g., "in," "on," "under").
- Conjunctions: Connect words or phrases (e.g., "and," "but," "or").
- Interjections: Express emotions (e.g., "wow," "ouch").
- The main parts of speech include:
Example
- "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog."
- Nouns: fox, dog
- Adjectives: quick, brown, lazy
- Verb: jumps
- Preposition: over
- Article: the (a type of determiner)
2. Syntax
- Syntax refers to the rules that determine how words are arranged in a sentence.
- These rules vary between languages and are essential for conveying meaning.
Example
- In English, the typical sentence structure is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO).
- "She (subject) eats (verb) an apple (object)."
Common Mistake
- A common mistake is assuming that all languages follow the same syntax rules.
- For example, Japanese often uses Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) structure.
3. Semantics
- Semantics is the study of meaning in language.
- It involves understanding the meaning of individual words, phrases, and sentences.
Example
- The word "bank" can have multiple meanings:
- A financial institution.
- The side of a river.
Note
- Semantics helps disambiguate words based on context.
- For example, in the sentence "She sat by the bank," semantics helps determine whether "bank" refers to a financial institution or a riverbank.
4. Pragmatics
- Pragmatics deals with how context influences the interpretation of language.
- It considers factors such as the speaker's intent, the relationship between speakers, and the situation in which the language is used.
Example
The phrase "Can you pass the salt?" is a question, but pragmatically, it is understood as a request.
5. Morphology
- Morphology is the study of the structure of words.
- It involves analyzing how words are formed from smaller units called morphemes.
Example
- The word "unhappiness" consists of three morphemes:
- "un-" (a prefix meaning "not")
- "happy" (the root word)
- "-ness" (a suffix indicating a state or quality)
