Parametrized Abstract Objects For Linguistic Information Processing

Programming languages which have adequate primitives for linguistic information processin~ and a clear semantics at the formal computational level are now slowly emergin~ as a convergent effort from computer science, linguistics, and artificial intelligence. Our work on the processin~ of a special kind o f linguistic information, namely temporal information ,has led us to advocate the use of a language with the following characteristic features: high level of abstraction; capacity for inference; modularity. A h i g h l e v e l o f a b s t r a c t i o n i s n e e d e d t o d e a l w i t h c o m p l e x l i n £ u i s t i c n o t i o n s which are not easily reducible to elementary data structures. A capacity for inference is required, as most criteria or tests in linguistics make use of particular kinds of deductions, at different levels of the linguistic analysis. As for modularity, a typical situation in linguistics has to do with a hierarchy of concepts or units, and the relations between those units at different levels. This paper discusses the relevance of the choice of parametrized abstract ob jec t s as tools for linguistic information processing and exemplifies the use of such objects for temporal information.