We model Mandarin phrase break prediction as a classification problem with three level prosodic structures and apply conditional maximum entropy classification to this problem. We acquire multiple levels of linguistic knowledge from an annotated corpus to become well-integrated features for maximum entropy framework. Five kinds of features were used to represent various linguistic constraints i...

Texts are routinely simplified to make them more comprehensible for second language learners. However, the effects of simplification upon the linguistic features of texts remain largely unexplored. Here we examine the effects of one type of text simplification: intuitive text simplification. We use the computational tool, Coh-Metrix, to examine linguistic differences between proficiency levels ...

This paper examines linguistic features of text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) in Hong Kong. The study is based on a 70,000-word corpus of electronic mail (email) and ICQ instant messaging texts, which was mainly collected from a group of youngsters in Hong Kong. A questionnaire survey was also carried out to complement the textual findings. Some language-specific features are iden...

This paper investigates the variation in cohesion across written and spoken registers. The same method and corpora were used as in Biber’s (1988) study on linguistic variation across speech and writing; however instead of focusing on 67 linguistic features that primarily operate at the word level, we compared 236 language and cohesion features at the textlevel. Variations in frequencies across ...

In this paper we report on the use of feature structures to represent the linguistic information of a corpus. This approach has been adopted in TyPTex, a project which aims at providing a generic architecture for corpora profiling. After a brief overview of the Typtex project, we show that corpora exploration requires manipulating linguistic features in order to obtain a required level of lingu...

Text complexity assessment is a challenging task requiring various linguistic aspects to be taken into consideration. The level of the text should correspond reader’s competence. A too complicated could incomprehensible, whereas simple one boring. For many years, features were used assess readability, e.g. average length words and sentences or vocabulary variety. Thanks development natural lang...