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Full-Text Articles in Computational Linguistics

Lexicalization And De-Lexicalization Processes In Sign Languages: Comparing Depicting Constructions And Viewpoint Gestures, Kearsy Cormier, David Quinto-Pozos, Zed Sehyr, Adam Schembri Nov 2012

Lexicalization And De-Lexicalization Processes In Sign Languages: Comparing Depicting Constructions And Viewpoint Gestures, Kearsy Cormier, David Quinto-Pozos, Zed Sehyr, Adam Schembri

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

In this paper, we compare so-called “classifier” constructions in signed languages (which we refer to as “depicting constructions”) with comparable iconic gestures produced by non-signers. We show clear correspondences between entity constructions and observer viewpoint gestures on the one hand, and handling constructions and character viewpoint gestures on the other. Such correspondences help account for both lexicalisation and de-lexicalisation processes in signed languages and how these processes are influenced by viewpoint. Understanding these processes is crucial when coding and annotating natural sign language data.


What's In A Letter?, Aaron J. Schein Jan 2012

What's In A Letter?, Aaron J. Schein

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Sentiment analysis is a burgeoning field in natural language processing used to extract and categorize opinion in evaluative documents. We look at recommendation letters, which pose unique challenges to standard sentiment analysis systems. Our dataset is eighteen letters from applications to UMass Worcester Memorial Medical Center’s residency program in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Given a small dataset, we develop a method intended for use by domain experts to systematically explore their intuitions about the topical make-up of documents on which they make critical decisions. By leveraging WordNet and the WordNet Propagation algorithm, the method allows a user to develop topic seed …


Evaluation Automatique De Textes Et Cohésion Lexicale, Yves Bestgen Jan 2012

Evaluation Automatique De Textes Et Cohésion Lexicale, Yves Bestgen

Yves Bestgen

(Article in French). Automatic essay grading is currently experiencing a growing popularity because of its importance in the field of education and, particularly, in foreign language learning. While several efficient systems have been developed over the last fifteen years, almost none of them take the discourse level into account. Recently, a few studies proposed to fill this gap by means of automatic indexes of lexical cohesion obtained from Latent Semantic Analysis, but the results were disappointing. Based on a well-known model of writing expertise, the present study proposes a new index of cohesion derived from work on the thematic segmentation …


Beefmoves: Dissemination, Diversity, And Dynamics Of English Borrowings In A German Hip Hop Forum, Matt Garley, Julia Hockenmaier Jan 2012

Beefmoves: Dissemination, Diversity, And Dynamics Of English Borrowings In A German Hip Hop Forum, Matt Garley, Julia Hockenmaier

Publications and Research

We investigate how novel English-derived words (anglicisms) are used in a German-language Internet hip hop forum, and what factors contribute to their uptake.


What's In A Letter?, Aaron J. Schein Dec 2011

What's In A Letter?, Aaron J. Schein

Aaron J Schein

Sentiment analysis is a burgeoning field in natural language processing used to extract and categorize opinion in evaluative documents. We look at recommendation letters, which pose unique challenges to standard sentiment analysis systems. Our dataset is eighteen letters from applications to UMass Worcester Memorial Medical Center’s residency program in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Given a small dataset, we develop a method intended for use by domain experts to systematically explore their intuitions about the topical make-up of documents on which they make critical decisions. By leveraging WordNet and the WordNet Propagation algorithm, the method allows a user to develop topic seed …