Section: Overall Objectives

Overall Objectives

The Signes project-team addresses several related domains of computational linguistics: :

• flexional and derivational morphology,

• syntax,

• logical semantics,

• lexical semantics,

• discourse representation.

The interfaces are of special interest to our group: between morphology and syntax, between syntax and semantics, between morphology and semantics, between semantics and discourse structure,...

There are various means to tackle these questions. In Signes, the methological accent is on the formal, symbolic methods issued from logic, which are also studied for themselves, like:

• formal language theory,

• categorial grammars,

• resource logics,

• lambda calculus,

• higher order logic.

We also develop the corresponding computational linguistics tools, which result in natural language processing (NLP) pieces of software for analysis, generation and acquisition devices. Some specific languages deserve particular attention, like Sanskrit, French Sign Language, Dutch and French:

• natural language tools for Sanskrit,

• modelling of French Sign Language grammar,

• large scale grammar for the NWO Dutch Spoken Corpus,

• lexicon and grammar for the analysis of written French.