[Corpora-List] Newbie help - language parsing, Python, Java, etc.

[Robert Dale]

Brian --

I think your specific needs would be best met by looking at the speech
recognition world.  In particular, check out Nuance (www.nuance.com); you
can sign up as a developer for free and get access, for non-resale purposes,
to their speech rec technology, which includes tools for writing grammars
that would cover very well the kind of NL input you need.  Tools from the
NLP world have a different focus, with more concern directed towards broader
coverage.

R

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-corpora at lists.uib.no [mailto:owner-corpora at lists.uib.no]On
> Behalf Of Brian Parkinson
> Sent: Thursday, 5 September 2002 8:24 AM
> To: CORPORA at HD.UIB.NO
> Subject: [Corpora-List] Newbie help - language parsing, Python, Java,
> etc.
>
>
> Hello:
>
> I am starting a hobby type application at home - essentially, I'd want
> to be able to control the X.10 devices in my home (lights, switches,
> etc) with some 'English' commands.
>
> What I want to do is be able to type stuff like "turn the hall light
> on" or "turn all lights off" - that sort of thing. The main intention
> is to learn about this stuff - doesn't have to be anything "fancy" in
> the end - I just want to putter in this area.
>
> Eventually, I'd like to hook up speech recognition software so I can
> talk to the house as it were. Likely IBM's ViaVoice.
>
> I am on a Mac (OS X) and have extensive experience with programming
> (Java, C/C++, Python, Perl - that sort of thing). I have the interface
> from Java to the X.10 devices sorted out, but the whole arena of
> natural language processing is new and daunting - note that I am not by
> any stretch trying to tackle "real" speech or to gramatically parse any
> given sentence - I am happy with a specific grammar which hopefully I
> could extend as time goes on.
>
> I'd like to be cross platform - this is a bit of a goal.
>
> The nltk library (Python) looks promising, but there is no "English-y"
> grammar that is supplied - this is the framework to put together
> something like this, but contains not even really a Hello World type
> example that I could start using. So I am a bit stymied.
>
> Is there anyone on the list that might be able to help with nltk
> (supply a Hello World type example) or point me in a better direction?
> Perhaps there are some Perl or Java English parsers available. And any
> hints/suggestions or good dox to read to help out would be especially
> helpful.
>
> Back to your regularly scheduled discussion...
>
> Thanks,
>
> parki...
>
>
>
>