Computational linguistics

Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the statistical and/or rule-based modeling of natural language from a computational perspective. This modeling is not limited to any particular field of linguistics. Traditionally, computational linguistics was usually performed by computer scientists who had specialized in the application of computers to the processing of a natural language. Computational linguists often work as members of interdisciplinary teams, including linguists (specifically trained in linguistics), language experts (persons with some level of ability in the languages relevant to a given project), and computer scientists. In general, computational linguistics draws upon the involvement of linguists, computer scientists, experts in artificial intelligence, mathematicians, logicians, philosophers, cognitive scientists, cognitive psychologists, psycholinguists, anthropologists and neuroscientists, among others.

Holonymy

Holonymy (in Greek holon = whole and onoma = name) is a semantic relation. Holonymy defines the relationship between a term denoting the whole and a term denoting a part of, or a member of, the whole. That is,

'X' is a holonym of 'Y' if Ys are parts of Xs, or

'X' is a holonym of 'Y' if Ys are members of Xs.

For example, 'tree' is a holonym of 'bark', of 'trunk' and of 'limb.'

Holonymy is the opposite of meronymy.

Metonymy

Metonymy (pronounced /mɨˈtɒnɨmi/, mi-ton-uh-mee [1]) is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept. For instance, "Westminster" is used as a metonym (an instance of metonymy) for the Government of the United Kingdom, because it is located there.

The words "metonymy" and "metonym" come from the Greek: μετωνυμία, metōnymía, "a change of name", from μετά, metá, "after, beyond" and -ωνυμία, -ōnymía, a suffix used to name figures of speech, from ὄνῠμα, ónyma or ὄνομα, ónoma, "name." Metonymy may also be instructively contrasted with metaphor. Both figures involve the substitution of one term for another. In metaphor, this substitution is based on some specific similarity, whereas, in metonymy, the substitution is based on some understood association (contiguity).

Meronymy

Meronymy (from the Greek words meros = part and onoma = name) is a semantic relation used in linguistics. A meronym denotes a constituent part of, or a member of something. That is,

X is a meronym of Y if Xs are parts of Y(s), or

X is a meronym of Y if Xs are members of Y(s).

For example, 'finger' is a meronym of 'hand' because a finger is part of a hand. Similarly 'wheel' is a meronym of 'automobile'.

Meronymy is the opposite of holonymy. A closely related concept is that of mereology, which specifically deals with part/whole relations and is used in logic. It is formally expressed in terms of first-order logic.

A meronym means part of a whole. A word denoting a subset of what another word denotes is a hyponym.

In knowledge representation languages, meronymy is often expressed as "part-of".

 

Interfix

Interfix is a term in linguistics and more specifically, morphology (the study of morphemes, the most basic meaningful entities in word formation). It describes an affix which is placed in between two other morphemes and does not have a semantic meaning. Unlike other affixes, like prefixes (who precede morphemes they are attached to) or suffixes (who are placed after the morpheme they are attached to), an interfix is attached to two different morphemes and thus differs from seemingly similar infix, which is inserted in the middle of one morpheme.

In English, when technical compound words are formed from non-technical roots, an -o- interfix is sometimes used, as o has come to be seen as a connecting vowel: Speed-o-meter, mile-o-meter, by analogy to tacho-meter, odo-meter, and nonsense words such as obscen-o-meter.

Allomorph

Allomorph

Allomorphs are different forms of the same morpheme, or basic unit of meaning. These can be different pronunciations or different spellings.

Example
There are three allomorphs of the morpheme -s in English. Compare the sound of the -s in ‘cats', ‘dogs' and ‘foxes'.

In the classroom
Certain allomorphs are difficult for learners to produce correctly, for example the allomorphs of the -ed regular past morpheme, which learners often do not produce correctly until higher levels. Recognition activities such as sorting words into groups according to pronunciation are useful to raise awareness.