The central task of a future-oriented computational linguistics is the development of cognitive machines which humans can freely talk with in their respective natural language. In the long run, this task will ensure the development of a functional theory of language, an objective method of verification, and a wide range of practical applications. Natural communication requires not only verbal processing, but also non-verbal perception and action. Therefore the content of this textbook is organized as a theory of language for the construction of talking robots. The main topic is the mechanism of natural language communication in both the speaker and the hearer. The content is divided into four Theory of Language, Theory of Grammar, Morphology and Syntax, Semantics and Pragmatics. The book contains more than 700 excercises for reviewing key ideas and important problems. In the 2nd edition, changes are most noticeable in Chapters 22-24, which have been completely rewritten. They present a declarative outline for programming the semantic and pragmatic interpretation of natural language communication. The presentation is now simpler and more comprehensive. It is defined as a formal fragment and includes a new control structure, an analysis of spatio-temporal inferencing, and an analysis of internal matching based on the notion of a task analysis. Examples and explanations contained in the old versions of Chapters 22-24 have been moved to the new Appendix. A schematic summary and a conclusion have been added as well.
From the reviews of the second edition:
"Hausser sets out a detailed case for the view that all aspects of language ... are strictly ‘time-linear’, that is, reflect a radical processing in real time, a view which, if it can be sustained, involves a radical shift in our concepts of language. ... Hausser provides a clear and devastating critique of orthodox constituent-based phrase structure grammar ... . The book is presented as a textbook with exercises checking comprehension at the end of each chapter ... . Overall then, the book is provocative ... ." (Ruth Kempson, Journal of Linguistics, Vol. 37, 2001)
"'Foundations of Computational Linguistics' should interest language philosophers, theoretical linguists and computational linguists alike. ... 'Foundations of Computational Linguistics' presents both a state of the art and the author’s own theory, which contains a lot of important innovations. ... Hausser’s requirements in computational linguistics are ambitious but, as he shows (and this is surely one of the great merits of the book), not unrealistic. ... We highly recommend this book, which is an important and very rewarding book indeed." (Paul Gochet and Michel Kefer, Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Vol. 3 (221), 2002)
"The book presents in a unified way a complete theory of natural language and its ‘implementations’ in terms of the robot Curious. But also for readers interested in a broader view of computational linguistics, studying the book may be worthwhile since the author always compares his particular approach to other more familiar theories from the literature." (Heribert Vollmer, Zentralblatt MATH, Vol. 984, 2002)
