Elements of a Natural Language Processing Technology

In order to meet the growing expectations raised by serious market studies for the remainder of the decade, it is commonly agreed that natural language processing must be based on a sound theoretical basis that allows for a simplified construction, adaptation, or modification of natural language programmes to particular tasks. The task is quite a general one, since to the extent that natural language products are software products, the development of natural language programmes needs to take into account at least the dimensions of software-engineering, ergonomics, and linguistic functionality. Successful commercialization of natural language processing is not a natural consequence of more sophisticated linguistics, but primarily requires an efficient management of the linguistic software development cycle, and a clear conception of the use of natural language as a means of communication in general, and human computer interaction in particular.