7 - Beyond Text Generation

Summary

So far in this book we have considered the generation of natural language as if it were concerned with the production of text abstracted away from embodiment in any particular medium. This does not reflect reality, of course: When we are confronted with language, it is always embodied, whether in a speech stream, on a computer screen, on the page of a book, or on the back of a breakfast cereal packet. In this final chapter, we look beyond text generation and examine some of the issues that arise when we consider the generation of text contained within some medium.

Introduction

Linguistic content can be delivered to a reader or hearer in many ways. Consider, for example, a few of the ways in which a weather report might be presented to an audience:

• Email. When delivered as the body of a simple text-only email message, it might consist of nothing more than a sequence of words and punctuation symbols, with blank lines or indentations to indicate some of the structure in the text.

• Newspaper article. In this case it could include typographic elements, such as the use of bold and italic typefaces, and accompanying graphics, such as a weather map.

• Web page. As well as making use of typographic devices and graphical elements, in this case it could also include hypertext links to related information, such as the weather in neighbouring cities.

• Radio broadcast. Prosodic elements such as pauses and pitch changes might be used to communicate emphasis and structure.

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