Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
7
A Syntactics for Retrieval from Full Text
Introduction
This chapter focuses on understanding written language at the syntactic
level. The understanding of syntax adopted here refers to patterns, not
directly to grammar, and is continuous and consistent with the under-
standing of syntax in the concepts of syntactic labor and machine proc-
esses, which were developed earlier as part of the labor theoretic approach.
The continuity of the understanding of syntax implies the possibility that
machine processes operate on the patterns isolated and the further pos-
sibility of revealing the basis for established computational operations,
including those used in retrieval from full text. The specific concern is with
the units of written language and their combination—the letter or charac-
ter, the word, and the multiword sequence. We are further concerned with
the frequency of recurrence of units and their combination, particularly
of identical multiword sequences. The area of study from which the anal-
ysis will be derived involves information theory, rigorously interpreted
and applied to written language. The stress on the materiality of com-
munication and the primary focus on written language will be sustained.
In contrast to Saussurean linguistics, information theory focuses exclu-
sively on communication in its aspect as signals and not on its meaning. It
can be adapted to yield particular insight into patterns of replication and
difference in sequences of signals. Written language is understood as the
message of information theory. Information theory offers a particularly
revealing analysis of the units of written language and their combination,
but it is seldom exploited for understanding the structure of written lan-
guage in relation to retrieval.
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