Computational semantics

It is Computational Semantics is not so much a new subject, as a new way of looking at old questions those concerning meaning, language, and understanding. based on the assumption that a good way to explicate such difficult notions is to work toward the programming of an automaton, or digital computer, so that it could be said to understand language. An un-This goal, of course, can be justified on purely practical grounds. derstanding computer would be a useful thing to have. Not only would it allow more people to communicate with a class of machines, which is of ever increasing importance in our lives, but would also permit the automation of many tedious and unrewarding tasks: telephone operator, social security clerk, and conventional secretary, to name but a few. Yet the achievement of such goals must await con-siderable improvement in our understanding of the nature of language.