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<Paper uid="E85-1016">
  <Title>PARAHETRIZED ABSTRACT OBJECTS FOR LINGUISTIC INFORMATION PROCESSING</Title>
  <Section position="3" start_page="0" end_page="0" type="intro">
    <SectionTitle>
INTRODUCTION
</SectionTitle>
    <Paragraph position="0"> In computational linguistics, more than often there is a tendency to directly implement a model without really ~oing through a specification step which would provide a correct abstraction of the implementation. This attitude has at least two drawbacks: Firstly, there is no formal way of comparing two models; this can lead to some pointless discussions between different approaches which, at an abstract level, can be shown to be equivalent; secondly, any extension or modification of the implemented model requires a different program instead of a mere adjustment at the abstract level which should facilitate the modular updatin~ of the implementation and allow a formal comparison between the old and the new model.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="1"> Our work on tense -and time has convinced us that, especially in linguistic domains where models are either loose or controversial, a systematic approach to linguistic information processin~ allowing compatible constructions at all levels is highly desirable. We therefore advocate the use of a language with the following features: - high level of abstraction; - capacity for inference; - modularity.</Paragraph>
    <Paragraph position="2"> This paper is in two parts. In the first part, we try to justify our choice of abstract parametrized objects as adequate tools for lin~uistic information processing; in the second part we exemplify our approach by ~ivin~ a detailed account of the way we define and construct temporal objects.</Paragraph>
  </Section>
class="xml-element"></Paper>