Towards linguistic descriptions of phenomena

Abstract

This paper deals with the development of computational systems that are able to provide users with meaningful linguistic descriptions of phenomena, i.e., of occurrences, circumstances, or facts that are perceptible by their senses. Current technology allows computers to provide users with a great amount of data about a phenomenon in few seconds, nevertheless the problem consists of interpreting this overwhelming amount of information in a practical and meaningful way. This contribution is organized around the concept of Granular Linguistic Model of a Phenomenon where we combine ideas from two fields, namely, Computational Theory of Perceptions and Systemic Functional Linguistics. We describe the main components of a computational system for generating meaningful linguistic descriptions of phenomena. We illustrate the use of this new type of computational application with a practical example. In our opinion, these ideas are the starting point of an encouraging research line based on merging knowledge taken from the two mentioned disciplines.