On the problem of theoretical terms in empirical computational linguistics

• Verfasst von: Riezler, Stefan [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: On the problem of theoretical terms in empirical computational linguistics
• Verf.angabe: Stefan Riezler
• E-Jahr: 2014
• Jahr: March 04, 2014
• Umfang: 11 S.
• Fussnoten: Gesehen am 21.09.2020
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Computational linguistics
• Ort Quelle: Cambridge, MA : MIT Press, 1980
• Jahr Quelle: 2014
• Band/Heft Quelle: 40(2014), 1, Seite 235-245
• ISSN Quelle: 1530-9312
• DOI: doi:10.1162/COLI_a_00182
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• K10plus-PPN: 1733468781

Abstract

Philosophy of science has pointed out a problem of theoretical terms in empirical sciences. This problem arises if all known measuring procedures for a quantity of a theory presuppose the validity of this very theory, because then statements containing theoretical terms are circular. We argue that a similar circularity can happen in empirical computational linguistics, especially in cases where data are manually annotated by experts. We define a criterion of T-non-theoretical grounding as guidance to avoid such circularities, and exemplify how this criterion can be met by crowdsourcing, by task-related data annotation, or by data in the wild. We argue that this criterion should be considered as a necessary condition for an empirical science, in addition to measures for reliability of data annotation.