Why Do We Not Use Morpheme Analyzers for English Language Processing?
The English language stands out for its relatively simple morphology compared to many other languages. This simplicity raises an intriguing question: why do we opt for stemming, a process that essentially strips suffixes from words, rather than using morpheme analyzers that provide detailed analysis of affixes? This article explores the reasons behind this choice and highlights the unique characteristics of the English language that make stemming a practical and efficient alternative.
The State of the Art in Stemming: Snowball
The Snowball stemmer has become the go-to solution for stemming English words. Despite its basic nature, it remains the state of the art in stemming, as evidenced by its widespread use and recognition in the field of natural language processing (NLP).
One reason for the popularity of Snowball is that it is simple and effective for the English language. English does not require complex morphology, and its morphophonemics are relatively clean. There are some respelling rules, but they do not significantly complicate the process. As a result, stripping suffixes is a feasible and efficient approach for processing English words.
The Role of Syntax in Natural Language Processing
Another critical factor in the preference for stemming over morpheme analysis in English is the role of syntax in the language. In English, syntax does more work than inflectional morphology. This means that to determine the meaning of a sentence, it is often more important to understand the syntactic structure rather than the morphological details. For instance, when parsing a sentence, the verb's tense and aspect can be inferred from its position and context, rather than solely from its ending.
Syntax and inflectional morphology complement each other, but in English, syntax provides a reliable framework for interpretation. Therefore, understanding the inflections is not as crucial as it is in languages with more complex morphology.
Productive Derivation in English and Lexical Exceptions
English derivation, which involves the creation of new words through suffixes and prefixes, is only somewhat productive. Many derived words in English follow predictable patterns, and this predictability allows for efficient stemming without extensive morpheme analysis. Contrast this with languages like Turkish, where the morphological structure varies significantly, and detailed morpheme analysis is necessary to accurately process words.
The limited and predictable inflection in English makes stemming less onerous. The Snowball stemmer for English is quite a small program, which further simplifies the implementation and usage of this approach.
The Linguist's Perspective on Snowball
From a linguistic perspective, the simplicity of the Snowball stemmer is deeply offensive. Linguists argue that using a tool like Snowball oversimplifies the complexity of the English language. They emphasize the importance of detailed morpheme analysis, which can provide a more nuanced understanding of word formation and meaning.
However, in practical applications such as search engines, users can generally get by with the simplified approach provided by stemming. As linguist Norbert Ogburn once pointed out, it might not be a major disservice to users, but it certainly does not capture the full richness and complexity of the language.
Conclusion
In summary, the choice between stemming and morpheme analysis for English language processing is influenced by the language's unique characteristics. The relative simplicity of English morphology, the significant role of syntax, and the predictable nature of derivation all make stemming a practical and efficient approach. While a more detailed morpheme analysis would provide a more linguistically accurate representation, the simplicity of stemming often meets the needs of practical applications effectively.
Key Takeaways:
English's simple morphology compared to many other languages makes stemming an effective approach.
Syntax in English plays a crucial role, often allowing for sentence meaning to be inferred without detailed morphology.
The limited and predictable nature of English derivation supports the use of stemming for many practical applications.