Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Language

Language

Language is a unique communication system that uses words and systematic rules to organize and transmit information. Unlike other forms of communication, which may involve postures, movements, odors, or vocalizations, language relies on symbols and grammar. This makes human communication distinct from that of other species, who also communicate but do not use language in the same way humans do.
Corballis and Suddendorf (2007) and Tomasello and Rakoczy (2003) highlight the role of language in...

Components of Language

Components of Language

Language, whether spoken, signed, or written, consists of specific components: lexicon and grammar. The lexicon is the vocabulary of a language, comprising its words. Grammar is the set of rules used to convey meaning through the lexicon. For example, English grammar adds “-ed” to most verbs to indicate past tense. Words are formed by combining phonemes, which are the basic sound units of a language. Different languages have different sets of phonemes (e.g., “ah” vs.

Language Development

Language Development

Children master language quickly and with relative ease, supported by both biological predisposition and reinforcement. B. F. Skinner (1957) proposed that language is learned through reinforcement, while Noam Chomsky (1965) argued that language acquisition mechanisms are biologically determined.
The critical period for language acquisition suggests that the ability to acquire language is at its peak early in life. As people age, this proficiency decreases. Language development begins very...

Language and Cognition

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language

Language is a system of communication that allows the expression of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. The brain processes language in both hemispheres.
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...

Comparing Copy Number Variations and SNPs

Comparing Copy Number Variations and SNPs

Sequencing of the human genome has opened up several best-kept secrets of the genome. Scientists have identified thousands of genome variations that exist within a population. These variations can be a single nucleotide or a larger chromosomal variation.
Copy number variations or CNVs are the structural variations that cover more than 1kb of DNA sequence. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), on the other hand, is a single nucleotide change or a point mutation that is found in more than 1%...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

SynNER: syntax-infused named entity recognition in the biomedical domain.

JAMIA open·2026

Same author

Unveiling factors influencing judgment variation in sentiment analysis with natural language processing and statistics.

PloS one·2024

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 29, 2026

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Published on: July 13, 2019

Comparing neural- and N-gram-based language models for word segmentation.

Yerai Doval¹, Carlos Gómez-Rodríguez²

¹Grupo COLE, Departamento de Informática E.S. de Enxeñaría Informática Universidade de Vigo Campus As Lagoas Ourense 32004 Spain.

Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology

|February 19, 2019

Summary

This study introduces a novel word segmentation system using beam search and byte-level language models. The system effectively handles data sparsity in microtexts, outperforming existing tools.

More Related Videos

Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment

Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment

Published on: June 25, 2019

Involving Individuals with Developmental Language Disorder and Their Parents/Carers in Research Priority Setting

Involving Individuals with Developmental Language Disorder and Their Parents/Carers in Research Priority Setting

Published on: June 6, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 29, 2026

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation tDCS of Wernicke's and Broca's Areas in Studies of Language Learning and Word Acquisition

Published on: July 13, 2019

Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment

Lexical Decision Task for Studying Written Word Recognition in Adults with and without Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment

Published on: June 25, 2019

Involving Individuals with Developmental Language Disorder and Their Parents/Carers in Research Priority Setting

Involving Individuals with Developmental Language Disorder and Their Parents/Carers in Research Priority Setting

Published on: June 6, 2020

Area of Science:

Natural Language Processing
Computational Linguistics

Background:

Word segmentation is crucial for text processing, especially for languages lacking explicit word boundaries.
Microtexts present unique challenges due to data sparsity and informal language.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop an effective word segmentation system for microtext normalization.
To improve upon existing word segmentation tools like Microsoft's Word Breaker and Grant Jenks' WordSegment.

Main Methods:

A beam search algorithm combined with a byte/character-level language model (n-gram or recurrent neural network).
The system processes text token by token (character or byte) to determine word boundaries.
Focus on addressing data sparsity inherent in microtext.

Main Results:

The proposed system successfully segmented microtexts.
Performance metrics indicate the system met its objectives in precision and efficiency.
Outperformed two established word segmentation systems in tests.

Conclusions:

The developed word segmentation approach is effective for microtext normalization.
The system demonstrates potential for handling data sparsity and improving text processing accuracy.
Future work will focus on further enhancing precision and efficiency.