Double syntax oriented processing

A syntax-oriented processing scheme is described in which the syntaxes of both the input and output sentences are given equal importance. Both syntaxes are defined by BN-type production rules, and are connected by given certain identical names in the two languages. This results in a fully symmetric scheme, input can be recovered from output by merely exchanging the two blocks of production rules. ‘Simple' and ‘Ramified' processing are distinguished—the latter being an extension which allows context sensitive features to be handled. It is suggested that this scheme is a useful tool enabling the non-specialist to effect routine modifications to sentences or whole programmes automatically. The possibilities of the method are illustrated by numerous examples, and reference is made to a field-tested implementatio