Naturalness vs. predictability: A key debate in controlled languages

Abstract

In this paper we describe two quite different philosophies used in developing controlled languages (CLs): A "naturalist" approach, in which CL interpretation is treated as a simpler form of full natural language processing; and a "formalist" approach, in which the CL interpretation is "deterministic" (context insensitive) and the CL is viewed more as an English-like formal specification language. Despite the philosophical and practical differences, we suggest that a synthesis can be made in which a deterministic core is embedded in a naturalist CL, and illustrate this with our own controlled language CPL. In the second part of this paper we present a fictitious debate between an ardent "naturalist" and an ardent "formalist", each arguing their respective positions, to illustrate the benefits and tradeoffs of these different philosophies in an accessible way. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.