Integrating text planning and linguistic choice without abandoning modularity: The IGEN generator

Abstract

Natural language generation is usually divided into separate text planning and linguistic components. This division, though, assumes that the two components can operate independently, which is not always true. The IGEN generator eliminates the need for this assumption; it handles interactions between the components without sacrificing the advantages of modularity. IGEN accomplishes this by means of annotations that its linguistic component places on the structures it builds; these annotations provide an abstract description of the effects of particular linguistic choices, allowing the planner to evaluate these choices without needing any linguistic knowledge. This approach allows IGEN to vary the work done by each component independently, even in cases where the final output depends on interactions between them. In addition, since IGEN explicitly models the effects of linguistic choices, it can gracefully handle situations where the available time or linguistic resources are limited.