This Action aims at increasing and enhancing the support of the European multilingual heritage from Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). This general aim is addressed through improving linguistic representativeness, precision and computational efficiency of Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications. The Action focuses on the major bottleneck of these applications: Multi-Word Expressions (MWEs), i.e. sequences of words with unpredictable properties such as “to count somebody in” or “to take a haircut”. A breakthrough in their modelling and processing can only result from a coordinated effort of multidisciplinary experts in different languages. COST is the most adequate framework answering this need. Fourteen European languages will be addressed from a cross-theoretical and cross-methodological perspective, necessary for coping with current fragmentation issues. Expected deliverables include enhanced language resources and tools, as well as recommendations of best practices for cutting-edge MWE-aware language models. The Action will lead to a better understanding of the nature of MWEs. It will establish a long-lasting collaboration within a multilingual network of MWE specialists. It will pave the way towards competitive next generation text processing tools which will pay greater attention to language phenomena.
multilingualism - natural language processing - multiword expressions - idioms - parsing
