""Statistical natural-language processing is, in my estimation, one ofthe most fast-moving and exciting areas of computer science thesedays. Anyone who wants to learn this field would be well advised toget this book. For that matter, the same goes for anyone who isalready in the field. I know that it is going to be one of the mostwell-thumbed books on my bookshelf."" Eugene Charniak , Department of Computer Science, Brown University