Computerized correction of phonographic errors

When computers are confronted with text (C.A.I., lexicography, machine translation, information retrieval, office automation, etc.) spelling-error bottlenecks greatly decrease the efficiency of systems. In this paper, we demonstrate how spelling errors can be efficiently handled from an algorithmic, computer science point of view. We first show that the various types of spelling errors must receive different treatments, and we especially focus on phonographic errors, on which relatively little work has been done. We provide some quantitative data on the phonographic structure of language and develop a mathematical framework for modeling the various types of errors, including phonographic ones. Finally, we outline an application to fast retrieval of misspelt words in dictionaries, which can be implemented in natural-language interfaces to make computers interact more gracefully with non-specialists.Jean Veronis is a researcher in the Groupe Représentation et Traitement des Connaissances at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Marseille.