'semantic' processing processes whitespace exactly as speech recognition does (else not semantic)

In the specification there is a remark to the effect

-- quote

   A future draft of this specification will define semantic processing
   behavior. It is expected that white-space will be preserved in
   semantic results.

-- end quote

No.  Don't even think about it.

The web must not speak with a forked tongue.  

There has to be _one_ semantic model for whitespace in token declarations in
speech recognition grammars.  Or there is none.

The speech processing semantics is that leading and trailing whitespace is not
there, and contiguous sections of whitespace in the interior [that is to say
appearing with non-whitespace both before and after it] is recognized at the
"any whitespace is the same as any other whitespace" level of abstraction.

That's the speech recognition behavior, that's the grammar language
semantics. 
Point, paragraph, end of story.

Processing that recognizes other distinctions is not 'semantic,' it is
_amplifying noise_.

I can't scream this loud enough.  The semantics of a grammar encoded in this
language is how it recognizes speech.  That's all that will ever be checked,
that's all one can reasonably expect to count on.  

Al

Standard 'personal opinion' disclaimer applies.  But I can explain [start with
XMLGL, see previous message] why the 'disability interest' does care about the
semantic integrity of our technology.

Received on Wednesday, 29 August 2001 17:09:48 UTC