The controlled natural language of Randall Munroe’s Thing Explainer

Tobias Kuhn

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-41498-0_10

The controlled natural language of Randall Munroe’s Thing Explainer

Tobias Kuhn^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book / Report / Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

It is rare that texts or entire books written in a Controlled Natural Language (CNL) become very popular, but exactly this has happened with a book that has been published last year. Randall Munroe’s Thing Explainer uses only the 1'000 most often used words of the English language together with drawn pictures to explain complicated things such as nuclear reactors, jet engines, the solar system, and dishwashers. This restricted language is a very interesting new case for the CNL community. I describe here its place in the context of existing approaches on Controlled Natural Languages, and I provide a first analysis from a scientific perspective, covering the word production rules and word distributions.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Controlled Natural Language - 5th International Workshop, CNL 2016, Proceedings
Publisher	Springer/Verlag
Pages	102-110
Number of pages	9
Volume	9767
ISBN (Print)	9783319414973
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41498-0_10
Publication status	Published - 2016
Event	5th International Workshop on Controlled Natural Language, CNL 2016 - Aberdeen, United Kingdom Duration: 25 Jul 2016 → 27 Jul 2016

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume	9767
ISSN (Print)	03029743
ISSN (Electronic)	16113349

Conference

Conference	5th International Workshop on Controlled Natural Language, CNL 2016
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Aberdeen
Period	25/07/16 → 27/07/16

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10.1007/978-3-319-41498-0_10

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Kuhn, T. (2016). The controlled natural language of Randall Munroe’s Thing Explainer. In Controlled Natural Language - 5th International Workshop, CNL 2016, Proceedings (Vol. 9767, pp. 102-110). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 9767). Springer/Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41498-0_10

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Kuhn, T 2016, The controlled natural language of Randall Munroe’s Thing Explainer. in Controlled Natural Language - 5th International Workshop, CNL 2016, Proceedings. vol. 9767, Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 9767, Springer/Verlag, pp. 102-110, 5th International Workshop on Controlled Natural Language, CNL 2016, Aberdeen, United Kingdom, 25/07/16. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41498-0_10

The controlled natural language of Randall Munroe’s Thing Explainer. / Kuhn, Tobias.
Controlled Natural Language - 5th International Workshop, CNL 2016, Proceedings. Vol. 9767 Springer/Verlag, 2016. p. 102-110 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 9767).

Research output: Chapter in Book / Report / Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

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Kuhn T. The controlled natural language of Randall Munroe’s Thing Explainer. In Controlled Natural Language - 5th International Workshop, CNL 2016, Proceedings. Vol. 9767. Springer/Verlag. 2016. p. 102-110. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)). doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-41498-0_10

The controlled natural language of Randall Munroe’s Thing Explainer

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