lnt. J. Man-Machine Studies (1977) 9, 507

Editorial

It is always an exciting moment when a new book appears in one's field of interest. When it is the first in a new series then one's longer term appetite is aroused. John Spiers of Harvester Press has gone beyond this to promise a dual feast by initiating recently two new series that will be of great interest to readers of this journal:

The Language and Thought Series, whose general editors are Jerrold Katz, Terence Langendoen and Harris Savis; and Studies in Cognitive Science, whose general editor is Margaret Boden.

The interplay between psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence and man-computer studies has been one of the most fruitful areas of development for modern science and technology during the past decade. The area of intersection and overlap between these developments defines a major part of the coverage of this journal. What is common to these disciplines is the essential role of language underlying human cognitive skills. What is uncommon are the widely varying viewpoints on the significance of differing aspects of linguistics. Those who have attended symposia between psychologists, lin- guists, artificial intelligence researchers and man-computer systems designers will have been struck by the way in which the same data, problems or theories, assume widely differing significances according to one's field, viewpoint and objectives. What is an essential difference to the linguist may be a minor quibble to the system designer, what are essential similarities to the psychologist may be irrelevant analogies to the linguist, and so on. The applications specialists are often frustrated by the narrowness of lin- guistic interests and neglect of key problems such as effects of context and experience in dialogue; whilst the linguists are amused, or annoyed, by the superficial appreciation and misuse of their work in actual systems design.

By a deliberate attempt to bridge the gap between psychology, linguistics and artificial intelligence, John Spiers' two new series look set to consolidate the fruitful interplay of this decade of mutual recognition and interaction between these differing disciplines, and give a new base for further development. In particular the volumes published so far given an excellent entry for those concerned with man--computer studies into the state of the art of modern linguistics and artificial intelligence. We shall be reviewing these books as they appear and the first two in the Language and Thought series are reviewed in this issue.

THE EDITORS

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